I have just over seventy years unexpired on my lease and require a lease extension for my apartment in Greenfield. Conveyancing solicitors on the Nationwide Building Society panel can deal with such extensions right?
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are getting a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Nationwide Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 25/7/2024 the requirements read as follows :
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).
Where the unexpired lease term is different to that recorded on the mortgage offer, the following clarifies if we need to be informed:
Second hand property:
- If the unexpired lease term on the offer is 85 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 85 years
- if the unexpired lease term on the offer is less than 85 years – advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported
- For equity share applications - advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
- Where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat and the unexpired lease term on the offer is 90 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 90 years.
New build property:
- If the unexpired lease term stated on the offer is 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house) or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house)
- For equity share applications - always advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
Lease terms such as ground rent and event fees must be reasonable at all times during the term of the lease and adhere to our requirements below. If you’re unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable or onerous, please refer the details to us in plain English for Valuer consideration. If the potentially onerous terms are in relation to the ground rent please include the current ground rent figure per annum, how often it will be reviewed and the price structure it will be reviewed against. See the guidance below.
SECOND HAND PROPERTIES
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 55 years
- Unexpired lease term less than 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat
- Less than 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
- Ground Rent greater than 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent doubles less than every 20 years (e.g. doubles every 5, 10 or 15 years) - acceptable if doubles every 20 years or more
- Ground Rent is compounded RPI
- Ground Rent review period is less than or equal to 5 years
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Unexpired lease term is 55 to 85 years
- Ground Rent greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to any indices greater than RPI
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building*
- Ground Rent review period is greater than 5 and less than 10 years
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial, etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything that appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than 85 years (Minimum 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat)
- Ground Rent less than or equal to 0.1% of the property value
- Ground Rent review period greater than or equal to 10 years
- Ground Rent escalation less than or equal to RPI
NEW BUILD PROPERTIES (includes office conversions)
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined)
- Unexpired lease term less than 125 years on a new build flat or less than 250 years on a new build house (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything else appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than or equal to 125 years on a new build flat or greater than or equal to 250 years on a new build house
- A lease subject to a peppercorn Ground Rent (Annual Rent) charges
For the avoidance of doubt, any New Build properties completed but not sold pre-30 June 2022 will only be acceptable if the Lease conforms to the above guidance.
* Where the Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building, please provide the following:
- How is the value of the block/unit currently calculated and if the assessment relates to the block(s), how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned per property?
- The current valuation and Ground Rent for each unit
- What is the mechanism for future valuations of the block and how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned?
- What is the right of appeal? And is this a documented process within the lease?
- Who bears the cost of the valuation (and appeal) process?
- Confirmation the review period is not less than twenty years.
Lease Extensions
We require all Lease Extensions to be completed under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and to meet the above criteria as a minimum. Where you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to Issuing Office.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a garden flat in Greenfield. Do I collect the keys to the property on completion from my solicitor? If so, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Greenfield?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Greenfield. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the seller's solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be able to receive the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen early afternoon.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Greenfield. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I would like to complain about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Greenfield on 11/6/2024, valuation was booked five days after, all came back fine. Conveyancer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Yorkshire BS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Are Yorkshire BS entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Yorkshire BS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I am purchasing a house and the lawyer has referenced Chancel Repair for which the house could be liable as it falls into the area of such a church. He has suggested insurance. Is this strictly appropriate for conveyancing in Greenfield
Unless a previous acquisition of the premises completed post 12 October 2013 you may take it that lawyers carrying out conveyancing in Greenfield to continue to recommend a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
The deeds to our home can not be found. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in Greenfield 5 years ago have long since closed. What are my options?
Assuming the title is registered the details of your ownership will be retained by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is easy to carry out a search at the Land Registry, identify your house and get up to date copies of the property title for a small fee. If the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a file copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Greenfield. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.
If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Greenfield - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
Greenfield Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
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Does the lease have onerous restrictions? It would be prudent to discover as much as possible regarding the managing agents as they will either make living at the property much simpler or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you will be at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters such as the upkeep of the common parts. You should not be shy to ask other people what they think of their service. Finally, be sure you know the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the managing agents and precisely what you get for your money.
I have been told by various estate agents that it should take six to eight weeks for Greenfield conveyancing to complete.This was four weeks ago. The paperwork was only forwarded to my conveyancing practitioner a couple of days ago so does the clock start running now?
You should treat with caution of any property lawyer promising expedited completion times. Instead ask the average time it takes for them to complete Greenfield conveyancing transactions and whether they are happy to work towards an agreed target date for your home move in Greenfield