I have just over seventy years remaining on my lease and require a lease extension for my apartment in Sawbridgeworth. 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 securing 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 17/4/2025 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.
Please ensure that all lender enquiries are submitted (with full documentation/requirements) at least 2 weeks prior to exchange to allow sufficient time for review and decisioning.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Sawbridgeworth?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Sawbridgeworth. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Sawbridgeworth ahead of instructing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. My surveyor has said that some lenders will refuse to give a loan on such a home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different requirements for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check via the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Sawbridgeworth. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Sawbridgeworth especially if they are familiar with such properties in Sawbridgeworth.
I'm converting the mortgage on my primary home to a buy to let loan with Santander and I will use the ballance of the raised equity as a down payment on further house. The location we are talking about is Sawbridgeworth. Will your solicitors be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and link together the transactions?
Make use of our comparison tool on this site to ensure that the solicitors are on the appropriate lender panels. Having checked that they are your conveyancer will be able to connect the two transactions but you should talk with you lawyer and specify your desired outcome and requirements.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Sawbridgeworth. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, however I have recently received a half-yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice as you normally would because all rents and maintenance charges will be allotted on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Sawbridgeworth - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying
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Plenty Sawbridgeworth leasehold properties will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the block set by the freeholder. If you buy the property you will have to pay this amount, usually in instalments accross the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to check it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive. You should be aware if it is no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for 24 months in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension. This question is helpful as a) areas can result in problems in the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if services remain unpaid b) if the tenants have a dispute with the running of the building you will want to have all the details
We have had DIP from Alliance & Leicester who indicated we could borrow up to £300k. When do I need to instruct a lawyer for conveyancing? Sawbridgeworth is where we plan to move to.
You can instruct a property lawyer now so that the solicitor can open the file so they can do the AML checks etc. If and when you wish them to start work you will be asked for a payment on account normally about £225. That should generally be after you have the loan offer from the lender and survey back, however should you wish to speed the process you can start quicker albeit risking some money.