Short Lease · Report on Title scenarios
Short lease
5 situations in which a short lease comes up during a conveyancing transaction, each answering a different question.
- How many years left on the lease is too short?Most lenders set a minimum unexpired lease term, and the commonly quoted figure is not the whole rule. How the threshold actually works, and why it moves with the mortgage term.
- My lease is near 80 years — why is that the number everyone mentions?Why 80 years is the threshold everyone mentions, what marriage value is, and why the reform that would abolish it has not changed the arithmetic yet.
- Do I have to own the flat for two years before I can extend?The requirement to have owned a flat for two years before claiming a statutory lease extension was removed. Why the right still cannot be exercised on the day you complete.
- The freeholder has offered to extend the lease — should I take it?The freeholder has offered to extend the lease by agreement rather than under the statute. Where the savings are real, and where an informal extension can create a problem that outlasts it.
- Can I sell a flat with a short lease?A short lease narrows the pool of buyers who can get a mortgage. Whether to extend before marketing, assign the right to the buyer, or price for it.
Already bought, and a short lease has become a problem?
These pages are written for someone still deciding. If this came up after you completed, the question is a different one — what was known during the purchase, and what should have been reported to you.
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