Are you a current leaseholder? What do you think of the new laws that have been passed? Not mentioned on the video but have been passed also include the extending the lease to add 990 years and reducing ground rent to a peppercorn, rather than 90 years whilst making it cheaper to extend the lease. Again, no detail on the valuation for this, but there will probably be a new calculator on extending a lease available when this has been finalised.
it's really good news, i've been trying to sell for the last six years or more, not only has conveyancing taken up to 13 MONTHS (i live in retirement flats and three residents and someone in my buying chain DIED in the time this took to fall through) and i also extended my lease five years ago - and now it needs doing again, it cost £5000 and £900 to cap the rent, so as i am also in court over service charges (they demand a year in advance when no one pays me a year in advance) this can only be good news all round. it's a shame that both parties backed down on abolishing rent, rent has been the least of my problems, but it still needs to go. saying it is unethical, and then ignoring it, well that's politics.
So pleased it’s going to benefit you and that sounds like the chain from hell, I know how long it can take to go through, with you on the rent side of things, a real shame, let’s see what the new government brings…
@@NicoleSage Just found your channel’ very interesting, will follow you now as you may be able to help me in the future. Would like your opinion and anybody’ else to be honest . I’m 73 , my wife is 67 ‘ We brought a 2 bedroom flat in Maidstone Kent in 2017. £180.000 ‘ on a 999 year lease’ 3 years later we decided to sell’ it sold ok 👍 But when the Buyers solicitors couldn’t find proof of Building regulations’ our solicitor instructed us to approach the local council planning office and apply for retrospective planning regulations? No No 😮 Guess what’ it didn’t have any’ the landlord who had brought the building comprising of 2 x flats and carried out all the refurbishment work’ never contacted the Local Council planning department, requesting buildings regs’ Anyway once the Council came and inspected the property’ they failed it ‘ many things’ including Fire regulations ugh 😩 We will soon be going to court and try and sort this out. My MESSAGE to everyone who buys any property’ especially a leasehold’ Don’t rely on your solicitor’ ours missed the building regulations part’ Do it yourself’ a few phone calls to the council departments ‘ and you will soon discover one of the most important things when buying a property’ Building regulations, Our investment of £180.000 is now worth £000000 Don’t trust anyone especially solicitors and Landlords. Great Channel 👍
@@beastylad7418 Thanks for watching! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry to hear about your situation, it sounds like a complete nightmare and I have seen people in similar situations on Twitter who are going through this now. This is totally negligent of the solicitor, and I hope everything goes well for you in court, even though it's something you should NOT be having to do. Solicitors and landlord are absolutely despicable. Have you been able to contact the landlord over this? As normally they have to conduct fire regulations as part of the management fee, or are they a missing freeholder? I will try and help with feedback in any way, are you also a member of the national leasehold campaign group on Facebook? Strongly recommend joining if not and posting this as well to see if anyone else can help/been through similar; facebook.com/groups/786983251448976
My friend is currently in the documenting process of buying a leasehold property and the service charge is £2168/year and the ground rent is £500/year. The lease left on it is 111 yrs .....I don't know whether my friend should proceed to sign the agreement or not after hearing from people around...Is the new reform that's announced, a scam crap or of any benefit to any leaseholders. Please comment...
As a previous flat owner I have one message don't buy leasehold (or fleecehold). The new leasehold reform act is crap and does not go anywhere near far enough. We need all leaseholds to be banned with immediate effect.
@@marksmith-nx1pp leasehold should not exist, should be share of a freehold and when a flat complex is too big those shares of freehold become voting shares in the management company of that building.
After seeing how property laws are just straightfoward pretty much everywhere except for England, the new laws still don't solve the issue. Until there are no more leaseholds, there will always be feudal exploitation of leaseholders to the benefit of freeholders who provide no service whatsoever.
I completely agree, whilst it feels like a move forward in some senses, this awful system still exists and the solutions are still going to cost leaseholders money
@@NicoleSage Who would bother buying the Freehold now? Better just let someone else go to all that expense and take responsibility for all the work...
@@jamebrow Unless you're desperate to sell your property now and move on and need a lease extension (or share of freehold, that you don't need) then I would wait, but the wait could be years. If you're looking to buy leasehold, then wait.
@@jamebrow That's the problem, if everyone has a share of freehold, it's the responsibility of everyone to make sure they all pay their way towards servicing, and large maintenance problems in the future, whereas as a leaseholder it's enforced by someone else which can be a benefit. However, all those who have right to manage will have to be part of a redress scheme in the future so things can be reported to the ombudsman if things aren't being done etc. Bit if a grey area to be honest, which route would be best. For me, I know what people can be like and having a managing agent do it all for you is one less thing to think about and organise (although they control the costs)
Councils should give discounts to flat dwellers who pay Service charges to the flat management team for duplicated services eg rubbish disposal. So I pay £1500 PA council tax currently for a library card, street lights I rarely use and potholed roads i have to pay to park on.
The cost of major works/service charges invoce is a key issue. Also, as a leasehold you pay for the maintenance of other properties but your property is not included
The housing market is crazy at the moment, if you are looking at leasehold, just pay close attention to ground rent, lease length and the last two years of service charges.
@@Chi_Storm_ don't do it, it's the biggest legalised scam this country is involved in, it's criminal. I. had mine for 16 years. can't sell it, can't maintain it because the system is corrupt
We have recently bought,a leasehold flat in SW London so this is good news. The ground rent bit (which wasnt passed) isnt too much of an issue for us as the Freeholder is Wandsworth council so they are very reasonable, but the rest of the bill is very good.
Even if we get rid of leaseholds we move into the murky area of right to manage and estate contracts. I think it's a great step forward and it's nice to see some regulation on the latter however there is lots more to be done ti ensure safe housing for all.
Freeholders won’t let go of ground rent charges. They have direct investments which will impact the pension pots in this country. I feel that’s part of the reason they scrapped it last minute
Has Marriage Value been abolished !!? I want to sell my apartment in the UK but can't because the leasehold has fallen below 80 years ! They want 23,000 plus to renew it !! What a rip off !
YES, the law has been passed but not yet commenced so could be months, years away, we will know more after the election has taken place hopefully. That is criminal, marriage value abolishment should make a notable difference, so I would wait if you are able to
I’m in a leasehold flat in East Sussex. I’m about to renew my lease which will probably cost around £11,000. Sounds a lot but I only paid £35,000 for it in the first place 10 years ago. I’m happy to increase the lease..😁
I managed to buy my flat for a discount because it has a high service charge and ground rent. I'm really looking to hold long and wait for leasehold reform to sort my issues for me. Luckily for me I've managed to retain 30k for another house deposit so I can leave if I need to upgrade.
Good morning, the detail for shared owners is very vague at the moment and I am not sure the new laws apply including the abolition of marriage value and that it will be easier to extend. I would recommend asking the question also in the NLC Facebook group if you aren't already a member facebook.com/groups/786983251448976/user/100068879903623/ When anything new comes out to do with shared ownership it will be in this group first too.
Hi Nicola. There is some contraction when one is permitted to extentend lease a) as long as leasee has at least 21 years reamining, b) you have lives for at least 2 years, however some say 3 years so unsure what the correct number.
When the new laws come in, leaseholder owners will not have to wait the current 2 years of ownership to extend the lease, there was no mention about extending lease if less than 21 years remaining that I'm aware of at present though
@@petersmith7437 No problem, no set date yet. Once general election has taken place we might have more info to come, but could be months/years. Will do an updated video as soon as I hear.
Hi I’ve got 82.5 years left on my lease. I’ve decided to extend my lease by 90 years now. I’ve got a £10 ground rent and extending isn’t that expensive. I knew legislation could take years to come through.
That seems really reasonable, good luck with the extension - I think if your predicted costs are exceeding £5k it's worth the wait if you can, but, who knows when the legislation will come in!
What about the cladding issue. I’ve recently had my cladding removed from my flat after a fire inspection. All we have is breeze block exposed to all elements of weather and all builders know how much moisture they soak up. I’m concerned about any future damp issues but also they have damaged the double glazing whilst ripping the gladding out too. Who will be responsible for the repairs. Surly the cladding was a fire risk so should be the responsibility of the council to make safe and be financially responsible for. I’ve asked so many questions and rang the council but none seems to know of the answer. What rights do I have as a leaseholder to not pay any costs towards this. I’m currently on UC and am disabled. I’m in no financial position to pay any extra charges as I barely can pay for my bills right now. Who can I contact to get help and information on council leaseholders? Who’s responsible for this financially?
Firstly, I'm so sorry this is happening right now, it sounds like an awful situation. Is the council your freeholder? Regarding the cladding, I believe that rather unfairly any remedial work needed is charged to the leaseholders, you would have received a section 20 notice for this for major works though, did you get this? (If you haven't then they can't charge you retrospectively) But in terms of everything that has happened since with poor work, this would fall on the builders and council for sure. I would also ask this question in the NLC Facebook group if you haven't already as someone may be in a similar position and be able to help; facebook.com/groups/786983251448976
@@NicoleSage yes the council is our freeholder and I didn’t get much of a reply in the Facebook page unfortunately. I won’t be able To pay any of these charges at all and I most definitely will be bankrupt
@@NicoleSage the only way to abolish this product to be sold is to stop buying it... politicians, real estate lobby, construction lobby if they start feeling it in their pockets they will changes laws, the worst in not the ground rent is actually the services charges which are enormous, flat owners have no control or say on it and is a lot behind scenes to suck as much money as they can from leaseholders reason why I would never buy a flat in this conditions.
so now we bought a 1st floor flat,78yrs lease,adhoc service charge,chain free,we are living only here for 5yrs enough to save more money for a freehold house or we might rent it out instead🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
No doubt when trying to extend Leasehold the landlord will hit you with MORE expenses. Currently to extend has cost Leaseholders £10,500 plus a near double cost in GR!
Ground rent buy out would be great but I suspect it'll cost more than the leasehold. I hope I'm wrong but the amount of money a landlord would lose over say a 800 year lease would be 100's of thousands.
Unfortunately I agree, it feels like another way to make money out of leaseholders at this stage. Will be interesting to see when full detail/calculation is announced
Hi there, Thanks for the helpful video. My sister and I bought a flat where the council own the freehold. It's a studio flat but we are hoping to convert the basement to turn it into a two bed so we can both live there. I think we need to buy the freehold as the renovation would involve structural alterations and it's a tricky process to get approval for that if the council own the freehold. Time is of the essence so we can both have a place to live, what do you suggest would be sensible to do - crack on and start the freehold buying process or wait? Do you think they'll be any retrospective refunds to people who purchase freeholds in this intermediate stage and then there ends up being a cap on costs? I've read it could take 12 months anyway, is that accurate? Thank you in advance for your help!
Thanks for watching! I would personally start the process now as it can take months/year for this process AND there is just no set deadline on when the new laws come in, so you could be waiting until 2028 as a worst case scenario. As for retrospective refunds, this will not happen as they say 'law is law' at the time. I'd say that if you're going through the process and money hasn't yet been exchanged and then the law comes in then they would have to revise your costs at the time, I hope that helps and good luck!
I have a rental with 60 years left on the lease, only owned it a year so have a year left before I approach the freeholder about extending.. i wonder if its worth attempting to approach them earlier now due to all this with a view of striking a deal is this possible to or would it not be allowed under law?? I mean the freeholder knows that its all a matter of when not if so an early deal might be of interest to them right ? Tbh I just wanna get it extended asap so i can progress with it all.
Yes, you're allowed to approach them and make a fair offer. Personally, it wouldn't surprise me if Labour came in and made it even cheaper to extend your lease. They have said these reforms didn't go far enough. Nothing is promised though, so a small offer of paying a significantly reduced marriage value may be reasonable, especailly since the Conservative plan does actually involve marriage value by a different name
Yes, I would definitely approach them first and see what they say. As long as it’s a ‘formal’ extension rather than an informal one which is usually cheaper and can often include additional clauses. It will give you a starting point and it’s the whole question as to when the new laws come in, people could be waiting years for it
Hey, just on the back of your comments I may be being stupid here but was marriage value law passed through too? I also have a flat with 69 years left and have been waiting for this for about 4 years! TIA
@@michellekallenberg8635 yes. Marriage value will not be abolished, despite the headlines. It will be replaced by a new amount to be calculated by the government. Labour have said these reforms don't go far enough, so there is a slim chance that the next government may take further steps to reduce marriage value costs
This video seems to be about leasehold flats. What about leasehold houses? I live in Manchester and my current ground rent is luckily £4/year. Is the new reform bill applicable to people in my situation too? If so, how? I have asked my leaseholder how much it would cost to buy out the lease, they said about £4,000. Again, will the new law affect this too? If so, how? Thanks in advance!
Yes, as far as I have seen it applies for leasehold houses too. All leaseholders will be able to extend their lease by 990 years. Currently it's only possible to extend the lease on a leasehold house by 50 years (and you're only able to do it once), while leases on flats can be only be extended by 90 years at a time. This will even the playing field. In terms of costs, it 'may' be cheaper to wait for the new law to come in as landlord legal costs will be capped, but no way of knowing how much the saving will be, and how long it will be until the law has commenced. It will also be cheaper to buy a properties freehold.
if your ground rent is fixed at 4 pound a year for the rest of the term you are looking at about £80 to buy your freehold plus your costs and capped landlords costs under this Act.
Does it make sense to pause conveyancy with this new law in places. I’m currently in the process of selling a new build and enquiring on deed of variation for to cap ground rent. Now I don’t know if I should wait before paying the premium?
If you’re urgent to sell and the chain would collapse then possibly continue as you are, if you’re in no rush I’d probably be inclined to wait as you’ll be able to buy out the ground rent + if there are legal costs from the landlords side they will be capped, but currently you have to front the full bill from them. No idea what cost savings will be, but they will be worthwhile I should think
What can we do when the Service charges gone up by 20% past few years? While my mortgages is reducing over the years slowly service charge is rapidly increasing. Are you saying Service Charge is part of Ground Rent as on my bill i see them separately. My ground rent is £10 per year and has not changed but Service charge this year came almost 6K per year while a year ago was 4k.
Rather disappointingly, there is no set reform for tackling this issue and I know it is a HUGE problem, that increase is absolutely disgusting. Service charge is a separate issue to the ground rent law they are bringing in. The only thing they are introducing is that freeholders have to be more transparent about charges, and they'll have to respond within a set timeframe if you ask for receipts etc which you can then challenge. At present, it doesn't do anything to help rising service charges though.
This is the latest there has been which is a couple of months ago now: ua-cam.com/video/zLZT85HHFfY/v-deo.htmlsi=3Go1ufPkmCgv0VK3 Labour have made no further movement which is super frustrating, will update by video as soon as something is announced
If you need to asap - first see if the mortgage lender will accept an indemnity policy, this is usually forfeiture of lease indemnity, it’s worth an initial try. If not, the other solutions for now are deed of variation to cap the ground rent - you’ll need to approach the freeholder for this, the other option is a formal lease extension, it extends the lease but makes the ground rent a peppercorn (nominal fee like a £1) - when I looked at options with my freeholder below the costs were very similar so a formal lease extension was more favourable. Let me know if you have any other questions.
I am still confused about whether extending one's lease has or has not been changed to make it cheaper. Is it going to be cheaper to extend the lease - is that included, is there any detail or is that still TBC?
Yes, it will be cheaper to extend but there is still no detail as to what ‘cheaper’ means and also what the new calculation will be to determine it. It will also be cheaper because legal fees of the freeholder will be capped at a certain level, whereas you’ve always had to foot the whole bill. Again, still no detail on the cap - hopefully we should hear more soon and will update when available
@NicoleSage Thank you. Appreciate it. I am getting to 81 years...the danger point...but want to hang on and wait to see because almost certainly, as you say it will be a bit cheaper. Still shockingly expensive to extend.
if you have time and it's within your scope could you talk a bit about forfeiture, cos i'm "technically" in breach of my lease, but surely i can't just be thrown out on the street? and also the management company are also in breach of the lease (interior decoration has been missed twice in ten years) and it would be nice to have some leverage - i refused to pay "legal fees" associated with service charge and i'm in small claims next month....as defendant.
Ah I remember you mentioning this before, leave it with me and I’ll have a closer look into this section that’s been passed. And I really hope it goes in your favour, as you say, they’re in breach as well…
In recent years, ground rent has become more of an issue as it generally affects most leaseholders. Marriage value is set to be abolished, although the new calculation for how lease extensions will be done hasn't been announced yet, there was a lot to cover that came out
I didn't in this video, although I did in the King's Speech video, marriage value will be abolished but he new calculation for lease extensions hasn't been announced yet, more detail to follow on that
Supposedly, yes it’s their pledge. However it does ban the sale of new leasehold houses but not the sale of new leasehold flats, which make up 70% of properties affected. Watch this space!
i'm not sure you are correct about rent, i think the news outlets and even the official outlets are confused as to the rent situation, as far as i know rent was left untouched, so double check, not saying you're wrong, just i've had conflicting reports from others.
This was following a video conference with the NLC today where there was legal professionals there so only relaying from there - but you’re right I think there’s still a lot of uncertainty right now until we have final detail of everything
I’m in the process of buying a leasehold house with 910 years on the lease and a £5 a year ground rent charge. Will it be easy to buy the freehold after this bill?
Yes - it should be easier and cheaper to buy the freehold, although the exact calculation for this hasn’t been released yet, you’ve also always had to pay the legal fees for the landlord in the process, this is something which will now be capped at a certain level, when they say ‘easier’ - there’s not much detail around this part yet
Don't do it, Leasehold is a legalised scam, i have been trying to sell my leasehold for 5 years now and I keep losing buyers all because of the Freeholder being inactive and now a new freeholder not responding so in effect they are missing, just don't do it
@@UK-real-estate wrong tag, I don't have any interest in Freeholders, my experience is that they are bought into a corrupt conservative system, with legal agreement to sit on property, do nothing, allow buildings to rot away to the detriment of the leaseholder and any tenants, a vile lot really
Are you a current leaseholder? What do you think of the new laws that have been passed? Not mentioned on the video but have been passed also include the extending the lease to add 990 years and reducing ground rent to a peppercorn, rather than 90 years whilst making it cheaper to extend the lease. Again, no detail on the valuation for this, but there will probably be a new calculator on extending a lease available when this has been finalised.
it's really good news, i've been trying to sell for the last six years or more, not only has conveyancing taken up to 13 MONTHS (i live in retirement flats and three residents and someone in my buying chain DIED in the time this took to fall through) and i also extended my lease five years ago - and now it needs doing again, it cost £5000 and £900 to cap the rent, so as i am also in court over service charges (they demand a year in advance when no one pays me a year in advance) this can only be good news all round.
it's a shame that both parties backed down on abolishing rent, rent has been the least of my problems, but it still needs to go. saying it is unethical, and then ignoring it, well that's politics.
So pleased it’s going to benefit you and that sounds like the chain from hell, I know how long it can take to go through, with you on the rent side of things, a real shame, let’s see what the new government brings…
@@NicoleSage
Just found your channel’ very interesting, will follow you now
as you may be able to help me in the future.
Would like your opinion and anybody’ else to be honest .
I’m 73 , my wife is 67 ‘ We brought a 2 bedroom flat in Maidstone Kent in 2017.
£180.000 ‘ on a 999 year lease’ 3 years later we decided to sell’ it sold ok 👍
But when the Buyers solicitors couldn’t find proof of Building regulations’ our solicitor instructed us to approach the local council planning office and apply for retrospective planning regulations? No No 😮 Guess what’ it didn’t have any’ the landlord who had brought the building comprising of 2 x flats and carried out all the refurbishment work’ never contacted the Local Council planning department, requesting buildings regs’
Anyway once the Council came and inspected the property’ they failed it ‘ many things’ including Fire regulations ugh 😩
We will soon be going to court and try and sort this out.
My MESSAGE to everyone who buys any property’ especially a leasehold’ Don’t rely on your solicitor’ ours missed the building regulations part’
Do it yourself’ a few phone calls to the council departments ‘ and you will soon discover one of the most important things when buying a property’ Building regulations,
Our investment of £180.000 is now worth £000000
Don’t trust anyone especially solicitors and Landlords.
Great Channel 👍
@@beastylad7418 Thanks for watching! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry to hear about your situation, it sounds like a complete nightmare and I have seen people in similar situations on Twitter who are going through this now. This is totally negligent of the solicitor, and I hope everything goes well for you in court, even though it's something you should NOT be having to do. Solicitors and landlord are absolutely despicable. Have you been able to contact the landlord over this? As normally they have to conduct fire regulations as part of the management fee, or are they a missing freeholder? I will try and help with feedback in any way, are you also a member of the national leasehold campaign group on Facebook? Strongly recommend joining if not and posting this as well to see if anyone else can help/been through similar; facebook.com/groups/786983251448976
My friend is currently in the documenting process of buying a leasehold property and the service charge is £2168/year and the ground rent is £500/year. The lease left on it is 111 yrs .....I don't know whether my friend should proceed to sign the agreement or not after hearing from people around...Is the new reform that's announced, a scam crap or of any benefit to any leaseholders. Please comment...
As a previous flat owner I have one message don't buy leasehold (or fleecehold). The new leasehold reform act is crap and does not go anywhere near far enough. We need all leaseholds to be banned with immediate effect.
Totally agree with you, worst system ever but one that takes up a huge proportion of housing in England
How do you think things should be undertaken.
@@marksmith-nx1pp leasehold should not exist, should be share of a freehold and when a flat complex is too big those shares of freehold become voting shares in the management company of that building.
Just looked at buying a flat with sitting tenant yesterday. Was impressed with the flat and tenant. Got food for thought now!
@@lorenzopini1990 That’s ‘Commonhold’ and already in law - just not used very often in England & Wales.
What we now need is a national inquiry into how much money was stolen from leaseholders
Totally agree - it would be shocking
Stolen?
@@marksmith-nx1ppyes, stolen
Absolutely, and corrupt disreputable managing agents should face criminal prosecution.
After seeing how property laws are just straightfoward pretty much everywhere except for England, the new laws still don't solve the issue. Until there are no more leaseholds, there will always be feudal exploitation of leaseholders to the benefit of freeholders who provide no service whatsoever.
I completely agree, whilst it feels like a move forward in some senses, this awful system still exists and the solutions are still going to cost leaseholders money
@@NicoleSage Who would bother buying the Freehold now? Better just let someone else go to all that expense and take responsibility for all the work...
@@jamebrow Unless you're desperate to sell your property now and move on and need a lease extension (or share of freehold, that you don't need) then I would wait, but the wait could be years. If you're looking to buy leasehold, then wait.
@@NicoleSage I see, but won't it cause problems with building maintenance and administration if there's little/no incentive to become a freeholder?
@@jamebrow That's the problem, if everyone has a share of freehold, it's the responsibility of everyone to make sure they all pay their way towards servicing, and large maintenance problems in the future, whereas as a leaseholder it's enforced by someone else which can be a benefit. However, all those who have right to manage will have to be part of a redress scheme in the future so things can be reported to the ombudsman if things aren't being done etc. Bit if a grey area to be honest, which route would be best. For me, I know what people can be like and having a managing agent do it all for you is one less thing to think about and organise (although they control the costs)
Proper regulation of managing agents is urgently needed, this is more important than ground rent reform although that should also take place.
Councils should give discounts to flat dwellers who pay Service charges to the flat management team for duplicated services eg rubbish disposal. So I pay £1500 PA council tax currently for a library card, street lights I rarely use and potholed roads i have to pay to park on.
Totally agree with you and great point you have raised as I’ve never looked at it in that way before
The cost of major works/service charges invoce is a key issue. Also, as a leasehold you pay for the maintenance of other properties but your property is not included
depends on the exact definition of the common areas and the services in your lease
I’m literally embarking on buying a leasehold flat, now I’m just not sure the house prices are just to high at moment.
The housing market is crazy at the moment, if you are looking at leasehold, just pay close attention to ground rent, lease length and the last two years of service charges.
@@Chi_Storm_ don't do it, it's the biggest legalised scam this country is involved in, it's criminal. I. had mine for 16 years. can't sell it, can't maintain it because the system is corrupt
We have recently bought,a leasehold flat in SW London so this is good news. The ground rent bit (which wasnt passed) isnt too much of an issue for us as the Freeholder is Wandsworth council so they are very reasonable, but the rest of the bill is very good.
Great to hear it’s going to benefit you as a leaseholder! 🙌🏻
Its time to invest a leashold property in Outer London.❤
Yes, absolutely!!
Even if we get rid of leaseholds we move into the murky area of right to manage and estate contracts. I think it's a great step forward and it's nice to see some regulation on the latter however there is lots more to be done ti ensure safe housing for all.
I agree with you, there’s still such a long way to go with it for leaseholders
Freeholders won’t let go of ground rent charges. They have direct investments which will impact the pension pots in this country. I feel that’s part of the reason they scrapped it last minute
I completely agree, so many of them benefit financially from it, disgusting
Has Marriage Value been abolished !!? I want to sell my apartment in the UK but can't because the leasehold has fallen below 80 years ! They want 23,000 plus to renew it !! What a rip off !
YES, the law has been passed but not yet commenced so could be months, years away, we will know more after the election has taken place hopefully. That is criminal, marriage value abolishment should make a notable difference, so I would wait if you are able to
@@NicoleSage I can wait !! But I am seeing none of the rent ! It's all be swallowed up by the high interest rates on the mortgage !
you will still need to pay off the Term and Reversion, just not Marriage value on top of the Reversion.
@@brianlopez8855 Will it be a lot cheaper though !? That's the main thing !
Well you dropped a clanger landlord @Sam_Green____4114
I’m in a leasehold flat in East Sussex. I’m about to renew my lease which will probably cost around £11,000.
Sounds a lot but I only paid £35,000 for it in the first place 10 years ago. I’m happy to increase the lease..😁
Wow!! When did you purchase the flat?
we need to see the details of the regulations set out in the statutory Instruments
Totally, still so vague right now
Thank you for the informative video. However, it appears that you did not mention the 990-year lease extension.
Yes! I added it on a comment afterwards as I forgot to mention in the video, thanks for mentioning!
I managed to buy my flat for a discount because it has a high service charge and ground rent. I'm really looking to hold long and wait for leasehold reform to sort my issues for me. Luckily for me I've managed to retain 30k for another house deposit so I can leave if I need to upgrade.
It sounds like you have made a smart move and have a get a plan if you need one
@@NicoleSage Thank you, i dont really know why i put a comment there because who cares. But i subscribed thanks for the effort you put in.
@@MotivateHouse always good to hear from others surrounding leasehold and their experiences, thanks for subscribing and watching 😄
As expected, it is thin gruel.
Unfortunately yes, still so far away from actually helping leaseholders
Hi, thank you for the update. I have a shared ownership with 79 years lease. How would this work for shared owners to extend the lease ? Many thanks
Good morning, the detail for shared owners is very vague at the moment and I am not sure the new laws apply including the abolition of marriage value and that it will be easier to extend. I would recommend asking the question also in the NLC Facebook group if you aren't already a member facebook.com/groups/786983251448976/user/100068879903623/ When anything new comes out to do with shared ownership it will be in this group first too.
Hi Nicola. There is some contraction when one is permitted to extentend lease a) as long as leasee has at least 21 years reamining, b) you have lives for at least 2 years, however some say 3 years so unsure what the correct number.
When the new laws come in, leaseholder owners will not have to wait the current 2 years of ownership to extend the lease, there was no mention about extending lease if less than 21 years remaining that I'm aware of at present though
@@NicoleSage thank you. When will law come in not having to wait 2 years?
@@petersmith7437 No problem, no set date yet. Once general election has taken place we might have more info to come, but could be months/years. Will do an updated video as soon as I hear.
@@NicoleSage nice one. You're gorgeous btw hope you don't mind me saying.
@@petersmith7437 Thank you!
Hi
I’ve got 82.5 years left on my lease.
I’ve decided to extend my lease by 90 years now.
I’ve got a £10 ground rent and extending isn’t that expensive.
I knew legislation could take years to come through.
That seems really reasonable, good luck with the extension - I think if your predicted costs are exceeding £5k it's worth the wait if you can, but, who knows when the legislation will come in!
What about the cladding issue. I’ve recently had my cladding removed from my flat after a fire inspection. All we have is breeze block exposed to all elements of weather and all builders know how much moisture they soak up. I’m concerned about any future damp issues but also they have damaged the double glazing whilst ripping the gladding out too. Who will be responsible for the repairs. Surly the cladding was a fire risk so should be the responsibility of the council to make safe and be financially responsible for. I’ve asked so many questions and rang the council but none seems to know of the answer. What rights do I have as a leaseholder to not pay any costs towards this. I’m currently on UC and am disabled. I’m in no financial position to pay any extra charges as I barely can pay for my bills right now. Who can I contact to get help and information on council leaseholders? Who’s responsible for this financially?
Firstly, I'm so sorry this is happening right now, it sounds like an awful situation. Is the council your freeholder? Regarding the cladding, I believe that rather unfairly any remedial work needed is charged to the leaseholders, you would have received a section 20 notice for this for major works though, did you get this? (If you haven't then they can't charge you retrospectively) But in terms of everything that has happened since with poor work, this would fall on the builders and council for sure. I would also ask this question in the NLC Facebook group if you haven't already as someone may be in a similar position and be able to help; facebook.com/groups/786983251448976
@@NicoleSage yes the council is our freeholder and I didn’t get much of a reply in the Facebook page unfortunately. I won’t be able
To pay any of these charges at all and I most definitely will be bankrupt
Buying any leasehold property is a trap, specially when they have the same cost as freehold.
Yes, I completely agree it needs to be abolished completely
@@NicoleSage the only way to abolish this product to be sold is to stop buying it... politicians, real estate lobby, construction lobby if they start feeling it in their pockets they will changes laws, the worst in not the ground rent is actually the services charges which are enormous, flat owners have no control or say on it and is a lot behind scenes to suck as much money as they can from leaseholders reason why I would never buy a flat in this conditions.
@@andrealves4751 There is always the ‘Right to Manage’ process to take control over appointment of Managing Agents.
so now we bought a 1st floor flat,78yrs lease,adhoc service charge,chain free,we are living only here for 5yrs enough to save more money for a freehold house or we might rent it out instead🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
No doubt when trying to extend Leasehold the landlord will hit you with MORE expenses. Currently to extend has cost Leaseholders £10,500 plus a near double cost in GR!
Yes, they always find one way or another to get the money back in the end. It’s criminal!
refer the cosrs determination to the Tribunal. Should be about £500 landlords valuation plus about thousand pounds of legal costs all in.
Ground rent buy out would be great but I suspect it'll cost more than the leasehold. I hope I'm wrong but the amount of money a landlord would lose over say a 800 year lease would be 100's of thousands.
Unfortunately I agree, it feels like another way to make money out of leaseholders at this stage. Will be interesting to see when full detail/calculation is announced
Hi there, Thanks for the helpful video. My sister and I bought a flat where the council own the freehold. It's a studio flat but we are hoping to convert the basement to turn it into a two bed so we can both live there. I think we need to buy the freehold as the renovation would involve structural alterations and it's a tricky process to get approval for that if the council own the freehold. Time is of the essence so we can both have a place to live, what do you suggest would be sensible to do - crack on and start the freehold buying process or wait? Do you think they'll be any retrospective refunds to people who purchase freeholds in this intermediate stage and then there ends up being a cap on costs? I've read it could take 12 months anyway, is that accurate? Thank you in advance for your help!
Thanks for watching! I would personally start the process now as it can take months/year for this process AND there is just no set deadline on when the new laws come in, so you could be waiting until 2028 as a worst case scenario. As for retrospective refunds, this will not happen as they say 'law is law' at the time. I'd say that if you're going through the process and money hasn't yet been exchanged and then the law comes in then they would have to revise your costs at the time, I hope that helps and good luck!
I have a rental with 60 years left on the lease, only owned it a year so have a year left before I approach the freeholder about extending.. i wonder if its worth attempting to approach them earlier now due to all this with a view of striking a deal is this possible to or would it not be allowed under law?? I mean the freeholder knows that its all a matter of when not if so an early deal might be of interest to them right ? Tbh I just wanna get it extended asap so i can progress with it all.
Yes, you're allowed to approach them and make a fair offer. Personally, it wouldn't surprise me if Labour came in and made it even cheaper to extend your lease. They have said these reforms didn't go far enough. Nothing is promised though, so a small offer of paying a significantly reduced marriage value may be reasonable, especailly since the Conservative plan does actually involve marriage value by a different name
Yes, I would definitely approach them first and see what they say. As long as it’s a ‘formal’ extension rather than an informal one which is usually cheaper and can often include additional clauses. It will give you a starting point and it’s the whole question as to when the new laws come in, people could be waiting years for it
Thanks for the replies guys i shall get onto it right away
Hey, just on the back of your comments I may be being stupid here but was marriage value law passed through too? I also have a flat with 69 years left and have been waiting for this for about 4 years! TIA
@@michellekallenberg8635 yes. Marriage value will not be abolished, despite the headlines. It will be replaced by a new amount to be calculated by the government. Labour have said these reforms don't go far enough, so there is a slim chance that the next government may take further steps to reduce marriage value costs
This video seems to be about leasehold flats. What about leasehold houses? I live in Manchester and my current ground rent is luckily £4/year. Is the new reform bill applicable to people in my situation too? If so, how? I have asked my leaseholder how much it would cost to buy out the lease, they said about £4,000. Again, will the new law affect this too? If so, how?
Thanks in advance!
Yes, as far as I have seen it applies for leasehold houses too. All leaseholders will be able to extend their lease by 990 years. Currently it's only possible to extend the lease on a leasehold house by 50 years (and you're only able to do it once), while leases on flats can be only be extended by 90 years at a time. This will even the playing field. In terms of costs, it 'may' be cheaper to wait for the new law to come in as landlord legal costs will be capped, but no way of knowing how much the saving will be, and how long it will be until the law has commenced. It will also be cheaper to buy a properties freehold.
if your ground rent is fixed at 4 pound a year for the rest of the term you are looking at about £80 to buy your freehold plus your costs and capped landlords costs under this Act.
Does it make sense to pause conveyancy with this new law in places. I’m currently in the process of selling a new build and enquiring on deed of variation for to cap ground rent. Now I don’t know if I should wait before paying the premium?
If you’re urgent to sell and the chain would collapse then possibly continue as you are, if you’re in no rush I’d probably be inclined to wait as you’ll be able to buy out the ground rent + if there are legal costs from the landlords side they will be capped, but currently you have to front the full bill from them. No idea what cost savings will be, but they will be worthwhile I should think
What can we do when the Service charges gone up by 20% past few years? While my mortgages is reducing over the years slowly service charge is rapidly increasing.
Are you saying Service Charge is part of Ground Rent as on my bill i see them separately. My ground rent is £10 per year and has not changed but Service charge this year came almost 6K per year while a year ago was 4k.
Rather disappointingly, there is no set reform for tackling this issue and I know it is a HUGE problem, that increase is absolutely disgusting. Service charge is a separate issue to the ground rent law they are bringing in. The only thing they are introducing is that freeholders have to be more transparent about charges, and they'll have to respond within a set timeframe if you ask for receipts etc which you can then challenge. At present, it doesn't do anything to help rising service charges though.
There will be more coming out in the following weeks on the back of the laws, so I will do an updated video when more is available.
Thank you Nicole
Can you please update on leasehold
This is the latest there has been which is a couple of months ago now: ua-cam.com/video/zLZT85HHFfY/v-deo.htmlsi=3Go1ufPkmCgv0VK3 Labour have made no further movement which is super frustrating, will update by video as soon as something is announced
How can one remortgage now if ground rent is over £250 ?
If you need to asap - first see if the mortgage lender will accept an indemnity policy, this is usually forfeiture of lease indemnity, it’s worth an initial try. If not, the other solutions for now are deed of variation to cap the ground rent - you’ll need to approach the freeholder for this, the other option is a formal lease extension, it extends the lease but makes the ground rent a peppercorn (nominal fee like a £1) - when I looked at options with my freeholder below the costs were very similar so a formal lease extension was more favourable. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Also - whilst rates aren’t the best still, sticking with your existing lender is probably the best bet
I am still confused about whether extending one's lease has or has not been changed to make it cheaper. Is it going to be cheaper to extend the lease - is that included, is there any detail or is that still TBC?
Yes, it will be cheaper to extend but there is still no detail as to what ‘cheaper’ means and also what the new calculation will be to determine it. It will also be cheaper because legal fees of the freeholder will be capped at a certain level, whereas you’ve always had to foot the whole bill. Again, still no detail on the cap - hopefully we should hear more soon and will update when available
@NicoleSage Thank you. Appreciate it. I am getting to 81 years...the danger point...but want to hang on and wait to see because almost certainly, as you say it will be a bit cheaper. Still shockingly expensive to extend.
if you have time and it's within your scope could you talk a bit about forfeiture, cos i'm "technically" in breach of my lease, but surely i can't just be thrown out on the street? and also the management company are also in breach of the lease (interior decoration has been missed twice in ten years) and it would be nice to have some leverage - i refused to pay "legal fees" associated with service charge and i'm in small claims next month....as defendant.
Ah I remember you mentioning this before, leave it with me and I’ll have a closer look into this section that’s been passed. And I really hope it goes in your favour, as you say, they’re in breach as well…
Leasehold Knowledge Partnership are great, try get an appointment for advice, but I believe that they always advise to pay first and then reclaim ot
the Tribunal determines if you are in breach and then the Court decide the consequence.
Can’t see any mention at all about marriage value. Much bigger issue than ground rent for many short lease owners. Rubbish appraisal!
In recent years, ground rent has become more of an issue as it generally affects most leaseholders. Marriage value is set to be abolished, although the new calculation for how lease extensions will be done hasn't been announced yet, there was a lot to cover that came out
its gone so the value of short leases will increase. Its good for you.
Did you cover marriage value?
I didn't in this video, although I did in the King's Speech video, marriage value will be abolished but he new calculation for lease extensions hasn't been announced yet, more detail to follow on that
Aren't Labour supposed to abolish leasehold within 100 days of office?
Supposedly, yes it’s their pledge. However it does ban the sale of new leasehold houses but not the sale of new leasehold flats, which make up 70% of properties affected. Watch this space!
@@NicoleSage So, smoke and mirrors yet again and you/I wonder why people have no trust in politicians.
@@barrydwyer2039 Exactly!!
That won’t happen, it will take years.
i'm not sure you are correct about rent, i think the news outlets and even the official outlets are confused as to the rent situation, as far as i know rent was left untouched, so double check, not saying you're wrong, just i've had conflicting reports from others.
This was following a video conference with the NLC today where there was legal professionals there so only relaying from there - but you’re right I think there’s still a lot of uncertainty right now until we have final detail of everything
@@NicoleSage i'm confident you'll update as and when. thanks for a great channel by the way.
@@HarryNicNicholas Absolutely, and thank you, I appreciate it :)
I’m in the process of buying a leasehold house with 910 years on the lease and a £5 a year ground rent charge. Will it be easy to buy the freehold after this bill?
Yes - it should be easier and cheaper to buy the freehold, although the exact calculation for this hasn’t been released yet, you’ve also always had to pay the legal fees for the landlord in the process, this is something which will now be capped at a certain level, when they say ‘easier’ - there’s not much detail around this part yet
Don't do it, Leasehold is a legalised scam, i have been trying to sell my leasehold for 5 years now and I keep losing buyers all because of the Freeholder being inactive and now a new freeholder not responding so in effect they are missing, just don't do it
should cost about £100 premium plus landlords legal costs
@@rebekahscott4543 The freeholder doesn’t have much leverage or value with a 910 year lease in place.
@@UK-real-estate wrong tag, I don't have any interest in Freeholders, my experience is that they are bought into a corrupt conservative system, with legal agreement to sit on property, do nothing, allow buildings to rot away to the detriment of the leaseholder and any tenants, a vile lot really
FIX YOUR LIGHT SWITCH!!
Living in the middle of a renovation right now so I’m okay thank you 😂
Im english i dont have a king
Not much of a reform.
Nothing done they will just find another way to scam you.
I actually agree with you, government is a disgrace, can’t see any action as of yet in the near future on this…
The Act is watered down nonsense with key parts removed. Tories in the pockets of landlords again
A joke of a bill😂
Whilst it’s a move forward in some senses, the solutions are still going to cost leaseholders money, the system is completely broken