Short Lease Mortgages

What is a Short Lease mortgage?

A lease refers to the period of time that you own a property when it sits on land owned by someone else (a freeholder). 

The property will, therefore, return to the freeholder at the end of the lease term, unless it’s extended. Leases are usually used on flats but they can also apply to houses.

Short lease mortgages apply to properties that are deemed to qualify as having a short lease. 

Typically, lenders will consider a property with 70 years of lease remaining or less as a short lease but this varies from lender to lender. Some will consider mortgages for properties with leases as little as 11 years.

Advantages of leasehold property

Although you won’t have any outright ownership of the land, there are still advantages to be reaped by choosing to purchase a leasehold property:

• Leaseholds are typically less expensive as they don’t need money towards land acquisition like a freehold 
• Generally fewer responsibilities for repairs and maintenance
• Leaseholds are a good way to get on the property ladder more easily. You can make home improvements and sell your property without being tied to the land
• There may be options to be the sole owner of the property through enfranchisement or share of the freehold

Disadvantages of buying a leasehold property

While leasehold properties have advantages for the right buyer, there are still a number of disadvantages to choosing leasehold over freehold:

• You will need to approach your landlord (freeholder) to extend your lease when it expires. The landlord is under no obligation to do so, meaning you risk losing your rights to the property.
• Your landlord has control over the amount of service charge cost you’ll be required to pay for the like of keeping communal areas running etc.
• Leasing a property may come with stipulations that you’ll be forced to adhere to, such as no pets allowed.

Buying a property with a short lease

When buying a flat with a short lease, it’s important to make sure that the price you pay reflects the remaining length of the lease — it’s even worthwhile to negotiate a discount on the asking price of a property if you know that it has a lease of fewer than 80 years remaining.

The reason for this is that it is notoriously troublesome for buyers to find highstreet lenders that will consider lending towards mortgages for short lease properties. This is because the value of the property will greater decline the closer it is to reaching the end of its lease period.

Thankfully, some of the mainstream lenders will lend to buyers as long as the lease retains at least 35 years after the mortgage period ends. For example, you could get a 5-year mortgage on a property with a 40-year lease.

How does short term lease lending work?

Choosing a short term lease property means that, inevitably, you’ll find yourself in need of extending the lease. It’s better to extend the lease as soon as you’re able as it becomes more expensive over time as your current lease and the value of the property decreases. There are two ways in which you can approach this:

1. You may apply for a lease extension once you have owned the property for at least two years.
2. Your lender may exercise their right to request a longer lease when you originally purchase the property.

When taking the latter approach, your lender will instruct a ‘panel valuer’ who will then value the property in question based on its current short lease and based on a new long lease. A mortgage offer will then be based against the long lease valuation with the condition that, once funds are released, the lender will put in place the new, longer lease.  

Extending a short term lease can be an expensive situation, particularly if there are only a few years remaining. As there are too many variables to consider to make an accurate estimate on how much it will cost you, you’ll need to speak to experts to help you calculate the costs and see if it’s a viable option. Get in touch with our team of specialists at Positive Commercial Finance and we’ll work closely with you to find the right deal for you and your property.