About to place an offer on a leasehold apartment in Copthorne. The estate agents say that it is normal for flats in Copthorne to have less than 75 years left on the lease. I am getting a mortgage with Nationwide Building Society. Is this going to be a problem if the lease has Seventy One years left.
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are obtaining 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 10/10/2026 the requirements read as follows :
- Our minimum unexpired lease term is 55 years, except where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat, in which case our minimum unexpired term is 90 years.
- 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 a proposed Lease Extension does not meet these requirements, however you feel that this is in the best interest for our mutual client, please refer all details to the Issuing Office for us to consider.
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.
A colleague advised me that in purchasing a property in Copthorne there could be a number of restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external changes to the property. Is this right?
There are a number of properties in Copthorne which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Copthorne should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I happen to be the sole beneficiary of my late mum's estate and I have everything in my name alone, including the my former home in Copthorne. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in September. I want to move. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in September. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be impacted by that. Most lenders would take a pragmatic view as this requirement is chiefly there to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
I am selling my house. I had a double glazing fitted in January 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, RBS are being problematic. The Copthorne solicitor who is on the RBS conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but RBS are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do RBS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that RBS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why RBS may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
I have todayfound out that Wolstenholmes have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Copthorne for a purchase of a freehold house 9 months ago. How can I check that my home is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest method to see if the property is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Copthorne conveyancing specialists.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Copthorne is the location of the property. Can you offer any assistance?
Flying freeholds in Copthorne are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Copthorne you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Copthorne may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
Hoping to buy a property located in Copthorne and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Copthorne. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Copthorne area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Copthorne. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
I have finally had an offer on an flat in Copthorne accepted, the owner does however have a tied purchase. The owners have put an offer on a property, although it’s not yet tied up, and has viewings of other flats in the pipeline. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in Copthorne. What should be my next step? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is normal to have concerns where there is an associated chain given your reluctance to incur costs too early (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Copthorne conveyancing search costs, etc). First, you should ensure that your solicitor is on the Barclays approved list. Concerning the next steps this very much dictated by the specifics of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a rising market the majority of purchasers would apply for the mortgage with Barclays and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their lawyer to proceed with searches.