What does 'Lease Length' mean when buying a property?

"... Free and Vacant Possession; Why you can't get a mortgage on some properties; The characteristics of a leasehold property; What lease lengths affect a properties value; How lease lengths can be extended; Why Share of Freehold is not always attractive; The agent's obligations if you make an..."

"... get a mortgage on some properties; The characteristics of a leasehold property; What lease lengths affect a properties value; How lease lengths can be extended; Why Share of Freehold is not always attractive; The agent's obligations if you make an offer. - How the System Works -..."

"... length and Value: There is usually a great deal of confusion amongst buyers as to what is a "good" lease length. One hundred years or more is often quoted but while this is quite easy to find in say, Islington, it is rare in some other areas such as Clapham. The affect the lease length has on a property value is based simply on the number of people who believe they can afford it at any given time at how they perceive it will affect their ability to resell..."

"... the lease 50 to 60 years: It is still possible to raise a mortgage on such lease lengths although the perception of buyers is very different. A higher degree of concern over resale value or the costs of a lease extension will now start to have a substantial affect on the value Less than 50..."

"... the Lease: You may not be particularly happy about giving the property back to the freeholder after seventy years. The good news is that whether he wants it or not, if you have used the property as your main residency for the last year, you can force an extension on the lease. There will be a fee and this is usually calculated at what the property is worth now compared to how much it will be worth after the extension is granted. As such a twenty year extension on a property with a one hundred year lease is considerably cheaper than it would be on a property with a fifty year lease. As an example increasing a lease length from one hundred years to one hundred and twenty years may increase the value of the property by £2,000. In other words an amount too small to be recognisable . A reasonable fee for the freeholder to charge you would be £2,000 plus legal and administrative costs. For a fifty year lease the extension may increase the value of the property by £50,000. and so that would be the fee (again plus legal and administrative costs). If your freeholder wants an unreasonably large some it is possible to demand arbitration. A "reasonable" amount will be decided and both parties must abide by..."

"... Length and Value: Despite being share of freehold the flats in the above example are still leaseholders. The difference is that they are leaseholders to a freehold company and each one of them owns a share of that company. This means that if the leases are starting to look short on years they can simply agree amongst themselves to grant each other a fifty year extension for say £1 each! As such lease length and value have little connection in a Share of Freehold..."