A number of lenders made changes to their Handbook last month. Perhaps not surprisingly some focused on changes to leasehold requirements.
Examples of lenders who made changes (England and Wales region) include:
Yorkshire Building Society (2 sections)
Scottish Widows Bank (5 sections)
Swansea Building Society (1 section)
Chelsea Building Society (2 sections)
Market Harborough Building made set an interesting new requirement relating to ground rents. Their new wording at 5.14.9 reads:
a. Any ground rent at the start of the mortgage term should not exceed annually £250 outside of London or a £1,000 inside London. If this is the case you must immediately contact the Society. We will advise you if our mortgage offer remains valid.
b. Ground rent and other event fees must be reasonable at all times during the lease term. For example, it is acceptable for ground rent escalation to be linked to RPI (Retail Price Index) or a similar index and where this is the case we do not need to be advised. However, unreasonable multipliers of ground rent will not be permitted, for example, doubling every 5, 10 or 15 years. These must be referred to the Society and we will advise you if our mortgage offer remains valid. If you are unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable, please refer the details to the Society immediately.
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