Taylor Wimpey is introducing the scheme to help customers who purchased from us and who still own homes (houses or apartments) which have a lease with a ten year doubling ground rent clause.
This scheme, which is being offered by Taylor Wimpey on a voluntary basis to qualifying customers, follows a comprehensive review which looked at the concerns raised regarding the saleability and mortgageability of these properties, and included detailed discussions with the current freeholders, lenders and third party experts.
Based on the findings of our review and in order to address customer concerns, Taylor Wimpey is offering a scheme to help its customers convert their existing doubling leases to an alternative lease structure, specifically incorporating materially less expensive ground rent review terms. This will be done via a legal document called a deed of variation. From our discussion with lenders, we are of the view that this measure will also allay the concerns that some of our customers have around the saleability or mortgageability of their homes due to the doubling leases.
Taylor Wimpey is working with the organisations that own the freehold of the relevant properties to convert the doubling leases. We have reached agreements with freeholders to enable the significant majority of our customers with a ten-year doubling lease to convert their ground rent terms to an RPI-based structure. We continue to engage in a constructive dialogue with other freeholders that own the leases to properties built by Taylor Wimpey with this type of doubling lease. Discussions are progressing well and we are optimistic that we will be able to reach agreements that help our customers.
While Taylor Wimpey is not legally obliged to take any action with regard to doubling leases, we do recognise that your lease has caused you concern. We want to help our customers and we are committed to helping to resolve this.