Ground Rent Review Assistance Scheme

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.

Customers who own homes (houses or apartments) which have a lease with a ten year doubling ground rent clause, and who purchased their home directly from Taylor Wimpey, can apply for the scheme.

If you believe you qualify for the scheme, click here to begin the application.

Please note that this is a voluntary process and there is no obligation on customers to make an application, or to complete an application once it has been started.

Customers who wish to apply for assistance under the scheme should start the process by completing the online application here.

Once the initial application has been completed, and if you qualify for assistance, we will guide you through the next steps of the process.

Leases will be converted via a legal document called a deed of variation.

A deed of variation is a legal document used when amending or varying an existing contract. It records the changes that have been agreed by all parties.

Taylor Wimpey will cover the cost of converting the lease terms on your behalf and will also make a fixed payment towards your own legal costs incurred in relation to the deed of variation.

Qualifying applicants will need to appoint their own solicitor at some point. Taylor Wimpey will inform you when you need to appoint a solicitor.

Please complete one application form per qualifying property owned, click here to start the application process.

The scheme is only available to customers who purchased their property directly from Taylor Wimpey, since we were involved directly in their purchase.

If you did not purchase directly from Taylor Wimpey but would like to discuss the options available to you with regard to your lease, we recommend you get in touch with your current freeholder directly and/or the solicitor who acted for you on that transaction.

No. The scheme concerns homes which were purchased directly from Taylor Wimpey and that have a ten year doubling lease. The use of RPI-linked leases is a nationally recognised and long established measure and is the most commonly used index for price increases across the leasehold residential sector. Should you wish to review the details, all of the information regarding the ground rent charges and the inflation-linked ground rent review policy are outlined in your lease.

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.

The most effective solution for customers is to convert their leases to an alternative structure which addresses the issues of affordability, mortgageability and saleability. We are optimistic that we can achieve this but there are other routes available to us if this cannot be achieved effectively with some freeholders.

We would suggest contacting your local Taylor Wimpey office who will be able to help. Contact details can be found here.

We would suggest you check the details of your lease, where all of the information regarding the ground rent charges is typically outlined in the first clause under the ‘Rent review’ heading.

We announced last year, following a review, that all future sales of Taylor Wimpey houses on new developments will be on a freehold basis, with the exception of a very small number of cases where Taylor Wimpey does not own the overall site on a freehold basis.

We do not yet know all the details about the Government’s proposals. However, we do know that the proposals regarding ground rents only relate to new long leases. They do not apply to existing leases.

As a result, if you have a lease with a ten year doubling ground rent clause, the Government’s ground rent proposals will not impact your lease.

If you believe that you qualify for the Taylor Wimpey Ground Rent Review Assistance Scheme, please click here to start the application process.