Life Leases: What In The World Are They?
Monday, June 13th, 2011If you or your loved ones are approaching retirement and have been investigating different housing options, chances are that you have come across the term Life Lease.
What are Life Leases?
In basic terms, a life lease is a form of prepaid rental housing. The owner of a life lease purchases the right to occupy a unit and use the common facilities for as long as the lease remains in place. The length of the lease term could be for life or for a fixed number of years. Depending on the contract structure and jurisdiction, as we will learn later in the article, a life lease is a legal agreement that usually lies somewhere between renting and owning a residential premises.
Depending on the legislative environment, the occupant of a life lease unit may be referred to as the purchaser, lessee or tenant. The developer or owner of the life lease units may be referred to as the sponsor, lessor or landlord. A life lease is not equivalent to the ownership of a condominium or strata unit even if the life lease project has been registered with a condominium or strata plan.
Typically, life lease projects are targeted at those over 55 and may also be targeted at specific ethnic or religious groups.
A life lease may, depending on the terms of the lease (see below) be sold, either to a third party or to the lessor. Construction of new life lease projects may be undertaken by for-profit or not-for-profit entities. Where a for-profit entity develops a life lease project, ownership of the project is generally transferred to a not-for profit entity after completion.
Few jurisdictions have legislation covering life lease projects. In most jurisdictions, the life lease is simply a contractual arrangement between the lessor (generally a not for profit entity) and the lessee.
Advantages of Life Leases
- Most commonly provides accommodation for seniors in a community of seniors. Amenities are generally geared to this target market.
- May allow lessees to obtain “ownership” of a property at below market levels. This can occur because land may be donated or sold to the sponsor at below market rates or the sponsor may not earn the usual developer’s profit on the project. New construction may not always provide this opportunity as sponsors are often inexperienced and profits given up by a not for profit developer may be partially or wholly offset by increased consultant costs.
- Can allow individuals on fixed incomes to tailor level of rents to their incomes.
- Generally not subject to the will of a condominium or strata council.
- Life leases may avoid land transfer tax in some jurisdictions where this applies.
- Redemptions by, or sales back to, the lessor (which may have a waiting list) may reduce market risk.
Disadvantages of Life Leases
- Units may not be freely marketable (e.g. lease may require units to be sold back to the lessor at predetermined prices).
- Lease transfer restrictions (such as a requirement for new lessees to be “approved”) may depress resale prices.
- Title is held by the lessor and registration of a lease on title may or may not be possible (in jurisdictions with land transfer tax, lease registration generally triggers tax payment).
- New construction is generally not covered by the usual new home warranty program. As such, deposits are often used to fund development costs and are uninsured (i.e. the lessee risks losing the deposit if the development is unsuccessful).
- Lessee does not have input into operations through a condominium or strata council.
- Lessee generally does not have registered title to his/her unit.
- It may be difficult to obtain residential mortgage financing of a life lease unit.
- Lessor may not have liquid assets to fund redemptions.
- Lessees who wish to vacate may need to find their own substitute tenant.
The Life Lease Ownership Process
- Applicable terms and conditions of life leases vary widely but the general features are similar. Life leases should not be confused with ownership of a dwelling unit on leased land.
- The lessee of a life lease unit pays a sum of money to the lessor. The amount of money paid may be the full cost of the unit leased or it may be a lesser amount. If the lessee pays the full cost of the unit, then (subject to the terms of the lease), the lessee will generally only pay a monthly maintenance fee (roughly equivalent to condominium or strata fees). If the amount paid by the lessee is less than the full cost of the unit, the lessee will also pay a prorated rent (e.g. if the cost of a unit is $200,000 and the lessee pays $100,000 up front, his/her rental payment will be approximately equivalent to a payment on a $100,000 mortgage plus the monthly maintenance fee)
- Most not for profit lessors of new life lease projects expect full payment in order to cover construction costs.
- The lessee does not generally obtain title to the unit. Some leases do not permit the registration of the lease but, where this is permitted, registration of the lease generally triggers the payment of land transfer tax.
Types of Life Leases
- Zero balance lease/life estate: the purchaser pays in advance for the right to occupy a unit for the duration of his/her lifetime. No redemption value exists (i.e. the lessee or the lessee’s estate cannot sell the leasehold interest).
- Declining balance redemption value: the redemption value of the unit is fixed and reduces on a pro-rata basis over a fixed term until a redemption value of Zero Dollars is reached. Generally, if the lessee moves or dies while there is a redemption value, the unit is returned to the lessor and the lessee (or estate) has a claim for the redemption value.
- Fixed value: the redemption value is constant for the life of the lease.
- Indexed redemption value: the redemption value is based on an initial fixed value with periodic indexing to an inflation-sensitive index.
- Future value: probably the most common type of life lease. The lease may be sold at market value with the lessor usually taking an administration fee to facilitate transfer of the unit. The tenant may bear the market risk if the value of the life lease unit has fallen.
Who Develops Life Lease Properties?
- Life lease project sponsors are often religious or charitable foundations. While these may have been successful in raising the initial funds for the project, they may have limited development experience and they may lack the ability to fund cost overruns.
- A full review of the history, resources and capacity of the developer should be undertaken by the buyer.
- Life lease projects are often targeted at the constituencies of the charitable or religious foundation developers. It is essential, therefore, to ensure that the life lease agreements are non-discriminatory.
As we can see, the concept of the life lease is very complex. Because each development may have a different set of lease parameters, and many jurisdictions have no legislation governing the parameters of life lease developments, it is essential to get an informed legal opinion on the specific development to type of life lease contract that you are considering.
