Lease Extensions
Under the Leasehold Reform Act (as amended) 1993, a leaseholder of a residential property has a right to extend his/her lease for a term of 90 years, plus the residue of any unexpired term, and to reduce the rent to a peppercorn rent (effectively rent free). This is known as a lease extension.
Under the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002 leaseholders of a residential property (such as block of flats) have the right to collectively purchase the freehold of the block. This is known as leasehold enfranchisement or collective enfranchisement.
Lease Extension Procedure
The process for lease extension or Lease Enfranchisement can be summarised as follows:
1. You need to get a valuation so that you know what figure to enter in your initial notice to your landlord.
2. You need to serve an initial notice on your landlord requesting the lease extension or right to enfranchise.
3. The landlord then has 2 months within which to serve their counternotice stating at what price they would be willing to extend your lease or sell the freehold.
4. Once this notice has been served we then begin negotiations with the landlord’s surveyor in order to agree on a premium which will be payable to extend your lease or purchase the freehold.
If the matter cannot be agreed within 6 months the matter is referred to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
We offer discounts for multiple instructions
ENFRANCHISEMENT
In order to participate in a collective enfranchisement certain criteria need to be met, such as the number of participants but there is no longer a requirement to live in the flat.
Leases that have more than 80 years left do not pay any marriage value and so timing of the leasehold valuation and notices can be crucial, in order to minimise the premium payable.
The prescribed process to seek either a lease extension or undertake a collective enfranchisement is complicated and the leasehold valuation involved complex. However, a party with good professional representation can benefit significantly as well as ensuring the proper procedure is followed and a thorough negotiation is undertaken. Often, the saving achieved on the premium payable far exceeds the fees payable for good professional advice.
We have undertaken 100's of lease extensions on behalf of Clients across England and have achieved a very high success rate. A very high proportion of our business is via referrals from previous Clients. We believe that the best way to judge a company is from the testimonials from genuine Clients.
Please see our Client Testimonials page to see our reviews
For more helpful advice see our Q & As
