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Leasehold Extensions

We have assisted hundreds of people in the last few years to extend their lease and can assist you on a fixed fee basis.

Why extend my lease and when should I do it?

  • Extending your lease arguably enhances the value of your property, this needs to weighed against the premium paid to extend your lease.
  • Some Lenders will not lend on properties that subject to short leases, as such your property may be easier to sell if the lease has more than 90 years left to run on the lease.
  • The general rule is that properties with 80 years or lease left to run on the lease should extend, the costs associated with extending lease with less than 80 years left starts to become proportionately expensive.

Leases are all fixed for a certain period of time, the shorter the lease the greater the cost to renew. Some leases are called virtual freehold leases and they are for a period of 999 years, we aren’t concerned with these leases we are concerned with 99 year leases or 125 year leases which have 85 years or lease to run. Issues can arrive either selling or re-mortgaging a short lease. If you need to get a mortgage to buy a leasehold property you will find very few banks willing to lend on leases with under 80 years left on the lease. If you are selling a property with lease than 80 years you may find that you can’t find a buyer, we can help buying extending the lease and provide clear time-frames and fixed fees from the outset.

The are two ways to extend the term of a lease.

The are two ways to extend the term of a lease.

  1. By coming to an agreement with your landlord without serving Statutory notices and involving surveyors etc
  2. By coming to an agreement with your landlord relying on the provisions of Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.

Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, we recommend that all client use the formal protected route, but to discuss other options please feel free to contact our team.

By Agreement

The Landlord and Tenant may informally agree to extend the lease for certain period of time for a certain value, depending on the negotiating positions of the parties this may produce a fair result, it may not though. Under the informal route the Landlord can still charge and indeed increase the ground rent, under the formal regime the extension period is fixed, the value attached is measured and quantified by surveyors and the obligation to pay ground rent is removed going forward.

Using the Statutory regime

The preferred method to extend leases is to rely on the notices and provisions under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.

  • Notices need to be served on the Landlord
  • both the Landlord and Tenant appoint surveyors to value the lease extensions
  • normally both parties have solicitors to attend to the preparation of the agreement and registration of the lease extension with the Land Registry.

We can help you with every aspect of residential lease extensions. Our experts will protect your interests and keep you fully advised of all the implications.

Are you looking for someone to help?

Let us help you! Call Now : +44(0)203 861 2001

info@tls-solicitors.co.uk
·  Mon – Fri 09:00-17:00

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