Extending your lease

Right to extend your lease

One of the drawbacks of owning a property on a long lease is that it reduces in value over time. The less time is left on the lease, the less valuable the property becomes. Because of this, the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 gives leaseholders the right to extend their lease once they have owned it for two years.

If you are looking to extend your current lease, you are strongly advised to seek their own legal advice. You may also find the guidance (including a lease extension calculator) issued by LEASE (the government appointed body) helpful. See link to their website below.

https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/

Eligibility

Lease extension request require the following conditions to be met:

• The property must be held under a long lease, i.e. a lease that was granted for more than 21 years.
• As the leaseholder, you must have owned the property for more than 2 years
• A Section 42 Notice must be served on the Landlord by a solicitor
• You must not have any arrears on your service charge account

Things to note

• The lease premium will only be known once a valuation has been carried out
• If the lease has less than 80 years remaining, then additional fees will apply
• If the lease extension is granted, it will be for a further 90 years on top of the time remaining on the lease
• Once the lease has been extended the ground rent charge will be extinguished

Fees payable for extending your lease

The following fees are payable when applying for a lease extension:

• LBTH Legal fee of £1750 (This does not include fees the leaseholder may incur from their legal representation)
• Valuation fee of £1140

The above fees are reviewed on an annual basis so please confirm the fees when applying for a lease extension.

Please note that a premium is also payable to the Council, the exact amount of which is determined after the surveyor valuation is carried out. Fees for the extension of a lease will be collected by the LBTH Legal Team once THH have carried out the relevant checks and have been instructed to proceed with the application.

FAQs