If you are one of many home-owners who live in a leasehold property, it is important to understand the full implications of your lease, including its length.
Leasehold sales contracts are typically a feature of divided residential buildings such as a large, older house now converted into separate flats or a purpose-built apartment block. In recent years some property developers chose also to sell many new houses directly to home buyers on leasehold contracts.
In most cases, residential property is sold with long lease periods of at least 99 years, sometimes significantly more, but it is well worth taking the time to check how many years remain on your current lease – when it does run out, legal ownership of your home will revert to the property freeholder, the underlying owner of the building and the land on which it stands.
The value of your leasehold home is very likely to diminish as the term left on your lease decreases and, if you have less than 80 years remaining on your lease, you may find it increasingly difficult to sell your property as time marches on.
Do I have the right to extend my lease?
Probably, yes.
Most leasehold home-owners have a statutory right to extend their lease. As long as you have owned your property for at least two years and hold a long lease whose term was in excess of 21 years when it was originally granted, you should be legally entitled to extend the lease on your home, which will boost its resale value and give you reassuring security of tenure.
How much will it cost?
You can expect to pay a price for your lease extension, although the amount you are required to pay, the premium, is usually calculated based on a standard formula involving the amount of ground rent you have already paid and the remaining length of your lease.
Enlisting the help of a conveyancing professional to ensure the complex official paperwork is completed on time and accurately at each stage of your application will give you peace of mind and save time in the long-run; procedural errors, missed deadlines or factual omissions can be expensive to correct and could jeopardise the success of your application.
How do I start the process?
We are established residential conveyancing solicitors with full knowledge and experience of all the relevant legal rules, practices and procedures so if you are considering the pros and cons of extending your leasehold term, we are perfectly-placed to help.
Our experts will help you decide whether the time is right for you to extend your lease and, once you have made your decision we can prepare the specialist documentation and conveyancing needed to secure your extension. If necessary, we will take your case to tribunal to ensure your statutory rights prevail – and we will provide clear estimates of our fees and any extra costs in advance, to keep you fully in the picture.
We pride ourselves on providing stress-free high-quality specialist conveyancing services that will serve your best interests efficiently and effectively, achieving your best possible outcome at a reasonable cost and with the minimum of fuss.
For more information on how we can help residential property leaseholders extend the terms of their lease, call us for an informal conversation on 01243 786668, email the property team at info@georgeide.co.uk or contact us directly using the details shown.
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14th March 2025
