Extending the lease on a leasehold flat

[grobyfox1990]

Anyone have any experience of doing this? Simple process or protracted and drawn out?

 

I can extend my current 88 year lease via the freeholders voluntary lease extension scheme, or via the leasehold reform, housing and urban development act 1993. Is there a preferale route? I believe both will give me an extra 90 years.

 

Any advice appreciated!

[Guest Basildon Fox]

Why not just club together with other flats and buy the leasehold if you can.

[dsr-burnley]

I know it can be done via the leasehold reform act whether the freeholder agrees or not.  I also know it is not something you can expect to do for yourself and a solicitor is essential - it can become very complicated.  There's a formula for working out the price.

 

(My own house has just over 800 years left on the lease and costs 13 shillings every 6 months.  Hence I have no practical experience in how it works and have no intention of getting any!)

[grobyfox1990]

On 03/11/2020 at 12:01, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

Why not just club together with other flats and buy the leasehold if you can.

This was mentioned a while back but there is no majority within the rest of the flats to do this.

 

[grobyfox1990]

On 03/11/2020 at 12:37, dsr-burnley said:

I know it can be done via the leasehold reform act whether the freeholder agrees or not.  I also know it is not something you can expect to do for yourself and a solicitor is essential - it can become very complicated.  There's a formula for working out the price.

 

(My own house has just over 800 years left on the lease and costs 13 shillings every 6 months.  Hence I have no practical experience in how it works and have no intention of getting any!)

Thanks, the process 'seems' quite straight forward, meaning the steps involved are laid out and understandable, but I know dealing with these things in a bureaucratic country like ours is always a minefield. The Leasehold advisory service lays out what you need to do, just hoping that's all there is to it. I'm sure it willl be incredibly time-consuming no matter what.

 

You're very lucky with your lease!

[Strokes]

On 03/11/2020 at 12:37, dsr-burnley said:

I know it can be done via the leasehold reform act whether the freeholder agrees or not.  I also know it is not something you can expect to do for yourself and a solicitor is essential - it can become very complicated.  There's a formula for working out the price.

 

(My own house has just over 800 years left on the lease and costs 13 shillings every 6 months.  Hence I have no practical experience in how it works and have no intention of getting any!)

So it’s not just Burnley’s brand of football stuck in time then? 

 

[Nalis]

Being the selfish bastard that I am, I'm going to hijack this thread with a conundrum of my own...

 

I have 93 years lease left on my flat, hoping to sell within the next year and am torn on whether to fork out for a lease renewal.

 

Think its fine for others to buy but the issue is if they are thinking ahead to when they sell in ,say, 5 years after purchase,  then they have 87-88 years left and that might affect their resale value.

 

Thoughts?

[dsr-burnley]

1 hour ago, Strokes said:

So it’s not just Burnley’s brand of football stuck in time then? 

 

Absolutely not.  999 year leases were common in the 1800's.  I don't know if they still are.

[dsr-burnley]

1 hour ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Thanks, the process 'seems' quite straight forward, meaning the steps involved are laid out and understandable, but I know dealing with these things in a bureaucratic country like ours is always a minefield. The Leasehold advisory service lays out what you need to do, just hoping that's all there is to it. I'm sure it willl be incredibly time-consuming no matter what.

 

You're very lucky with your lease!

It's not the process itself that needs a solicitor, it's the things that can go wrong.  I had a client who did this with a solicitor, and they still had to do it all twice because the landlord - deliberately or not - found some loophole or issue that stopped the process first time round.  There's too much money at stake to risk doing it yourself IMO. 

[VLC86]

1 hour ago, Nalis said:

Being the selfish bastard that I am, I'm going to hijack this thread with a conundrum of my own...

 

I have 93 years lease left on my flat, hoping to sell within the next year and am torn on whether to fork out for a lease renewal.

 

Think its fine for others to buy but the issue is if they are thinking ahead to when they sell in ,say, 5 years after purchase,  then they have 87-88 years left and that might affect their resale value.

 

Thoughts?

It will Be fine for the buyer to get a mortgage, banks usually will want either enough years on it to cover the mortgage of 50 from when the mortgage starts.

[grobyfox1990]

15 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

It's not the process itself that needs a solicitor, it's the things that can go wrong.  I had a client who did this with a solicitor, and they still had to do it all twice because the landlord - deliberately or not - found some loophole or issue that stopped the process first time round.  There's too much money at stake to risk doing it yourself IMO. 

Oh 100% agreed, i would never dream of doing anything like this myself! In the process i was referring to, one of the steps involved is hiring a solicitor. Just like buying/selling a house, far too much risk at stake to try and save a few grand by not hiring a solicitor

[grobyfox1990]

16 hours ago, Nalis said:

Being the selfish bastard that I am, I'm going to hijack this thread with a conundrum of my own...

 

I have 93 years lease left on my flat, hoping to sell within the next year and am torn on whether to fork out for a lease renewal.

 

Think its fine for others to buy but the issue is if they are thinking ahead to when they sell in ,say, 5 years after purchase,  then they have 87-88 years left and that might affect their resale value.

 

Thoughts?

This is a useful guide, you should be fine for now:

 

LEASE LENGTH	EXTENSION COST	PROFESSIONAL FEES (1)	TOTAL	POTENTIAL ADDED VALUE (2)
95 years	£5,000	£2,500	£7,500	£5,000
85 years	£6,000	£2,500	£8,500	£10,000
79 years	£8,500	£2,500	£10,500	£16,000
70 years	£14,000	£2,500	£16,500	£26,000
60 years	£24,000	£2,500	£26,500	£38,000