After the end of industry and manufacturing in the area in the 1970s and 1980s, Liverpool declined into a city with an extremely high level of unemployment and a very high level of poverty. Extensive regeneration in the 1990s and 2000s, though, has transformed Liverpool into a city of culture and business, with Liverpool even having been declared the official City of Culture.

Employment rates in Liverpool are now very good, and as a result a number of people are able to buy their own properties in the city. Housing supply hasn’t kept up with demand, though, which has pushed prices up and meant that for many people their only option is to purchase a leasehold flat.

Many flat-owners in Liverpool need to extend the leases on their properties – yet many of them don’t even realise that they have the legal right to do so.

Extending the lease on your value of your flat [whether or not you actually live in it, or are a buy to let landlord] makes great financial sense. You almost certain to end up with an significant increase in the value of your flat as a direct result.

But don’t forget – the longer you leave your lease extension, the more expensive extending your lease is going to be.

Thinking about lease extension? Got a question? Call our experts on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

MAKE SURE YOU APPOINT A  LEASE EXTENSION SPECIALIST

Lease extensions involve complex legislation, tight deadlines and various other complications. Many non-specialists property solicitors will try their hand at a lease extension only to find that they’re out of their depth and cannot represent their client’s needs sufficiently. This is why it is so essential that the solicitor you instruct for your lease extension is a specialist

Our specialist lease extension solicitors have vital experience interacting with landlords who will often try to disrupt lease extension negotiations. A popular trick is to delay proceedings so that the leaseholder’s lease runs below the pivotal 80 year limit so that it costs far more to extend the lease. Experienced lease extension solicitors will not fall for these tricks and if necessary they will be able to apply for a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to speed up the process. Don’t forget that the landlord is likely to instruct a specialist themselves, so make sure that you are on an equal footing.

YOUR LEASE EXTENSION – WHY CHOOSE US?

Here are just a few reasons:

• We’ll draft all the documents and manage the deadlines

• Our team of 5 lease extension experts have vast experience helping thousands of clients with extending a lease

• We are proven specialists – we are long-standing  members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP)

CALL TODAY FOR HELP WITH YOUR LIVERPOOL LEASE EXTENSION

Our specialist team manage the lease extension process from start to finish for the majority of our clients without needing to meet face-to-face – keeping in contact via email, telephone or Zoom video.

• Just call us now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for a FREE initial phone consultation and a FREE quote for your lease extension, OR

• Complete the email contact form below

The city of Portsmouth is situated on the south coast of England and is popular amongst anyone who wants to live in a coastal area without the need to break the bank. This is, in part, due to its large percentage of flats and leasehold properties.

Portsmouth is almost entirely located on Portsea Island, making it the UK’s only island city. It is also the only city in the UK with a higher population density than London (at 11 times the national average), with more than 205,000 people living in the city, making it the 6th largest urban area in England.

When you add that to the fact that between 2001 and 2011, Portsmouth’s population has increased by 9.8%, you’ll see why the area has a particularly large number of flats – both new builds and conversions.

But if you do own a flat in Portsmouth – have you thought about extending your lease? In fact, are you even aware that you have the legal right to force your freeholder to grant you an additional 90 years to add onto the current remaining term of your lease?

Considering extending your lease? Got a legal question? Call our experts today  on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

WHY EXTEND MY LEASE?

You’ll find more detailed explanation elsewhere on the site on exactly why a lease extension is so important – but in brief, if you don’t extend your lease you risk the following problems;

• Trying to sell a flat with a short lease is getting increasingly difficult. Buyers generally prefer leases with longer terms, and more and more mortgage lenders are getting reluctant to grant mortgages on short leases – before the recession it wasn’t unusual to see home loans provided for flats with, say, 50 or 60 years left to run – now most mortgage companies require around 70 to 80 years remaining on a lease

• At some stage your flat is going to need a leasehold extension – unless you’re happy to simply hand ownership back to the freeholder

• Everyday you delay extending a lease is likely to cost you more money. Firstly the shorter your lease the more it will cost to extend it, and secondly, with house prices rising, that means that the premium you need to pay to your landlord is going up too – in fact a reputable firm of specialist lease extension surveyors recently estimated that in London, the price of extending the average lease was going up by a staggering 12% each and every year!

Want to know more about how it all works. Click here to read about the leasehold extension process.

SO WHY CHOOSE US TO HELP EXTEND YOUR LEASE?

•  We are genuine specialists – which is so important and given the complexity of lease extension law

•  We have the proven experience you need – we’ve completed thousands of lease extensions for satisfied clients over the last 20 years  – Just click here to read testimonials from just some of our satisfied clients

•  We provide FREE initial advice over the phone

•  We can handle your lease extension from beginning to the end. Our team will deal with all the paperwork and can identify and appoint on your behalf, if you wish, a specialist leasehold extension valuer – an expert surveyor who you will need to provide a price for your lease extension, and who will help in negotiations of reasonable premium with whoever owns the freehold of your block

YOUR PORTSMOUTH LEASE EXTENSION – GIVE US A RING TODAY

If you live in Portsmouth and you are thinking about extending your lease, just contact us now for FREE specialist advice with no strings attached.

•  Just call one of our team now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or [01722] 422300 OR

•  Email us using the contact form below

Bath is a picturesque city of almost 90,000 people, nestled in the county of Somerset. It’s famous for its Roman baths and Georgian architecture and is a popular place for young families looking to start their lives together.

Given the price of property in Bath [ 2014 saw the overall average price of property in Bath rise to £371,294], it is no surprise that it is home to a particularly large number of leasehold flats – both purpose-built and conversions from older properties.

When any property is owned on a leasehold rather than freehold basis, you effectively own the property for limited period of time – and you don’t own the land it’s built on out right. That means that eventually the lease term will run out and you will know longer own the flat – and in the meantime, year by year, the declining lease term reduces the flats value.

Unless there been a subject of freehold purchase, the vast majority of flats in England and Wales are leasehold.

Thinking about extending your lease? Got a question? Call our specialist solicitors on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

WHY YOU NEED TO EXTEND YOUR LEASE

Your lease term reduces with each and every year. This decreases the market value of your property as well making it increasingly less attractive to potential buyers.

In particular, once you let the lease term slip below 80 years, extending your lease gets rapidly more expensive [that’s because the “marriage value” becomes payable to your freeholder – click here to learn more about that].

NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME TO EXTEND YOUR LEASE

The lease extension process can be very long and arduous, so don’t leave it until it’s too late. Your lease stops getting shorter if you choose the formal route and serve the required notice on your freeholder, so don’t delay. What’s more, with property prices increasing you are hit by a double whammy – a shorter term means increased expense as does the increasing in the value of your flat.

In fact we have recently come across some surveyors who estimate that every year you delay extending your lease means you have to pay an extra 12% for your lease extension. That means in around just seven years, extending your lease will cost you double!

Remember: the earlier you extend your lease, the cheaper it will be.

YOUR LEASE EXTENSION – WHY CHOOSE US?

Extending a lease without the advice of a specialist solicitor is never a good move, as you can get burned if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Leasehold extensions usually involve keeping to rigid deadlines – missing one of those, can cause significant difficulties.

What’s more, if your freeholder tries to drag out the process even longer, your fees and stress levels will increase and it could become a whole lot messier. It’s for this reason that it’s essential that you get the right legal advice – from a lease extension specialist.

The law surrounding lease extensions is relatively complex and very few solicitors, even specialist property solicitors, deal with more than the occasional lease extension.

Our team are different. They specialise in lease extension for both leaseholders and freeholders throughout England and Wales – that’s why we are one of a small number of solicitors who are members of the only organisation for specialist lease extension solicitors – ALEP, the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners.

Our team also have years of experience of handling difficult freeholders, and are well aware of all the tricks that certain unscrupulous landlords try to play. If it becomes necessary, our team also have plenty of experience in taking cases to the First-Tier Property Tribunal [previously known as the LVT or Leasehold Valuation Tribunal]

HOW WE CAN HELP YOU EXTEND YOUR LEASE

Our specialist team will:

• provide you with FREE initial advice – just call FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 now
• provide a FREE ESTIMATE of how much your lease extension is likely to cost – including not just the legal and valuation costs but we can also give you an estimate of how much the actual lease extension premium will be..
• as part of our one-stop shop service, we will identify and instruct on your behalf a local specialist lease extension surveyor who will value your lease extension and can help you to negotiate a reasonable premium for the extension.
• do all of the paperwork – whether or not a formal notice is required, or whether you have agreed a private and informal lease extension with your freeholder.
• handle any application to the First-Tier Property Tribunal – in the unlikely event that becomes necessary

With one of our specialist team on board to handle the legal side for you,, the whole process should move much more quickly and sleekly, with you being able to rest assured that a professional is handling matters and will ensure that everything is completed as it should be.

YOUR BATH LEASE EXTENSION – WE CAN HELP

If you live in Bath and you’re thinking of extending your lease, or would like some information as to the potential benefits and costs of doing so, give us a call and our specialist team be more than happy to talk through your options with you – FREE of charge with no strings attached.

Although we are based in Salisbury, we represent clients nationwide – in fact we really meet our clients, and regularly handle hundreds of lease extensions every year by phone email and Skype video

• So just call us on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for a FREE initial phone consultation and a FREE quote for your lease extension
  OR
• Complete the email contact form below

Do you live in Nottingham? Do you own a leasehold flat? If so, the chances are that you will need to think about a lease extension very soon

Many people are either unaware of the importance of extending their lease or delay extending it for so long that the price of doing so shoots up dramatically. Don’t make the same mistake, start the renewal process today.

NOTTINGHAM – THE SIZE OF THE LEASEHOLD MARKET

The city of Nottingham was estimated to be home to 310,837 people in 2013, with the population of the wider Nottingham area estimated at 729,977. As the largest urban area in the East Midlands (and the second largest in the Midlands), there are more long leasehold flats and apartments in Nottingham than in most towns or cities for many miles. In fact, if you count the population of the entire Nottingham/Derby metropolitan area combined, the population shoots up to more than 1.5 million, with the area having the seventh largest metropolitan economy in the United Kingdom.

As a university city and an area which has a lower employment figure and a higher than average proportion of disabled people who are out of work, Nottingham has seen the proportion of home owners drop significantly over the last fifteen years, with an increase in rented and leased properties. It should come as no surprise, then, that fifteen years on lease extension is a hot topic in the city of Nottingham.

Thinking about extending your lease? Got a question? Call our experienced lawyers now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

LEASE EXTENSION SOLICITORS – MAKE YOURS AN EXPERT

People are often tempted to try and conduct the leasehold extension process themselves but this is a dangerous game. Lease extension law and procedure is difficult to understand and in order to extend your lease you must meet specific deadlines and draft certain documents. Furthermore, your landlord is likely to instruct a specialist leasehold extension solicitor so you want to make sure that you are on a level playing field.

Whilst most landlords are very agreeable you may find yourself in a position where your landlord is delaying negotiations so that your lease runs below the critical 80 year level, thus costing you more to renew. A  lease extension specialist will be able to spot such underhand tactics and if necessary will be able to take your case to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

YOUR LEASE EXTENSION – OUR EXPERTS CAN HELP

Our solicitors can help in a number of ways. We have contacts with surveyors who will value your lease. We can also manage the timetable for your extension and draft all of the complex legal documents required.

We have a dedicated team of 5  lease extension specialists rather than generalist property lawyers trying their hand at lease extensions and are members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners.

LIVE IN NOTTINGHAM? WANT TO EXTEND YOUR LEASE?  DON’T DELAY – CONTACT US TODAY

We do not need to be able to see our clients in Nottingham in person in order to conduct their lease extensions. Telephone, email or Zoom video is all we need in order to run your formal or voluntary lease extension from start to finish. In fact we now handle around 500 lease extensions every year, for clients throughout England and Wales, most of whom we never meet.

Our team are leasehold extensions experts – so for FREE initial advice on getting a leasehold extension that you can rely on, along with an estimate of the likely costs of extending your lease, please contact us today;

• Call us for free now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544, or

• Send us an email using the contact form below.

Procrastinating over your lease extension is simply not an option. The costs you incur as a result can be enormous so it is crucial that you instruct a specialist, Brighton lease extension solicitor. If you live in Brighton, our team of experts can help.

Thinking about extending your lease? Got a question? Call our specialist solicitors on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

WHY YOU NEED A BRIGHTON LEASE EXTENSION SPECIALIST

Many property lawyers try their hand at extending a lease only once in a blue moon and unfortunately, they often fail to achieve the best outcome for their clients. In order to get the fairest deal for your lease extension you will need a specialist lease extension solicitor like those at our firm. Our solicitors can help you by:

• Bringing together all the information needed for your leasehold extension

• Finding a respected surveyor to value your lease extension

• Drafting documents which will be legally recognised

• Deal with any issues arising immediately after completion

• Negotiating with (often awkward) landlords in order to reach a fair price for your lease extension

• Helping with applications to the First Tier Property Tribunal in instances where landlords refuse to co-operate, deliberately stall or agreements cannot be reached.

BONALLACK & BISHOP – BRIGHTON LEASE EXTENSION EXPERTS

Our leasehold extension team is formed of 3 expert lease extension solicitors with a history of helping clients nationwide with their lease extensions spanning 25 years.

Unlike many property solicitors who claim to be able to do lease extension work, our solicitors are recognised specialists. And we are members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners.

But don’t just take our word for it – here is a testimonial from a Hove based specialist lease extension and enfranchisement surveyor, whose business has undertaken over 1500 valuations for lessees and freeholders alike.

“As one of the leading and longest established firm of chartered surveyors specialising in leasehold reform, we have worked with Bonallack and Bishop on many occasions. The process is complex and a procedural minefield. Bonallack and Bishop certainly know the ropes and we have always found them knowledgeable and efficient and a joy to deal with”.

Andrew Pridell, Andrew Pridell Associates Ltd – specialist Lease Extension Chartered Surveyor and Valuer, Hove

BRIGHTON LEASE EXTENSION – CONTACT OUR SPECIALISTS TODAY

Whilst some of our clients like to come and visit us in office, this really is not necessary. In fact for the vast majority of lease extensions we are able to carry out all communication with clients through phone, email or Zoom video.

Get in touch with us today and we will be able to give you a quote for how much your UK lease extension may cost or arrange a consultation with you to discuss your situation in depth.

So for FREE initial phone advice about your lease extension,

• Complete the email contact form below,

• Or call us now free on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544

Birmingham‘s population is now [according to figures released in 2014 by Birmingham City Council] over 1.1 million people.

And there are probably over 100,000 privately owned flats and apartments – the 2011 Census confirmed that Birmingham contained 86,595 purpose built flats – and that’s before you even start to count up the many thousands of houses  converted into flats over the years.

So with so many leasehold flats in Birmingham, you won’t be at all surprised to hear that it’s a popular area for lease extensions.

However, some people in Britain’s second city will put off extending their lease only to discover that they face far greater expense when they eventually get round to doing so.

Here at Bonallack & Bishop, our specialist solicitors can make sure that you you get a fair deal for your lease extension.

Got a lease extension question? Call our specialist solicitors on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

THE ROLE OF A SPECIALIST LEASE EXTENSION SOLICITOR

Specialist lease extension solicitors, like ours, recognise the complexity of both the law and procedure surrounding lease extensions. You need to keep a really close eye on various deadlines – and the process generally is full of pitfalls for those who don’t know what they doing.

Bearing in mind that your landlord is likely to know a good lease extension solicitor it is advisable that you instruct a specialist yourself in order to put yourself in the best position possible. Your solicitors negotiating skills and ability to collect evidence will be central to getting a fair deal. It is also important that they know good surveyors who can value your lease fairly.

Many unscrupulous landlords will attempt to hold up the negation process for so long (or simply refuse to cooperate at all) so that your lease runs down to the 80 year mark and therefore becomes far more expensive to extent. Our solicitors can spot these tricks and if you landlord is being devious or simply difficult, can take the necessary action and if necessary will be able to help you to apply to the First Property Tribunal [previously known and still often referred to as the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal or LVT].

BONALLACK & BISHOP – BIRMINGHAM LEASE EXTENSION EXPERTS

There are very few firms in England and Wales who specialise in leasehold extension.

Around 10,000 firms don’t . But we do. And we estimate that in 2018, our team will probably help another 350 leaseholders with their lease extensions.

Our firm comprises a lease extension team made up of highly experienced specialists who have helped thousands of clients around the country over the last 35 years. Unlike other property solicitors who do the occasional UK lease extension, our solicitors deal with them all the time – that means they have the expertise you are going to need.

We are members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners.

But you don’t just need to take our word for it. Here is a testimonial for our team from one of the country’s most highly regarded lease extension surveyors

“As one of the leading and longest established firm of chartered surveyors specialising in leasehold reform, we have worked with Bonallack and Bishop on many occasions. The process is complex and a procedural minefield. Bonallack and Bishop certainly know the ropes and we have always found them knowledgeable and efficient and a joy to deal with”.

Andrew Pridell, Andrew Pridell Associates Ltd – specialist Lease Extension Chartered Surveyor and Valuer, Hove

Click here if you want to see some more testimonials for the team.

CONSIDERING A LEASE EXTENSION IN BIRMINGHAM? CONTACT US TODAY

Don’t leave it too long to extend your lease. Get in touch with our specialist solicitors to start the process. Whether you wish to stay in contact via telephone, email or Skype, we are happy to help.

Basildon was effectively created in 1948 as a new town in order to accommodate the overspill population from London after the Second World War. It originally consisted of four villages: Pitsea, Laindon, Basildon and Vange. Today, though, the town is home to more than 100,000 people and is far more of an urban centre than its original village heritage suggests.

In fact, Basildon is one of the most densely populated areas in the country, partly due to the large number of flats in the town. Although some of these flats are rented by the tenants, a great number are at is known as “long leasehold” properties, essentially owned by the leaseholder with a term that was originally granted for at least 21 years.

Thinking about extending your lease? Got a question? Call our specialist solicitors on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

PROBLEMS WITH SHORT LEASES

When you come to sell your flat, if you’ve got less than 60 years left on your lease, you may be surprised to find how difficult it is to sell – in particular with such a short lease term, your flat will probably be un-mortgageable. When it comes to remortgaging or selling, you really will have major problems.

Given that a significant number of the leasehold flats and apartments in Basildon were built in the 70s and 80s, usually with a term of 99 years, that means that many of those flats have a relatively short lease and are going to get increasingly hard to sell. For example, say your flat was built in 1975 – at the time this page was written that’s 47 years ago, which means there are only 52 years left on the lease. And with a lease that short, it’s highly unlikely anyone will get a mortgage

THE ANSWER TO YOUR SHORT LEASE PROBLEM

Most flat owners don’t realise they have the legal right to force their freeholder to grant them an additional 90 years on top of the current lease.. There is no requirement that you need to have ever lived in the flat – simply that you have owned it for at least two years.

Exercising your legal right to get additional 90 years on top of the current lease is achieved by going through a formal legal procedure – although as an alternative, it is possible to negotiate directly with the freeholder, and come to a claimant to extend the lease informally, potentially for a much shorter period than 90 years.

However the timing, negotiations and legal arrangements for lease extension can prove very tricky – particularly if you’re working with an awkward freeholder who wants to try and drag the process out, especially when your lease is approaching the critical 80 year point – after which the price of lease extension rises significantly.

Regardless of whether you’re thinking of making a formal statutory application or coming to an informal arrangement with your freeholder, you’re going to need a solicitor – and it’s really important that you pick one who specialises in leasehold extension work.

CAN I USE MY LOCAL SOLICITOR?

There is absolutely nothing stopping you using your local solicitor – but before you do, it’s really worth asking them one simple question –

“How many lease extensions have you completed in the last year?”

Why, because the vast majority of solicitors only come across lease extensions once in a blue moon – if at all. So they probably have very real experience of this tricky area of law.

EXTENDING YOUR LEASE – WHY NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME

Although in principle, you can extend your lease at any time, for most people, we strongly encourage them to do so sooner rather than later. But why?

• Your lease extension is getting steadily more expensive

You are currently being hit in two directions – not only will the premium you have to pay to extend your lease steadily increase as the remaining term of your lease drops, but with rising house prices, that will also increase the cost of your lease extension. In fact, one major freehold company recently estimated that the cost of lease extensions in London was going up by a staggering 12% a year. If this continues, you, you will have to pay double for lease extension in under seven years – that’s not a great incentive for you to extend your lease now, we don’t know what is

• Lease extension solves your short lease problem and will make selling your flat much easier

Buyers simply prefer long leases – so if you’re thinking of selling, and your lease is comparatively short (probably with a remaining term of anything below 70 or 75 years), there without a lease extension, you will attract far fewer potential purchasers , and will almost certainly achieve a much lower price

• Mortgage lenders increasingly avoid short leases

There’s been a real trend in the last few years, for mortgage lenders to significantly tighten their criteria or it comes to lease or property. In particular. Many now don’t lend on any remotely short lease – so whereas it was relatively easy to get a mortgage on a flat with say 50 or 60 years left 10 years ago, any potential buyer may now struggle to get a mortgage offer to buy a flat with say 70 [or even 80 years!] left on the term

• A lease extension takes time

if you’re thinking of selling your flat at sometime in the future, our strong advice is to get your lease extension sorted out now. Why – if you have to go down the statutory route, which we normally recommend. If you’re looking to sell a flat in the near future, then that can take up to 6 months – and you won’t want that kind of delay when you found your new dream home

YOUR BASILDON LEASE EXTENSION – HOW OUR TEAM CAN HELP

• With experience of many thousands of lease extension extensions for leaseholders and freeholders alike, our team have all the specialist experience you need. We have one of the top teams in the country, and lease extension work is all they do.

• Our team provide FREE initial telephone advice – just phone FREEPHONE 0800 1404544

• We have developed a network of specialist lease extension surveyors nationwide with we regularly work – and can introduce you to a specialist surveyor local to you who will be able to accurately value your lease extension – like solicitors, leasehold extension surveyors need to be specialists.

• We prepare all the necessary legal documents and notices and managed the tricky timetable involved

CONSIDERING A LEASE EXTENSION IN BASILDON? CONTACT OUR EXPERTS TODAY

Our specialist team have helped many thousands clients with their lease extensions over the last 25 years. And when it comes to extending your lease, it doesn’t matter where you live in England and Wales – we can help. In fact we deal almost all of our extension clients solely through telephone, email or Zoom video.

And what’s more – initial phone advice from specialist team is FREE – so why not give us a call now?

• Simply, phone us now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or,

• Fill out the email contact form below

When the new town of Milton Keynes was first designed and built, affordable well-placed housing was at the top of the list of priorities. Today, Milton Keynes is home to more than 250,000 people and covers around 35 square miles. The population has grown enormously over the past few years, with the town’s vibrant culture and busy shopping precincts being very attractive for young families looking to start their lives together.

The town is one of the only ones in the country to have a dedicated separate cycleway network, with its entire transport infrastructure designed around easy travel — indeed, its grid system and roundabouts are famous across the whole country, the town having been designed to make it easily navigable for cars, cyclists and pedestrians alike.

With the population boom in Milton Keynes, the need for housing has meant thousands of new homes have been built around the town, with many of them flats or leasehold apartments.

Thinking about extending your lease? Got a question? Call our specialist solicitors on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

YOUR RIGHT TO EXTEND YOUR LEASE

If you live in Milton Keynes and you own a leasehold flat, did you know that you have the legal right to extend your lease? Well, you do – either by forcing your freeholder to grant you an additional 90 years on to the end of your current lease, or by agreeing a voluntary or informal lease extension with your freeholder.

Put simply, subject to a few simple conditions (click here to see if you and your flat fit the criteria for lease extension) anyone can extend their lease at any time – but beware, because the process is not always easy.

HOW A LEASE EXTENSION SPECIALIST CAN HELP

It’s not a legal requirement that you get a solicitor to represent you – but most sensible people do. It’s a bit like buying a house – yes, you could do the legal work yourself, but sensibly, very few people try, preferring to appoint a specialist. For a start, when you come to extend your lease, it’s almost inevitable that your freeholder will hire a solicitor of their own.

But if you do decide to appoint a solicitor, it’s really important that you get someone who specialises in lease extension. Very few solicitors do – most conveyancing solicitors only come across lease extension once in a blue moon, and with respect, a lot of them make a complete mess of it, as they don’t understand the regulations and, in particular, the very tight timetable that a formal lease extension involves.

By getting your own specialist solicitor, you can rest assured that you have a expert to guide you through the process of extending a lease with the minimum of fuss.

EXTENDING YOUR LEASE – DON’T DELAY

It’s true that you can extend your lease at any stage, but our strong advice is to get your lease extension through as soon as possible. Why?

The price is going up.

Currently the ongoing increase in property prices means a hike in the premium you will have to play for extending your lease. When you add that to the fact that every day your lease is getting shorter, which in turn means you have to pay more for your lease extension, the reality is that delaying your is extension application is simply going to make it more expensive. In fact, recently one major London-based freehold company estimated that the cost of residential lease extension was going up by 12% every year – so, putting your application off by another seven years could mean you have to pay your freeholder 100% more!!!

Lease extensions take time

Unfortunately, many people only think about extending a lease when it comes to sell the property – that can create problems with timescales. A formal lease extension takes on average, six months, due to the strict timetable involved. The alternative, an informal lease extension with your freeholder still takes time – and you risk dealing with an script landlord who could pull the plug on your agreement at any time – or try to use your need for a quick lease extension to increase the price. So a sensible leaseholder will want to extend their lease well in advance of a potential sale

Don’t let your lease drop below 80 years

Why? That’s simple. The very day that the remaining term of your lease drops below 80 years, your freeholder is entitled to charge an additional premium – which will cost you thousands of pounds more. So our advice is that whilst you should always look to extend your lease sooner rather than later, that’s particularly important when the remaining term of your lease is somewhere between 80 and 85 years.

A short lease means mortgage problems

Post recession, most lenders have significantly tightened their criteria on lending on leasehold property. As a result, many lenders simply won’t allow a buyer to borrow on any lease with a term below 70, or even 80 years in some cases. So, if you end up with a short lease, you could find that most purchasers are simply won’t be able to get a mortgage which means a delay in selling and probably a much lower sale price. The answer – early lease extension.

YOUR MILTON KEYNES LEASE EXTENSION – HOW WE CAN HELP YOU

• With experience developed over 20 years and many thousands of successful lease extensions, our team have got the specialism you need – click here to see what our clients and the surveyors we use think of us

• We offer FREE initial phone advice – just call us now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544

• We will arrange to appoint a specialist surveyor to accurately value your lease extension – getting the right surveyor is as important as getting the right specialist solicitor

• Our team deal with the application itself, all of the accompanying notices and documentation and make sure your application sticks to what can be a strict timetable

THINKING ABOUT A LEASE EXTENSION IN MILTON KEYNES? CALL US NOW

Over the last 20 years or so, are experts have helped many thousands of leaseholders with extending a lease.

We can help you with your lease extension wherever you live in England and Wales – we regularly take instructions from clients solely by phone, email or Skype video only.

So what’s stopping you getting in touch now? After all, initial phone advice from our experts is FREE.

• Simply, phone us now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or,

• Fill out the email contact form below
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The city of Southampton is home to more than a quarter of a million people, with the south coast city being nicknamed ‘The Gateway to the World’. It is a popular place for young families, with many amenities and attractions which make it ideal for bringing up children and getting onto the property ladder. Its popularity also means that property in Southampton can be expensive with many people choosing to get on the housing ladder by buying a leasehold flat.

A leasehold flat can be a fantastic way to get your foot on the property ladder and own your own property without having to buy a house — an ideal situation for many young families who only need the space of a flat but do not want to get trapped in the private rental sector. Leases do need special care and attention, though, and one of the things that you need to be aware of is the possibility of extending your lease -not least because trying to sell a flat with a short lease is getting increasingly difficult.

Thinking about extending your lease? Got a question? Call our specialist solicitors on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 for FREE initial phone advice – with no strings attached.

HOW OUR SPECIALISTS CAN HELP EXTEND YOUR LEASE

Firstly it’s important to realise that extending a lease involves a complex area of law with strict timetables and traps for the unwary – and in addition, the average property or conveyancing solicitor only comes across lease extension rarely.

In fact, Southampton, like most British towns and cities, has no specialist lease extension solicitors. That’s where we come in – here at Salisbury-based law firm Bonallack and Bishop, we have a team of lease extension experts – lease extension is all they do, extending leases of hundreds of clients throughout England and Wales every year.

• Our experts offer FREE initial phone advice

• We can introduce you to a specialist lease extension surveyor – who you are also going to need as part of your professional team to value and then assist in negotiating a reasonable premium for extending a lease with the freeholder of your block

• Our solicitors will handle all of your paperwork, regardless of whether you are able to negotiate an informal or lvoluntary lease extension of your freeholder, or whether or not a formal notice to start the whole procedure proves to be necessary

YOUR SOUTHAMPTON LEASE EXTENSION – CALL OUR TEAM NOW

If you live in Southampton and you are considering a lease extension, or you simply want to know more about why extending a lease is so essential, simply phone our team and one of our specialists will go through your options with you – completely FREE of charge with no obligation.

• So call us now on [01722] 422300 or,

• Fill out the email contact form below

Leaseholder obligations

1. Use language that people can understand!

There has historically been a tendency for some property lawyers to use language which is almost incomprehensible – a habit which annoys us enormously! Not only can the sentences be too long with inadequate punctuation but the vocabulary can be obtuse and recognisable words can be used in unrecognisable ways. Lawyers have developed an unshakeable reputation for using words such as ‘heretofore’ or ‘aforesaid’ and inserting Latin phrases which only serve to drive others to distraction.

The good news is most modern leases are not written in such a way and due to the Unfair Terms and Regulations, leases written after 1995 which are written in such an unintelligible way will not be enforceable.

2. Terms which unfairly burden consumers

The Office of Fair Trading forbids some terms which are deemed to unfairly encumber the consumer (or leaseholder) or unfairly benefit the supplier (or freeholder). Sometimes, efforts are made to sneak such unfair terms into long leases in particular.

An example often seen is a clause inserted at the end of the lease which requires the leaseholder to state that they have ‘read and understood’ everything. Given how long and complicated the lease can be, it is unreasonable to expect that this would be the case. Ultimately, inserting such a clause marks an attempt to trap the leaseholder so that should an argument arise, the freeholder and his solicitor can simply point to the fact the leaseholder claimed to have read and understood all terms in the lease. Another common tactic is to use a clause giving the freeholder the last word on whether the leaseholder or freeholder has carried out the necessary duties specified in the lease. Some leases will also include disproportionate penalties for breaches of lease terms.

Thankfully, the OFT has largely succeeded in stamping out such underhand tactics. However, given the danger of such unfair clauses, it is crucial leaseholders instruct specialist solicitors to protect their interests. A solicitor will also be able to advise you on whether the Landlord and Tenant Act which protects leaseholders in various ways.

Freeholder obligations

1. Respect quiet enjoyment and exclusive possession

It is crucial that the freeholder respects the leaseholders’ rights of ‘exclusive possession’ (the right to exclude others, the freeholder in particular, from the property) and ‘quiet enjoyment’ (the right to avoid interference from the freeholder provided that the property is being used legally) of the property.

The ‘right to enjoyment’ can be complex because the right only applies to breaches by the freeholder and their agent. Therefore, if the freeholder carried out noisy work in the building which disturbed you as the leaseholder, they are in breach of your right to quiet enjoyment. However, if another leaseholder plays loud music all night they cannot be breaching this right because they are not bound by it. Instead, you would need to take nuisance action against them.

2. Section 48 Notice

Section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 offers important protection to leaseholders as well. It exists to prevent freeholders simply ‘disappearing’ by failing to provide contact details for example in an attempt to shirk their obligations. Freeholders are legally obliged to provide leaseholders with a name and address in England or Wales through which they can be contacted. This address needn’t be a home or registered office (in the case of a property company); it could be a solicitor’s office or a property management company’s office. This can be particularly helpful for leaseholders whose freeholder has moved overseas.

This notice can simply be included in another document and the freeholder will not be able to claim that they never saw the notice if it is sent to the address listed: pleading ignorance is not a valid excuse. If the notice is not served, the leaseholder can withhold payment of rent arrears or service charges until the notice is provided.

3. Good Management

Freeholders are legally required to check that responsibilities as a manager are fulfilled in the proper manner. If a leaseholder believes that the freeholder is not fulfilling their management duties they can take their freeholder to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) which will make a judgement and can punish or demand action from the freeholder. This process can be drawn out and expensive but is better than leaseholders taking matters into their own hands by refusing to pay service charges for example, which could place them in breach of their lease.

Dial 01722 422300 for expert advice on leaseholder rights and obligations

It is crucial that both leaseholders and freeholders are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities. For more information on this complicated area of property law, call our leasehiold extension specialists on 01722 422300, or

Send us an email via the contact form below.