Leasehold extension is a right granted to tenants by the 1993 Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act. This Act allows leaseholders to force the landlord to extend a leasehold by 90 years, which is then added to the remainder of their original lease. The extended lease is then subject to a peppercorn rent, which effectively means that they don’t have to pay any ground rent on that lease.
The Leasehold Reform Act 1993 also lays down the criteria that people need to meet if they want to consider extending their lease and also sets out the process to be followed in order to do so.
Click here for more information about leasehold extension eligibility.
As an alternative to the statutory route to lease extension as described above, it is also possible to reach an informal or voluntary agreement to extend your lease with your freeholder. Whilst this can be quicker, there are a number of risks involved with this route.
Click here to read more about the dangers of extending your lease informally
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As an alternative to the statutory route to lease extension as described above, it is also possible to reach an informal or voluntary agreement to extend your lease with your freeholder. Whilst this can be quicker, there are a number of risks involved with this route.
Click here to read more about the dangers of extending your lease informally
If you end up in a disagreement with your freeholder over your desire to extend your lease, then you will have to apply to the First-Tier Tribunal Property Chamber ( previously known as the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal before a re-branding exercise], where your case will be heard and ruled on by an independent panel.
Applications to the Tribunal – which are expensive and can cause considerable delay – are relatively uncommon – fortunately common sense and a wish on behalf of both parties to keep legal costs down usually triumphs. Very few extensions that are successfully negotiated end up at a Tribunal.
If you are thinking of a lease extension under the Leasehold Reform Act 1993 then there is certain information you will need to collect and certain people you will need to get involved to help you. As with any aspect of the law it requires a particular process to be followed and there are plenty of opportunities for mistakes be made. In particular, there are a number of strict deadlines you would need to keep to. As a result it is definitely worth doing a bit of research to get to grips with the issues and then you will definitely need to appoint specialist lease extension solicitors and surveyors who will be able to help you through the process and provide specialist advice only lease extension dispute that may arise.
We can help you with the solution – the Vesting Order.
Click here to read more about vesting orders and absent freeholders
In short – huge. According to the information from the National Statistics Office, England and Wales contains around “22.5m households” currently. Of those, around 4.5 million are flats and of those approximately 1.5million are long leasehold flats, i.e. flats which are eligible for lease extensions.
Given that number, it is staggering that so many owners of these properties are unaware of their legal rights to require their freeholder to extend the lease by 90 years when formally requested to do so.
Very few property lawyers routinely deal with lease extension and enfranchisement and therefore often struggle to deal with them. That’s all our specialist five strong lease team do, day in day out.
However there is no reason to risk appointing a non-specialist to deal with extending a lease, leasehold enfranchisement or right to manage – our team can help you wherever you live in England and Wales
For FREE initial phone advice from our specialist Lease Extension Solicitors
Our experienced solicitors have helped clients throughout England and Wales achieve the best outcomes in enfranchisement, lease extension, and right-to-manage cases.
We also work closely with trusted surveyors and block management companies, offering a complete service from start to finish.
We offer free initial legal advice and nationwide coverage.
No meeting is required, as we can manage your entire case by phone, email, or video call.
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