If you own a flat in Leeds you will need to extend your lease at some point. The sooner you do this, the less expense you will face and our specialist lease extension team 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.
YOUR RIGHT TO A LEASE EXTENSION
Sadly many people who own residential leasehold flats don’t understand their right to lease extension. This isn’t really surprising, as leasehold extensions are a complex area of the law with which many estate agents are not familiar and which many conveyancing solicitors don’t take the time to explain to their clients.
In basic terms, once you have been the owner of your flat for two years – even if you have never lived there yourself – you have the legal right to compel your freeholder to extend your lease by a period of 90 years, whether they like it or not.( It’s also possible to come to an informal or voluntary lease extension agreement with your freeholder – but that does come with risks).
As the period on you lease starts to run down, getting it extended becomes increasingly important. As well as facing the prospect of eventually handing the flat back to the freeholder, many property owners find out the hard way that flats with a short lease are difficult to get a mortgage to buy and therefore hard to sell.
It’s also important to realise that if you want to extend the lease straight away after purchase rather than waiting for two years, the person who is selling the flat to you can start the process of extending the lease before the sale goes through and then pass that on to the buyer once the deal is completed.
LEASE EXTENSION – DON’T SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS THAN SPECIALIST ADVICE
Many property solicitors make the mistake of trying their hand at lease extensions under the assumption that they can’t be that difficult, only to discover that the various complications involved led them to make costly mistakes. Such complexities include:
• Various deadlines which must not be missed
• Confusing legislation surrounding residential lease extensions
• Obstinate landlords
• Landlords who knowingly hinder negotiations in order to let your lease run below 80 years (therefore costing you far more to extend it)
• Taking problematic landlords to the First-Tier Property Tribunal
• The difficulty of choosing an appropriate surveyor to value the lease
• Dealing with matters after completion
RECOGNISED LEASE EXTENSION EXPERTS
Our lease extension team is not simply a group of property solicitors who do the odd bit of lease extension work. It is a dedicated 5 strong team of lease extension specialists – lease extension and collective enfranchisement is all they do. And over the last 25 years we have helped around 10,000 people nationwide just like you extend their leases or buy the freehold of their block. So you’re in safe hands if you instruct us here at Bonallack & Bishop. We have the experience and know-how you require for your lease extension.
We are also members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners – the only organisation representing specialist lease extension and and freehold enfranchisement surveyors. So, if you are looking for experts, we can help.
THINKING OF EXTENDING YOUR LEASE? DON’T DELAY – ACT NOW
Our advice is simple – now is a great time to extend your lease. Firstly, as every day goes by, the remaining term of your lease drops. And that increases the cost of which you will have to pay to extend your lease.
And the situation is made much worse if your property is gradually worth more – because one of the most important factors to look at when calculating the amount of the premium you’ll need to pay to extend your lease, is the actual value of the flat. So therefore, the downside of any increase in value in your flat is that it means you’re going to have to pay more for the privilege of lease extension.
LEASE EXTENSIONS FOR FLAT OWNERS IN LEEDS – GET IN TOUCH TODAY
Lease extensions very rarely require client and solicitor to meet in person so we should be able to conclude matters using telephone, email or Zoom video.
If you would like to learn any more about how we can help you to extend your lease , email our team using the contact form below, or call 01722 422300.