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Why extend your lease?

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.

George Ide LLP. We’re on your side

Contact our team

For further information about any of our services or to book a no-obligation consultation, call us on 01243 786668 or email directly at info@georgeide.co.uk.

Nicholas Smith | Partner

Head of Residential Property

01243 813535 nicholas.smith@georgeide.co.uk

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Maddie Carty | Licenced Conveyancer

01243 831008 maddie.carty@georgeide.co.uk

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Rosie Morris | Chartered Legal Executive

Residential Conveyancing

rosie.morris@georgeide.co.uk Read Bio

Krystin Frame-Maroulis | Paralegal

Residential Property

01243 971652 krystin.frame@georgeide.co.uk

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Mr T

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Thank you so much Nicholas for the brilliant service you have given is throughout the selling and buying of our properties. You, and Maddie, have been exceptional.

Mr and Mrs Holder

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Excellent service again – even better than last time. I was particularly impressed and grateful for the very speedy email communications; they were always prompt but also importantly, they were succinct. I was also pleased at the help given in distilling the important considerations and that Nick identified a major issue with the title very early on in the process.

Mike Smith

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We want to say a very big thank you to both of you for all your help in our house moves. We have been very impressed with your highly efficient, no fuss approach to the conveyancing. It has made the whole process so much easier for us and we would have no hesitation recommending your services to others.
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Tony &Joanne Heys

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Just a note to thank you both very much for your help during the sale of Betty’s apartment. I was pretty stressed about it all, especially after the first sale fell through. But your kindness and efficient follow-up on everything really helped me. I have total confidence in your services and would not hesitate to work with you again. Very best wishes.

Sandy

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I would like to take the opportunity to thank you and your team for your friendly and efficient manner when carrying out the conveyancing of my late Grandmothers property. Other than the delays caused by our buyers it went very smoothly and I am grateful to you for pushing it through so quickly once their issues had been resolved and have pleasure to attach our client satisfaction questionnaire. Kind regards

Jon Sargent

Nicholas Smith

It is hard to improve on an existing, excellent service and I have no suggestions to make. I will definitely recommend you and would use your services again.

Mr. Philip Oliver

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Nick, Sally, Maddie & Lara, I just wanted to thank you for the excellent service that you all provided in the recent sale and purchase of our home. You made a stressful process a great deal easier, with your prompt responses, ready availability and sound advice. We are very grateful and would recommend you to others. I will complete your feedback form, but just wanted to email my thanks to you directly. Best regards

Richard Clay

Nicholas Smith

Many thanks again for your work and support on the sale of my flat in Putney – as per my previous experiences on sale/purchasing properties with your help, you give conveyancing lawyers a good name! Very efficient, prompt and pragmatic plus you know what to advise/caution me on without overdoing it. After the dust has settled I will be looking for an investment property to buy so no doubt will be back in touch in due course. Enjoy the rest of the summer and thanks again.

Katherine Marshall

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For the sale and purchase of our properties we found the service we received throughout the conveyance to be exemplary. A clear, efficient and professional service from Nicholas Smith and his team.

I would look no further for any future property conveyance and as a result of this experience with George Ide I will consider them, first and foremost, for future legal matters.

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It is so nice to have dealings with a straightforward and honest firm, it is so refreshing. You have shown consideration and care in my affairs.”

PR.

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An outstanding week – thanks for the speed and efficiency on the two deals you’ve acted on. I just wish all solicitors were as proactive as you.
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Mr C

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