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.
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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.
Client Testimonials
Nick, Sally and Maddie were excellent throughout the whole process. We are very happy with the service they provided.
Nichola Swan and Graham Cropley
Nicholas Smith
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
Nick was at the very top of his game (again). If there is a better lawyer out there, I’ve yet to meet him. A giant amongst men. Respect.
Pete Cunningham
Nicholas Smith
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.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
Mr C
Nicholas Smith
Nick was always very quick to respond to any queries and made the whole process a lot less stressful, especially as it was my first property purchase. Guidance documentation was very helpful too. I can’t fault the service.
Teresa Durrant
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
Nicholas Smith
“Just a very quick, but nonetheless very sincere and heart-felt thanks on behalf of J and myself for your highly professional and sympathetic help in the house sale/purchase saga – you certainly saved our respective sanities on several occasions when your wise words proved to be the right course of action.”
Mr T
Nicholas Smith
Nicholas Smith was highly professional, focused and responsive. He worked to a very tight timetable to
complete the purchase of our house and I would strongly recommend him to prospective clients
Robert & Nathalie Forman
Nicholas Smith
You have been a pleasure to deal with and have been so competent, patient, organised and professional. I still cannot believe how stress-free the whole procedure was with you. In stark contrast, I completed today on my house in N Ireland after five (!) months of legal wrangling. I am delighted with the house and, although still surrounded by packing boxes, am making progress. Once again. Thank you for all you did. Kind regards,
Elaine Young
Nicholas Smith
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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.
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
Nicholas Smith
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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