Lease Extension Process

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​To extend your lease, you must agree and pay a reasonable 'premium' to the Landlord who owns the freehold of the building. There is statutory guidance on how this premium should be calculated and it is possible for you to negotiate the premium and terms of a lease extension directly with your Landlord (a non-statutory lease extension), but there is no obligation on their part to agree the premium and no option to compel them to grant an extension. The most reliable route is therefore to seek a statutory lease extension.

 

If you extend your lease for 90 years via the statutory process, you stop becoming liable to pay ground rent. This can help to offset the costs you incur in extending the lease and is a further benefit that is guaranteed by using the statutory route. The flowchart below outlines the process of the statutory process. As you will see the statutory process also has certain key fixed time limits which ensure the process cannot be blocked indefinitely.

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1. DO YOU QUALIFY FOR A STATUTORY LEASE EXTENSION?

Was the lease originally granted for a term of more than 21 years?

Have you owned the lease for at least two years?

If you answer yes to both of these questions, you are almost certainly entitled to proceed with a statutory lease extension.

2. VALUATION

Our RICS qualified and highly experienced surveyors will calculate the proposed valuation of the purchase price of your lease extension, to include in the notice we send to your landlord.

3. NOTIFYING YOUR LANDLORD

Our specialist leasehold solicitors will inform your landlord of your intention to purchase a lease extension, including the proposed valuation of the purchase price. This "Notice of claim" will trigger the statutory timetable to which both parties must comply. The landlord is also entitled to request payment of a 10% deposit (based on your proposed valuation) and for his surveyor to have access to inspect the property on receipt of the Notice of Claim.

4. LANDLORD'S COUNTER NOTICE

Your landlord now has just over two months in which to serve a counter-notice accepting your proposed valuation or proposing an alternative valuation of the purchase price for the extension.

5. NEGOTIATIONS (FAILURE TO AGREE TERMS)

Once the landlord's counter-notice has been served both parties have 6 months from the receipt of the notice to negotiate and agree the final price and terms for lease extension. If your landlord does not issue a counter-notice within the specified period, you will generally be able to apply for the price of your extension to be set at the valuation proposed in your original Notice of Claim.

If your final agreement is not reached in the specified period, either party can make an application to the Land Valuation Tribunal, who will determine the price and terms of the extension.

6. COMPLETION

Once the terms are agreed our solicitors will review the terms to ensure they are acceptable for you, complete the agreement with the landlord, handle the payment of monies due to the Landlord and register the new lease with the Land Registry Office. Once again there are statutory time limits to ensure that the landlord cannot delay the time to completion

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