Another Leasehold Query

High_Roller_2

Hi all,

I have a couple of questions regarding leasehold properties. I'm a First Time Buyer and have seen a flat that I like, but it only has 83yrs remaining on the lease. The vendor has written to the freeholder to find out how much it will cost to extend the lease.

The estate agent said the vendor would be able to pass on the "right-to-buy" of the lease, so rather than the vendor extending it, I would be able to extend it during the buying process (rather than having to wait 2yrs). Is this standard?

Also, a stupid question... in extending a lease, is it standard to extend the lease by 90 yrs (i.e. 83+90=173) or to bring it back to 99/125 yrs in total? Or are both possible?

Apologies if these have been answered countless times, I've done a quick search and looked on https://www.lease-advice.org but haven't found an answer.

Thanks in advance!

Richard_Webster

If you get the seller to serve statutory notice this will be for a 90 year extension at a nil ground rent. The estate agent is being exceedingly optimistic if he thinks that a statutory extension can be agreed as part of the sale process.

If you were landlord wouldn't you want as much as you could for an extension? If you know somebody is desperate to sell you are going to quote a high figure, aren't you? So agent tells you that the right can be signed over because seller doesn't want to ask the question informally lest he be told a figure that puts you off! By having the right signed over to you, you won't know until after completion what the landlord is prepared to agree - and the seller probably wants it that way because if he asked informally he would be quoted a high figure, wouldn't he?

Landlords do often suggest compromises of extensions to only 99 or 125 years and they often try to put the ground rent up at the same time. You would need specialist advice on whether these deals were worth while in relation to what you would be entitled to under a statutory extension.

The Landlord Zone co.uk website forum - long leasehold board - has more specialist people on it who will be able to give you a better idea of the likely figures. They will need present value of property, approx location, and amount of ground rent and whether it varies at all during the lease, and if so, how.

High_Roller_2

Richard,

Many thanks for sharing your knowledge! I'll head over to Landlord Zone and try and understand the process better.

:beer: