Extending the lease before purchase

Ultranol_2

Hello,

A property we are interested in has a shortish lease of 79 years. The vendor has indicated that they would be willing to begin the process of extending it before selling (thus getting around the 2 year rule). Is this easy to do? Or does it add time and money onto the buying process? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Thanks

poppysarah

They'd have to extend it not just begin the process I think... erm depends
Is it one on a former council property? a flat?

It will cost money and time but could be done in a month or three perhaps.

Fire_Fox

Everything leasehold here, including long lease extensions:
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/

onionz_2

poppysarah wrote: »

They'd have to extend it not just begin the process I think... erm depends

No - it is possible to sell a property with the benefit of a S.42 notice. This means the vendor serves a notice (having taken advantage of >2 years ownership) then sells the property. The buyer concludes the lease extension process.

The risk is that the buyer has no certainty as to the price they will pay for the extension. This will be decided independently by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, if necessary, but it is still an unknown fact for the buyer at the time they purchase.

The remaining term of 79 years is not particularly short. It is certainly mortgageable. You might want to consider buying then waiting a while before paying to extend it. If you sold it on in 2 or 3 years, you may find your buyer will accept 76/77 years remaining and you could save a significant amount of money.

Ultranol_2

Thanks for your replies. We have an estimate for 8k, and we'd probably stay there for 5ish years. We just don't want to be in a difficult posistion when we come to sell because of the short lease. If the S.42 notice is an easy thing to sort out I think we'd prefer to do that.

Icey77

My lease renewal has taken 6 months so far and I'm nt sure when it will be finished at this rate :rolleyes:

Good luck!