What my solicitor did not tell me - lease extension

sab8878

Hi there

I hope someone can give me some advice on my situation.

In 2006 I bought a flat with an 81 year lease. The solicitor asked about extending the lease and the response from the landlord was that it could be done under the normal statutory rules. My solicitor made me aware that this was fine and after two years I would be able to use Section 41. What I was not told was about the crucial 80 year period where it gets a lot more expensive to extend the lease.

In August last year i started proceedings and it looks as if I will be paying around £13,000 to extend by 90 years. However I am still annoyed that the 80 year rule was not explained to me by my solicitor and I feel that had I known about this I would have made sure my initial offer for the flat would have taken this into account.

Can I seek redress for this? The situation is slightly complicated by the fact that I am using the same solicitors for the lease extension.

Many thanks

Fire_Fox

I think you have misunderstood. Marriage value does indeed kick in at eighty years, however AFAIK the cost doesn't go from, say, £4K for £14K overnight. Plug your figures into the calculator at the bottom of the page:
http://www.lease-advice.org/
And then repeat as if the lease was two years longer.

I suspect you will find the reason the lease extension is expensive is not because it has gone UNDER eighty years, but the fact that you chose a property close to eighty years in the first place. Assuming you had the flat valued for mortgage purposes this should have been taken into account, as should the original asking price.

A solicitor does have a responsibility to explain certain risks to you, but IMO it is not his responsibility to baby you through the process. Owning a leasehold property is far more complex than owning freehold, given that you spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the flat it would have been be wise to do your own research into the implications.

sab8878

thanks for the reply firefox. i looked at the website you sent me. The difference is about 3-4k which is not an insignificant amount.

I understand what you say about responsibilities of the buyer but I really think that solicitors have an obligation to lay out all potential costs especially with a property so close to the 80 year threshold. The fees we pay solicitors are high and i think we should expect more for our money. Especially solicitors in London where leasehold is so common.

Richard_Webster

I agree that a 79 year is not going to cost a lot more than an 80 year one to extend as the marriage value issue is not very significant for the first few years but I also agree that a solicitor should explain the 80 year rule to you.