selling flat with short leasehold

diandra

Hi! My flat has 73 yrs remaining on lease and a buyer has put in an offer which is £20k less than asking price based on their having to extend lease, pay for valuations, etc. My estate agent has advised me to take offer and I'm thinking of accepting, however, if the buyer wants me to assign the right to apply for an immediate lease extension just before completion of purchase (I understand that if it was issued between exchange and completion it wouldn't be valid) and Iissue a S.42 to the freeholder, then I understand I would have to put in a figure that I'd be willing to pay for extending the lease and would have to cover valuation costs both for myself and for freeholder. Obviously, I don't want to incur any costs, if I drop the price of my flat - any advice much appreciated.

tomatopuree

To give you an indication of the cost of extending your lease have a look at http://www.lease-advice.org/

It will only give an indication, but gives you a good idea whether the £20k figure is in the right ball park.

Once you serve notice on the landlord it kicks in the timeframes set out in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. You will become liable for the landlord's reasonable legal/surveyors fees. The landlord can also request a 10% deposit of premium specified in your notice.

kmmr

£20k sounds like a lot. My block of flats (5) bought our freehold for £15k, and we had about the same left on the leases. So £3k each + fees. In London.

73 years isn't great, but it is, I believe, well within the range of leases that qualify for almost all mortgages. Certainly not worth a significant reduction in price IMHO.

I would also say that if they want to downvalue by that amount, and you accept it, then they can sort all the legwork themselves. I wouldn't do the work to get the process started on their behalf if they are also reducing what they will pay for the property by a decent chunk.