Advice on extending a lease

TheSaintVII

Hi all,

My wife and I own a 1 bedroom flat which:

• would be valued at £95,000 (if the lease was over 80 years)
• has 76 years on the lease
• we pay £50 ground rent per year
• we've owned for more than 2 years

I understand from reading this site, and others, that we have the legal right to have the lease extended by 90 years if we can agree a fee with the landlord. We've contacted the landlord and they've agreed to listen to offers before going down the road of getting it officially valued etc.

We only want to extend the lease back up to 99 years to try and keep costs down as we're looking to sell up and move in the near future. Looking at various calculators online the cost to extend it by 90 years would be £3500 - £4000, but what would be a fair offer for a 23 year extension?

Has anyone had any experience in doing this?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!!

TheSaintVII

Another thing...

The company we are dealing with (which represent the freeholder) are Pier Management, has anyone dealt with them with extending leases?

They have already told us we need to pay them a £300 + vat admin fee at the start of the process, should we have to pay this? Can't we deal with the landlord directly?

Sorry for all the questions but we're new to all this!!

2sides2everystory

Hi there, only just seen this.

Actually I am quite surprised that the whole subject doesn't get a better airing on MSE as I am sure thousands of MSE'ers ought to be considering similar ideas (extending their leases, clubbing together with neighbours and buying freeholds or applying for Right To Manage).

One specialist forum on another website worth a read might be this one: Regis and Pier Management

And this might also be useful:
Leasehold Advisory Service : Lease Extension Calculator

Unfortunately in your case I can think of two pains you may have to endure if you see this through to a conclusion whereby you succesfully extend the lease:

1. Because you have less than 80 years unexpired the price you might have to pay will include something called a "marriage value" which I understand may make the final price rather more than it would have been if you'd been able to do it before there were less than 80 years unexpired.
2. I have read recently that Pier Management also insist on appointing their own valuation surveyor at an exhorbitant fee - I think I read one quoted was around £800 + VAT.

gingerjackel

Hi, I was just wondering if you have an update on your lease extension situation?

I also have a flat which is managed by Pier and have been trying to find out about extending my lease or buying the freehold. Their response was to speak to a solicitor! I thought my lease was about 92 years but it is actually only 88 years.

I tried the calulator to get a cost for extending and it came out as £4000-£5000 but knowing Pier they would want twice that much!

I am reluctant to pay out any 'admin fees' just to get my price for the extension and I know they will make it as difficult as possible

saabay

Whilst they might want more there is a procedure for agreeing the value of the extension as set out in the relevant legislation.

I can't post links so do a Google search of the Leasehold Reform, Housing, and Urban Development Act 1993 (Chapter II).

Sorry it's a bit of a quick answer and the legislation is complicated but I would recommend that you seek the advice of a solicitor who specialises in this sort of thing. Law Society website might give you some help on that. It's probably worth doing for the future and the sooner the better as the premium for a new lease increases every year that the current lease term reduces.

mart.vader

gingerjackel wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if you have an update on your lease extension situation?

I also have a flat which is managed by Pier and have been trying to find out about extending my lease or buying the freehold. Their response was to speak to a solicitor! I thought my lease was about 92 years but it is actually only 88 years.

I tried the calulator to get a cost for extending and it came out as £4000-£5000 but knowing Pier they would want twice that much!

I am reluctant to pay out any 'admin fees' just to get my price for the extension and I know they will make it as difficult as possible

Contact the Leasehold Advisory Service as posted above at post #3 - They will be able to advise you. - It seems to me that your management co are just wasting time, (the more time they can waste, the shorter the lease, and thus the more money they can charge to extent it)

I also took a quick peek at the link for Regis and Pier Management - they do seem to be a bunch of crooks !

Jeffrey_Shaw

saabay wrote: »

I can't post links so do a Google search of the Leasehold Reform, Housing, and Urban Development Act 1993 (Chapter II).

Here's a link to the 1993 Act http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/28/contents