How much to extend a lease?

trelloskilos

It seems like a really straightforward question, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get an answer...even a rough ballpark figure.

My circumstances are these:
I am currently buying a new flat. I was initially told there was 102 years left on the lease, but recently, I was told that this is incorrect, and that there are 89 years left. The vendor has offered to reduce the price by £4000 because of this.

My thoughts are not about the money as such. I would need to hold on to the flat for 2 years before I can apply to the council to have the lease extended. I want to know if £4000 would cover this.

I was buying the flat for £86000, so with the £4000 reduction, would set the price at £82000. The Lease has 89 years left of a 125 year lease. The ground rent is £50 p/a

I have spoken to the Leasehold advisory service, and they can't help, spoken to the local council, who are the freeholders, they won't even entertain giving me even a rough idea. The agents, the vendors & even the solicitors can't give me a ballpark figure. - The only option I have is to pay a surveyor to do it, and it seems a pointless expense just for the sake of getting a rough idea of a price.

All I have managed to get is the Online Lease Extension Calculator from the Leasehold Advisory services website, and even this seems a bit iffy, and only one source.

So I am appealing to the good people on these forums just to offer me a rough idea of the sort of costs I may expect 2 years down the line, and if the £4000 reduction in the price is worth me accepting.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

dazeruk

I can't comment on your particular circumstances but I can give you the figures from the flat I'm purchasing.

An original lease of 99 years was granted in 1973.

In 2005 the lease had 67 years left and an application to extend by 90 years was made.

This was granted. The original lease was surrender and a new lease granted of 189 years from 1973.

This extension cost £10,665.

Note in this case the lease was extended after it had fallen below the 80 years point at which 'marriage cost' comes into play.

The current value of the flat is £200,000 and has a lease of 151 years left to run.

I think the problem is that the extension is at a price negotiated between the leasehold and freeholder. There are no fixed rules on how to calculate it.

Hope this helps.

Jeffrey_Shaw

The best source for impartial guidance is the Leasehold Advisory Service website. It includes a rough-and-ready calculator of the cost of extending lease ('premium') under s.42 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.
See http://www.lease-advice.org/

dazeruk

I came across a calculator on the Open Gov website

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Leaseholdproperties/DG_193044

From the basic information you give, the calculator on the site quotes a figure of around £2,000

MacMickster

I would ask the vendor to extend the lease now, in which case you will pay the £86,000 purchase price.

If he doesn't agree to this then it indicates that he thinks that it will cost more than £4,000 to extend.

779

£4,000 will be the absolute minimum. From my limited experience of leases, I would guess that it won't cover it.

The problem is, no-one will know how much it will cost to extend, until you instruct/pay to have it extended, as quite a bit of work/research is involved beforehand.

Another figure to throw in the pot, - I used to own a flat which had about 78 years left on the lease, - I was told that it would "probably" cost in the region of £8,000 - £18,000 to extend it.