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Extend Your Lease guide discussion
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London_Lease_Extensions wrote: »Hi Ognum, Yes it is, it's the only thing we do. Can I help with anything?
Well sadly for you it is against forum rules to advertise your services here. As you have as I immediately picked up your touting for trade which is confirmed by your answer.
You can of course change your user name to one that does not advertise your company and give free advice as everyone else on here does.
I am just about to report your posts so you may find them disappear.
I hope you come back under another name and help the folks on here.
All the best0 -
London_Lease_Extensions wrote: »My apologies Ognum, and to everyone on the forum. My intentions were to help first and foremost.
Your help would be invaluable you just need to change your user name to something less specific that appears to advertise your services.
Hope to see you around here a lot more.0 -
daztraction wrote: »I currently live in a block of four, and have 91 years left on my lease. I'm looking to move out of my current flat in 3-5 years time. Is it worth extending the lease now? I'm looking at £2,000 plus expenses on a £103K flat, according to the calculator.
Minibump in case this gets lost in the non-topic shuffle - does anybody have any opinions on this?
(Preferably somebody who doesn't work for a firm selling leasehold extensions.)0 -
We are currently in the process of selling our flat it has 74 years on the lease, the buyer would like us to start the process and then she will take it over and pay.
Sold it for £237,000 so could be quite costly
My question is the price on the calculator set in stone or can it differ from freeholder to freeholder is there room for negotiation?0 -
After a little bit of advice........
Unfortunately my flat only has 68 years left on the leasehold, so a few months back I kicked off the process to extend. I had a valuation of my flat (£125k with existing lease and around £140k if the lease was to extended) and engaged a solicitor to get things moving. So far so good......
My solicitor then got in contact with the freeholder who stated that all contact should be made via his solicitor. This was done, but in order for the process to start I was told I needed to pay the freeholder solicitor costs of £1440 and surveyor costs of £720. Wanting to get things moving this was paid.
Since then the only thing that has happened is that the freeholders solicitor has stated that the price to extend the lease is £12,500. This is way above any estimate provided on the Leasehold Advisory Service website or any other leasehold extension calculator I have used. When asked to provide justification for such a high cost they've simply responded by saying that they're not willing to divulge this information.
To compound matters, the flat next door is the same size and had the same remaining lease term but was extended for a cost of £9000. Again when this was queried they stated that they weren't prepared to discuss this and my quote remained the same.
Does anyone have any suggestions where I should go from here? Having already spent over £2k just for them to ask for another £12500 I'm reluctant to throw more money at this, but I'm also unhappy at the thought of having to pay around £3k over the odds. Should I try and go down the statutory/appeal process or will this just lead to further costs?
Thanks,
Mark0 -
I've been through this process, and also work in property.
The best piece of advice I can offer anyone is do not attempt to do any lease extension outside of the act. Use the legislation that is there to help and protect you. Some of the things I have read here frighten me immensely - not getting the statutory 90 years but rather topped up to 99, with ground rent increasing etc.
Serve the Section 42 if you've owned it for 2 years, and go through the process. It will absolutely save you money.
Hi thanks for your response
My lease goes below 80 years in June
I have agreed a price albeit £1000 more total price to extend that he quoted a year before and then an extra £25 on top of the ground rent. I will however get 90 years on top of my 80 year lease. It will cost me £9000, my fault for waiting I guess, but couldn't have sorted it last year.
I am still waiting to get this in writing from the freeholder (we agreed price just before Christmas)
Thanks for advice about not doing anything outside of the act. I want to be secure and covered and not pay more (for instructing someone to issue section 42, after I have agreed a price)
Also I don't want to p*ss the freeholder off by going formal
What do you think? Or anyone else
Thanks!0 -
AndyPandy95 wrote: »I've recently entered into negotiations with my landlord to extend lease. I must admit after his counter proposal he has been quite good in agreeing for us to communicate by letter and phone ourselves, so saving me unnecessary fees. We have agreed a price and he's told me his valuer/surveyors fees are £1200 + VAT and solicitors fees are £625 + VAT, they are both London based companies. I think these costs are unreasonable and have offered to pay £600 + VAT for solicitor and same for valuer. He now refuses to negotiate anymore and says he has spent a lot of time trying to be helpful and save me costs and he doesn't consider these fees unreasonable. Any advice much appreciated
Hello
If we have agreed a price do I still need a valuer/surveyor?0 -
Any of advice would be great regarding my current situation please!
Purchased a flat as a FTB 3 years ago with 76 years remaining on the lease, I had no issue obtaining a mortgage with this amount of time left. Flat is currently valued at 100k.
Recently agreed a sale (before Xmas) and negotiations were going well (on wards purchase etc) until my buyer decided she was going to pull out. One reason was because she was advised the lease extension could take some time. There are 73 years remaining on the lease. When asking the freeholder about her plans to extend it her reply was “it cannot be extended” – my solicitor has since written to her and we are yet to receive a response. Unsure where to go with this now.
1. I have heard I can extend this the “statutory way” but I'm a little unsure on this and from what I understand this is pricey?
2. Do I hope I can come to some agreement with the freeholder in terms of extending it? If she ever replies.
3. In the meantime if I was to find another buyer how do I keep them informed of these kind of negotiations. It’s the agents job but I don’t want to scare any potential buyers off!
4. I have a number for the freeholder, is it worth me doing some of my own enquiries and how would you suggest I approach this with them?
Many Thanks!0 -
First of all your post is very ambiguous but I will give you some facts.
1) You are correct in saying that you have a statutory right to extend your lease for a term of 90 years i.e. in addition to the unexpired years on the lease. You could also negotiate with your landlord a shorter extension i.e. adding enough years to bring it up to 99 or 125 years without going through the statutory procedure. That is not advisable as you will not be protected by the statute if you and the landlord don't agree and then you will have to go through the statutory procedure to get the 90 years any way.
There is a two year qualifying period for a new leaseholder to be eligible to apply for a lease extension. However you can assign your right to apply for a lease extension to the prospective buyer. What is typical in these circumstances is for the seller to discount the purchase price by the value of the lease extension.
2) If you go the statutory route (RECOMMENDED) there are time deadlines for the landlord to reply so do not worry about the landlord not replying. There is also a possibility of negotiating a shorter term as explained above but still having the protection of the statute.
3) If you need to find another buyer and they insist on a lease extension then you have the choice of including it in the sale or discounting the sale price and assign your rights so they can do it. If you do it your solicitor will keep the buyers solicitor up to date in the normal course of the conveyancing.
4) You do not need to approach your landlord, your solicitor will do that if and when necessary through the statutory procedure. Having said all this, I suspect from what you say that the real reason that you're buyer is pulling out has not been established yet. First of all saying it is because the extension will take some time and then telling you that the landlord is telling her it cannot be extended. "Pull the other one it's got bells on" I'd be thinking! However your solicitor should have put your mind at rest by explaining to you your rights with regard to lease extensions and the alternative I have explained above. That's assuming that you are asking him the right questions of course :-)
Wait for your solicitor to get her reply and armed with this knowledge you can go from there
Hope that helps{Signature removed by Forum Team - if you are not sure why we have removed your signature please contact the Forum Team}
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i am 68 years old and live in a flat with 68 years left on my lease and was thinking of extending my lease but have discussed it with the kids and they say dont bother they are both married with their own lives and are ok financially and both say get spending so why on earth do i need to extend i cant take it with me and they say they will just stick in auction when time comes so why extend and fill solicitors pockets0
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