Extend Your Lease guide discussion

want2bmortgage3

Hi I'm looking to get my lease extended and wondered if there's any advice on how to choose a valuer and solicitor?
I've looked at the lease advice directory and the alep directory but the guide says consider ones further afield if you live in an expensive area. Any tips welcome.

liam1989

Hello all,

Been a while since I have posted on here. I have just received the following email from my solicitor and just require some advice if possible.

I am , of course, aware that you decided not to purchase the freehold with the other Tenant earlier this year my concern is that the freehold could be purchased by a specialist company with the aim of charging management fees that can, in some cases, be quite excessive. To my mind it would be preferable for you and the other Tenant to acquire the freehold so that you have control of the expenses for repairs maintenance and insurance of the building.

Im very confused. Like I said in a post I posted a few years back, I extended my lease to 170 years. I live a converted flat (I live upstairs with my neighbour living on the ground floor). If someone does purchase the freehold at auction can they really start imposing new terms on the lease and start charging fees etc. Currently we have a good system in place whereby any works that need to be done on the property are split 50/50 between myself and my neighbour and we are also responsible for our seperate insurances. I have lived in the property for 5 years now and have had no contact with the current freeholder - and to be honest I've had no need to either.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

eddddy

liam1989 wrote: »

Like I said in a post I posted a few years back, I extended my lease to 170 years. I live a converted flat (I live upstairs with my neighbour living on the ground floor). If someone does purchase the freehold at auction can they really start imposing new terms on the lease and start charging fees etc.

No - they cannot impose new terms on the lease, but they can do anything that the lease currently allows.

For example...

The lease might allow employing a management company - and you and the other leaseholder will have to pay their fee.

liam1989 wrote: »

Currently we have a good system in place whereby any works that need to be done on the property are split 50/50 between myself and my neighbour

A new freeholder might not allow that arrangement to continue.

The freeholder may decide what needs doing and when and which contractors to choose, and then split the costs 50/50 between you.

The freeholder might choose more expensive contractors than you would, and do maintenance (e.g. cleaning communal areas) more often than you would.

liam1989 wrote: »

...and we are also responsible for our seperate insurances.

Does the lease say that you are each responsible for your own insurance? Or does the lease say the freeholder should be responsible for block insurance?

A new freeholder is likely to enforce whatever it says in the lease.



But one other consideration - it sounds like your neighbour is rational, reasonable and sensible - so managing the building between you is fine.

If you become joint freeholders, and your neighbour sells to a difficult person, you might find being a joint freeholder much more challenging.

bb69

Hi all

Ok - Agreed terms with landlord to extend lease by 90 years with a small increase to ground rent by £25 a year, making it £175

Now I thought he would add 90 years to my remaining lease which is 80 years

BUT just been to solicitor who has shown me draft documents showing the 90 years has been added onto the original term of lease which started in 1997! (99 years from 1997) I moved in in 2004

The landlords letter says "add 90 onto your old lease", but in all our conversations its been adding on top of 80 years

I spoke to him today and he again said - "add on top of existing amount on lease", and then said he would need to check paperwork....

I am paying £9000 so as you can imagine don't want it to be starting from 1997 which means I lose out on nearly 20 years

Is there anything I can do? Slightly concerned he may come back and say it should be added to 1997 lease
Thanks for all advice

dbrooks2016

We recently bought a flat after being told that it had 111 years left on the lease. But when we received the solicitor's report she stated that the lease only had 99 years left. When we checked the lease the wording was not clear so we asked her to clarify. The solicitor responded by amending her the Report to say 111 years, implying that she had made a mistake.

It was only months later, after we got the deeds, that we were able to confirm that the correct figure was in fact 99 years as stated in the solicitor's original report.

We are now wondering what is the best course of action. In our view the property was mis-sold and the solicitor let us down. Length of lease must affect the price and saleability of a property and the shorter than expected lease means that we will need to extend it 12 years earlier than we would have done otherwise. However if we were to apply for compensation on what basis would we quantify the amount claimed?

I've spoken to the the Lease Advice Service but apart from referring to the Finance Ombudsman they weren't that helpful.

Any ideas/knowledge about this would be appreciated.

Dallybally

Hi. Have you asked your solicitor? There must be precedence for this.

If you think about the bigger picture, although not in your favour, the lease being 150 vs 170 years won't affect you or resale value, do you envisage living there 60+ years?

bb69

Dallybally wrote: »

Hi. Have you asked your solicitor? There must be precedence for this.

If you think about the bigger picture, although not in your favour, the lease being 150 vs 170 years won't affect you or resale value, do you envisage living there 60+ years?

Hi thanks she doesn't have a scooby doo

I think its the principle really £9k for 70 years or 90 years

We agreed 90 years cannot understand how I can pay for a lease when I wasn't even living there

I may not live here but if property stays in family it matters

I'm going to contact the leasehold association tomorrow morning and see. Have texted the landlord so will wait for him to get back to me

bb69

bb69 wrote: »

Hi thanks she doesn't have a scooby doo

I think its the principle really £9k for 70 years or 90 years

We agreed 90 years cannot understand how I can pay for a lease when I wasn't even living there

I may not live here but if property stays in family it matters

I'm going to contact the leasehold association tomorrow morning and see. Have texted the landlord so will wait for him to get back to me

Plus when you agree 90 years the ground rent should be nil
I didn't argue this point at all and actually it was increased by £25 so i'm not being diddled out of 20 years

techno12

bb69 wrote: »

Hi all

Ok - Agreed terms with landlord to extend lease by 90 years with a small increase to ground rent by £25 a year, making it £175

Now I thought he would add 90 years to my remaining lease which is 80 years

BUT just been to solicitor who has shown me draft documents showing the 90 years has been added onto the original term of lease which started in 1997! (99 years from 1997) I moved in in 2004

Err, that's the same!

1997: 99 years plus the new 90 = 189 years total
2016: 80 years plus the new 90 = 170 years total, plus the 19 years already 'used' since 1997.

At the end of the day, the lease will be updated to be 189 years from 1997.

You haven't lost out...you're getting 90 extra years added on whichever way you look at it.

bb69

techno12 wrote: »

Err, that's the same!

1997: 99 years plus the new 90 = 189 years total
2016: 80 years plus the new 90 = 170 years total, plus the 19 years already 'used' since 1997.

At the end of the day, the lease will be updated to be 189 years from 1997.

You haven't lost out...you're getting 90 extra years added on whichever way you look at it.

Ah I see what you mean but the solicitor worked it out to be 151 years remaining i'll need to check again