Extend Your Lease guide discussion

desamax

Hi I helped my son buy a flat in 2014 we had it in joint names. Last Sept 2016 he did a transfer of equity from me to him and his G/F So now the flat is in their joint names. Do they or he still have the right to extend their lease under section 42? As my son has been on the deeds since 2014, as only i was removed and his partner added.
Thanks in anticipation.

JV1994

Good Evening,
I recently bought a maisonette consisting of 2 flats of which I am the sole freeholder.
The flat downstairs has 78.5 years left on the lease.
Should I approach the leaseholder of the other flat with a view to extending their lease,and if so can I ask them to pay for the extended lease/legal fees etc.

I was hoping to get a 999 year lease for both properties to make the property more attractive to future buyers.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

eddddy

JV1994 wrote: »

I recently bought a maisonette consisting of 2 flats of which I am the sole freeholder.

I assume you mean you've bought the freehold of a building which contains 2 flats.

JV1994 wrote: »

The flat downstairs has 78.5 years left on the lease.
Should I approach the leaseholder of the other flat with a view to extending their lease,and if so can I ask them to pay for the extended lease/legal fees etc.

You can approach them and suggest that. They may say "Yes" or they may say "No".

JV1994 wrote: »

I was hoping to get a 999 year lease for both properties to make the property more attractive to future buyers.

Which property? Do you mean your freehold?

The longer you extend the downstairs lease, the less your freehold will be worth.

e.g. If you extend the downstairs lease to 99 years, your freehold will be worth more than if you extend the downstairs lease to 999 years.

But you would expect to be paid a higher premium for extending it to 999 years than you would for extending it to 99 years.

JV1994

Hi Eddddy
I bought a maisonette which came with the freehold interest of my and the downstairs flat

eddddy

JV1994 wrote: »

Good Evening,
I recently bought a maisonette consisting of 2 flats of which I am the sole freeholder.

JV1994 wrote: »

Hi Eddddy
I bought a maisonette which came with the freehold interest of my and the downstairs flat

You need to explain the situation more clearly.

How many freehold titles are you referring to?
Who owns the freehold titles?
What do those freehold titles relate to?
- It sounds like there is one freehold title, and it's owned by you. Can you confirm?

How many leasehold titles are you referring to?
Who owns the leasehold titles?
What do those leasehold titles relate to?
- It sounds like there is either 1 or 2 leasehold titles...
- ... and one leasehold is owned by somebody else. Zero or one is owned by you. Can you confirm?


Alternatively, if you're not sure about the above, perhaps explain the layout of the building. e.g. How many flats, how many floors.

strawberries1

IanIan wrote: »

The world of lease extensions and purchase of freeholds of houses and blocks of flats is littered with lawyers and surveyors who think they know what they're doing, but don't. Such folk frequently end up being sued for negligence, which is one of the reasons why professional indemnity insurance is so very expensive. Homeowners therefore need to be very careful when employing professionals to act on their behalf. Before instructing such professionals, homeowners should ask the professionals questions such as "how long have you been involved with this type of work?", "how many similar transactions have you dealt with?", "how many times have you had to take a transaction to the leasehold valuation tribunal, and what were the results?", "what is your fee?", "how long will the whole procedure take?", "why is your fee so high?", "have any previous clients complained about your service in the past?"

I can see that these remarks may appear to be rather cynical, but I know several people who have gone through the lease extension process and ended up getting their fingers burnt thanks to poor quality professional advice.

Which surveyors and solicitors will you recommend in a situation where the lease doubles every 25yrs starting at £250 and 20yrs left at £250before it double to £500, the final 25yrs being £4000

cryption

There are 3 flats in my building all the leases have about 69-70 years remaining. The 2 other flats are owned by the same person who recently has been going through extending his by 90 years. I am trying to do the same and I made an offer to the freeholder which was the same price as the flats above me are being renewed for (£4,800) after being valued by a valuer.

I made the freeholder the same offer in an attempt to avoid unnecessary fees and hassle. Despite the fact that the flats are all nearly identical the freeholder would not accept my offer and said I have to go through the same valuer as used for the other flats.
This is ok except for the fact that the owner of the other 2 flats told me that although he paid for the valuer for his flats they are essentially acting in the best interests of the freeholder, rather than being on your side so to speak.

He had previously made an offer to the freeholder who said as a charity they cannot accept below market value. After the valuation they gave him their price and he happened to know for a fact that it was not the price quoted by the valuer and was actually higher. He was not supposed to know this but I presume that as he works as an estate agent himself he had contacts in the field who found out. He demanded to see the paperwork but they would not disclose to him the actual figures of the valuation and how they came to the final amount. I think in the end they did drop the price slightly but still he is demanding to see the valuers figures which have not been forthcoming.

However I still find this really strange and concerning and am worried they will do the same to me, and as I have no contacts in the field I have no way of knowing if the price the freeholder gives is actually the price on the paperwork. Surely if I am paying for the valuer they would have to disclose their findings to me? If they are going to keep me out of the loop and freeholder is going to make up their own higher valuation what is even the point in me paying for a valuer?! Surely 'as a charity' they should not be ripping the leaseholders off. They won't take less than fair market value but are happy to demand more than the market value!

If the figure they come back to me seems higher than the other 2 flats then obviously alarm bells ring, and I suppose I would need to get a solicitor involved but then the fees incurred by that may well work out higher than if I just took the first cost quoted. Just thinking about this all does my head in, if the freeholder were at all reasonable they would have taken my offer but no, they have to be problematic :mad:

The valuer is supposed to be coming to view my flat to work out the renewal figure. Does anyone know if the current rental price will affect this valuation or is it just the market value? I do have a tenant in there but he is currently paying no rent for the time being as a close personal friend I owe favours to. I was going to put in a new kitchen but holding off doing any work on it as I don't want the valuation to be needlessly high.

eddddy

cryption wrote: »

There are 3 flats in my building all the leases have about 69-70 years remaining. The 2 other flats are owned by the same person who recently has been going through extending his by 90 years. I am trying to do the same and I made an offer to the freeholder which was the same price as the flats above me are being renewed for (£4,800) after being valued by a valuer.

<snip>

So the valuer that's coming is being instructed by the freeholder...

You could instruct your own valuer instead if you want, and then follow the Statutory Lease Extension process - starting by serving a section 42 notice.

For more info see: http://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/

But as you say, you'll probably end up having to pay more fees (but you might end up with a cheaper premium).

cryption wrote: »

I was going to put in a new kitchen but holding off doing any work on it as I don't want the valuation to be needlessly high.

That shouldn't make any difference.

The flat will be valued as though the flat was in condition it was in when the lease was originally granted. Any improvements done by you or previous leaseholders should be disregarded.

lorraines

Help please, lovely Forum folks.


I'm trying to sell my flat which has around 75 years lease left. My estate agents are trying to get me to sell subject to the lease extension being complete as part of the deal (and upon completion). My questions are?


As it's local authority, they are advising me that I need to get a private valuation and submit and S42 to start negotiations - does that sound usual?


Can it really take 6-12 months to complete?


Should I just sell without the lease hassle and priced appropriately?

eddddy

There are two different routes to extending a lease
- Informal Extension
- Statutory Lease Extension


Based on this...

lorraines wrote: »

I'm trying to sell my flat which has around 75 years lease left. My estate agents are trying to get me to sell subject to the lease extension being complete as part of the deal (and upon completion).

...it sounds like the agent is talking about an informal lease extension.

Whereas...

lorraines wrote: »

As it's local authority, they are advising me that I need to get a private valuation and submit and S42 to start negotiations - does that sound usual?

Can it really take 6-12 months to complete?

.... your freeholder (the local authority) is proposing a Statutory Lease extension.

It would be very difficult to offer a buyer 'extension on completion' with a statutory lease extension - because it's hard to estimate how long the process takes (I'd say 6 to 18 months).

lorraines wrote: »

Should I just sell without the lease hassle and priced appropriately?

Do you have the funds to pay for a lease extension before you sell? That might be the best option.

Here is some background info: http://www.lease-advice.org/article/lease-extension-of-leasehold-flats-the-two-routes/