Extend Your Lease guide discussion

pdhan

Wanted to see if anyone has had a similar experience to this and what they did about it.

The lease on my shared ownership flat is getting very short with only 71 years remaining. The issue is that I have to pay for 100% of the extension whilst only owning 50% of the flat. Because of this the bank refuses to lend towards the extension as they argue – not unreasonably – that I'm adding value to the share of the flat that I don't own.

Has anyone had any luck with convincing their housing association of the intrinsic unfairness of this? Alternatively is there a bank willing to lend towards shared ownership lease extensions?

Agent57

I feel like I'm taking part in one big game and I'm paying the fees of all the other players.


I paid for a valuation that came out at £24k and the landlord made a counter offer of £30k. If I contest this and win I am told that the fees could come out at £3,000 per party so the landlord knows he can charge £6,000 over the odds and get away with it. Heads he wins, tales I lose. I have no choice. I can't take my business elsewhere.

cpfcstar

Please can someone help me with a question I have about lease extensions.

I am looking to extend the lease on my property with remaining of 69 years, looking to bring it up to 99.

I've not owned the property for 2 years yet, so I've been waiting until I do (early next year). I did think about the 'informal route' when you can informally arrange earlier for it with the leaseholder, but having casually mentioned this in an email it wasn't acknowledged so I didn't push it.

So now going down the route of extending it after the full two years of ownership, I read that you can start the process several months earlier to enact on the precise two year date. So I contacted the leaseholder and they replied that they 'cannot extend the lease in this financial year for tax purposes because they are already extending a different one of theirs.'

Are they within their right to do this? It would only mean me waiting another four months but I need to renew the lease as I am eager to sell and move quite far away for work commitments but have been unable to do so because of the lease problem.

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

AirJoe

If you've contacted the freeholder about adding 30 years then you're enquiring about a private arrangement, which they can put off if they want to. What I think you want to do is a statutory lease extension as that's when the 2 year rule applies. You do this by serving a Section 42 notice to the freeholder.

I strongly recommend looking at the leasehold advisory service website:

http://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/

cpfcstar

AirJoe wrote: »

If you've contacted the freeholder about adding 30 years then you're enquiring about a private arrangement, which they can put off if they want to. What I think you want to do is a statutory lease extension as that's when the 2 year rule applies. You do this by serving a Section 42 notice to the freeholder.

I strongly recommend looking at the leasehold advisory service website:

http://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/

If I serve them with a section 42 notice in January, can they still delay it until April?

da_rule

They can't delay it per se but your section 42 notice has to give a period of at least 2 months for response. There then is a negotiating period of at least 2 months (but no more than 6) before either party can commence court or tribunal proceedings. So, if you serve notice in January then it is possible that the matter won't complete until April just based on the statutory time limits.

Also, you have to qualify on the date you serve the notice, not the date of the new lease.

Agent57

Be prepared for all sorts of fun and games. My landlord / Freeholder has lots of companies with similar names and you have to serve a S42 on the right one. Also apparently there is an intermediate leaseholder who holds the 999 year lease above mine. Now the landlord refers me to negotiate with his surveyor who in turn says he has not been instructed to negotiate. They are all just giving me the runaround.

da_rule

Agent57 wrote: »

Be prepared for all sorts of fun and games. My landlord / Freeholder has lots of companies with similar names and you have to serve a S42 on the right one. Also apparently there is an intermediate leaseholder who holds the 999 year lease above mine. Now the landlord refers me to negotiate with his surveyor who in turn says he has not been instructed to negotiate. They are all just giving me the runaround.

Are you using a solicitor? It really shouldn't be that difficult to identify your landlord.

Then just serve the notice, and if they don't reply in the prescribed form by the deadline you go to the tribunal and get a new lease based on the terms you set out in your notice.

eddddy

Agent57 wrote: »

Be prepared for all sorts of fun and games. My landlord / Freeholder has lots of companies with similar names and you have to serve a S42 on the right one. Also apparently there is an intermediate leaseholder who holds the 999 year lease above mine. Now the landlord refers me to negotiate with his surveyor who in turn says he has not been instructed to negotiate. They are all just giving me the runaround.

If the intermediate leaseholder has a 999 year lease, they will almost certainly be your "competent landlord" - not the freeholder.

So you should serve the s42 on the intermediate leaseholder, and negotiate with them.

Agent57

Thanks for the replies.


Yes, I am using a solicitor and they did find it difficult to identify the correct landlord as they have many sub-companies with similar names. Just one of many obstacles to overcome.