Should we make an offer?!

flisstoph

My partner and I are looking to buy our first house and have our mortgage approved in principle.
We saw a flat over the weekend and fell in love with it. Everything seemed perfect (it was even £10k cheaper than any others that we'd liked) and we were all ready to put an offer in on the day we saw it.
The property is in London and is leasehold. There are 90 years left on the lease. We're probably going to stay for around 5 years so I'm worried it will be tricky to sell on with 85 or so years left on the lease? Would you take this risk? The property is priced around £560k so I think getting a an extension would be pretty pricey?
Any advice would be hugely appreciated as we're very new to all of this and are scared of being ripped off!

Thank you in advance

Guest101

It's over 80 years, it's fine.

juliamain

If it's already £10k cheaper than others you've seen, then go for it. I'm not an expert and there are online calculators that can tell you more accurately the extension cost, but if you extend a lease when there are 80+ years remaining it's pretty cheap. I did one that had 74 years remaining on a flat worth £150k and it was £2k (+£1200 solicitors costs). You are entitled to do it by law as long as you've owned the property for more than 2 years. If you want to do it straight away using the conveyancers you will use with the purchase, then ask the seller if they will serve a section 42 notice on the freeholder as part of the sale (as long as seller has owned it for more then 2 years obviously).

flisstoph

Thank you both so much for your advice, we really appreciate it and think we're going to go for it.