Unfair Lease Extension Offer

always_sunny · 16 March 2017 at 11:42AM

tomryan89 wrote: »

Going the formal route so that when someone buys it they don't need to wait two years is certainly an option and I am definitely not ruling it out but I would need to discuss with the buyer.

The only thing stopping me from doing this right now is that it's a one bedroom flat which means a buyer will probably be a first time buyer. Any thing that makes them nervous, like an ongoing lease extension process, is bound to make them more nervous than other experienced buyers. Hence why I'm trying to avoid it.

Why do you need to discuss with the buyer?
Extending the lease will need to be done (unless there's a change in legislation in the near future, but highly improbable) so whoever buys the flat will need to eventually extending and it will only get more expensive. An informal extension is likely to be less advantageous of formal.

A 1BR could be bought by a FTB, an investor, a downsizing couple, etc but when buying a LH property the first questions asked are:
- How many years left on the lease
- how much is GR
- how much is Service Charge

Unless you're financially constrained (fair enough), starting the process to extend it's going to work at your benefit.

tomryan89 · 17 March 2017 at 10:00AM

Starting to sound like the formal route is the best way forward. I'll see what the surveyor comes back with and speak to the estate agents about dropping the price to reflect.

My only other questions right now being - what would a bank / mortgage lender thing about this?

(Also, the reason we have managed to get an offer accepted on a house is because the sellers have not found anywhere they would like to buy yet and don't fancy being pressured or moving into rented accommodation - a stroke of pure luck that one)

DOZYMARE · 20 April 2018 at 2:47PM

Hello tomryan89
just wondered how you got on with this? Its been over a year now and we are just about to do the same as you with Pier Management and just wanted to go in armed so to speak!