Lease extension on a flat

monaymadlol

RetSol said:

They are roughly £1250 premium to freeholder, £650 freeholder legal and professional fees, £650 leaseholders legal fees. 

I have extended the lease on the flat where I live (and participated in the purchase of the  of the building) in the last 10 years.  The freeholder was hostile and the leaseholders used the statutory route. 
In most circumstances, I would advise someone in your circumstances to instruct a surveyor and obtain their own valuation.  However, here the premium is so low that it is not worth the cost of doing that. 
You have a willing freeholder who has made you a reasonable offer and, in your circumstances, I would accept it and obtain a 999-year lease.  There is a a value to a potential future purchaser of your property in that you will have saved them the bother of doing it themselves. 
As @Grumpy_chap says, bite their hand off.
The professional fees appear to me to be reasonable.  The professional fees for this sort of transaction are often high in proportion to the premium involved.  I would prefer to instruct my own solicitors rather than have the same firm acting for both sides of the transaction - which appears to be the deal here.  There should be no difficulty with you proposing this. 

Thanks, but given recent prices around here, it doesn't add much to the value, if at all, probably cuz it's cheap to do.

But I'm looking to move in the next 12 months, and cash is tight, so that money can be used to pay legal expenses when moving to a freehold.

Bottom line - I won't be extending.

RetSol

Thanks, but given recent prices around here, it doesn't add much to the value, if at all, probably cuz it's cheap to do.
But I'm looking to move in the next 12 months, and cash is tight, so that money can be used to pay legal expenses when moving to a freehold.
Bottom line - I won't be extending.

You are welcome, @monaymadlol.  Thank you for letting us know your decision. 

Iwonder2

monaymadlol said:

RetSol said:

They are roughly £1250 premium to freeholder, £650 freeholder legal and professional fees, £650 leaseholders legal fees. 

I have extended the lease on the flat where I live (and participated in the purchase of the  of the building) in the last 10 years.  The freeholder was hostile and the leaseholders used the statutory route. 
In most circumstances, I would advise someone in your circumstances to instruct a surveyor and obtain their own valuation.  However, here the premium is so low that it is not worth the cost of doing that. 
You have a willing freeholder who has made you a reasonable offer and, in your circumstances, I would accept it and obtain a 999-year lease.  There is a a value to a potential future purchaser of your property in that you will have saved them the bother of doing it themselves. 
As @Grumpy_chap says, bite their hand off.
The professional fees appear to me to be reasonable.  The professional fees for this sort of transaction are often high in proportion to the premium involved.  I would prefer to instruct my own solicitors rather than have the same firm acting for both sides of the transaction - which appears to be the deal here.  There should be no difficulty with you proposing this. 

Thanks, but given recent prices around here, it doesn't add much to the value, if at all, probably cuz it's cheap to do.

But I'm looking to move in the next 12 months, and cash is tight, so that money can be used to pay legal expenses when moving to a freehold.

Bottom line - I won't be extending.

Hey - just to add my own view on this - I am due to complete on a leasehold flat with 86 years & share of freehold. Due to asking many questions and getting my solicitor to dig I found out the detail of getting a similar extension to the one you reference - although mine is actually £900 to managing agent [no premium] & £600 solicitor fees totalling £1500 for 999yrs.
Personally I have chosen to add the cost of doing so immediately to my purchase (this is also slightly cheaper due to processes aligning). I would have found it very comforting and a huge selling point for me personally if a 999yr extension had been a known existing feature of the property so just something to consider in terms of ease of resale.  

monaymadlol

Iwonder2 said:

monaymadlol said:

RetSol said:

They are roughly £1250 premium to freeholder, £650 freeholder legal and professional fees, £650 leaseholders legal fees. 

I have extended the lease on the flat where I live (and participated in the purchase of the  of the building) in the last 10 years.  The freeholder was hostile and the leaseholders used the statutory route. 
In most circumstances, I would advise someone in your circumstances to instruct a surveyor and obtain their own valuation.  However, here the premium is so low that it is not worth the cost of doing that. 
You have a willing freeholder who has made you a reasonable offer and, in your circumstances, I would accept it and obtain a 999-year lease.  There is a a value to a potential future purchaser of your property in that you will have saved them the bother of doing it themselves. 
As @Grumpy_chap says, bite their hand off.
The professional fees appear to me to be reasonable.  The professional fees for this sort of transaction are often high in proportion to the premium involved.  I would prefer to instruct my own solicitors rather than have the same firm acting for both sides of the transaction - which appears to be the deal here.  There should be no difficulty with you proposing this. 

Thanks, but given recent prices around here, it doesn't add much to the value, if at all, probably cuz it's cheap to do.

But I'm looking to move in the next 12 months, and cash is tight, so that money can be used to pay legal expenses when moving to a freehold.

Bottom line - I won't be extending.

Hey - just to add my own view on this - I am due to complete on a leasehold flat with 86 years & share of freehold. Due to asking many questions and getting my solicitor to dig I found out the detail of getting a similar extension to the one you reference - although mine is actually £900 to managing agent [no premium] & £600 solicitor fees totalling £1500 for 999yrs.
Personally I have chosen to add the cost of doing so immediately to my purchase (this is also slightly cheaper due to processes aligning). I would have found it very comforting and a huge selling point for me personally if a 999yr extension had been a known existing feature of the property so just something to consider in terms of ease of resale.  

Wow, and I was told mine was super cheap!

Maybe because yours is share of freehold? So you incur legal expenses from just one side?

If mine was 1500, id be tempted, but at nearly double, it wouldn't be within my interest, financially.

Sounds like you're getting a fab result though 😁💯

monaymadlol

And mine is at around 87/88 years by the time I leave, so realistically the new purchaser can do it in 5 years - it's very swift here, the management company pass it to the same solicitor who's done all the other legal stuff, extensions etc, so wouldn't be an immediate financial burden.