Leasehold problem

Moakey

Hello 2 years ago my husband took his own life and , we had been married since 1973 , I have managed to get through the most dreadful two years of my life, I have settled most of our finances, but have been left with a problem I have no idea how to solve and would greatly appreciate advice on this problem if at all possible, I will be as brief as possible, we bought our flat in Windsor in the 1990s the property is leasehold with approx 49 years lease remaining, I have no mortgage and at present do not want to move house, my dilemma is should I have to move at a later date  I worry about the length of the lease, as my husband dealt with most of our financial matters, I was not aware of the lease remaining on our flat, at the time we bought the flat I was not aware of the length of the lease, nor was I aware that we where the only flat in our development who did not own a share of the freehold , I currently pay a nominal ground rent of approximately £28 per annum plus together with the rest of the flat owners pay a monthly maintenance fee of approximately £118 per month., I just wondered what I should due in respect of the length of lease remaining, it worries me greatly, a that I may pass away and my sons be left with sorting the lease situation out, and also if I have to move at anytime due to ill health , how do I go about selling the flat with only a short lease remaining. I am in no way a wealthy person and really worry how much all of this could cost me in the future, or worse still my sons will be left with no inheritance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 

NameUnavailable

Firstly, sorry for your loss. Hopefully time is helping you to come to terms with things.

Assuming this isn't a retirement flat, just a 'normal' leasehold property then you would have to extend your lease, either by negotiation directly with the freeholders, or by statutory process (which will probably take longer but could be more beneficial). However the cost is probably going to be significant either way.

The government are looking at some reforms to leasehold law and it may be easier/cheaper to extend in the future if/when anything changes, so if you are not in any rush it is probably worth holding out for a year or two to see if anything develops. I wouldn't leave it much longer than that however as the cost will otherwise increase as each year passes.

The other option would be to start the statutory process to extend (initial formal request) and then put the property for sale by auction - someone would buy it for cash and deal with the cost of extending the lease. That depends on how much you'd get and if you could buy something else with the proceeds.

greatcrested

https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/how-can-i-extend-my-lease/

AdrianC

There's two options available to you...

1. Try to extend the lease. It won't be cheap - and it'll get more expensive the longer you wait. You're already below the minimum period that the leasehold calculators will work with.
In Windsor, I presume it's not a cheap flat... If we guess at £300k long-lease value, then you're looking at probably £60k to add 90 years (and peppercorn rent) plus legal fees.
https://www.lease-advice.org/calculator/

2. Don't sweat it. With all due respect, I presume that the year 2070 is not likely to be your problem personally?

The inheritance your sons may or may not receive in the future is what is left of your assets on your death. Right now, your assets do not include the full unblighted value of a long-lease flat. If you have the assets to extend the lease, then great - do it asap, before it gets more expensive. If you don't... then what's the worst that'll happen? You're there for as long as you need to be.

Do not get yourself into financial problems over this - you've got past some dark days, don't add to them unnecessarily!

eddddy

It might be worth asking the joint freeholders how much they would want for extending the lease. I guess there's some directors of the freehold company, who you could approach.

As the joint freeholders are your neighbours, I guess it's possible that they might be sympathetic towards your situation and offer you a reasonable deal.

But I guess it's also possible that they will be 'hard-nosed' and come back with an eye-watering number - so maybe brace yourself, just in case.

NameUnavailable

Moakey said:

I am in no way a wealthy person and really worry how much all of this could cost me in the future, or worse still my sons will be left with no inheritance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 

Just to add, my parents weren't wealthy either. They had a council property (never bought it which was a shame really) and me and my siblings have all done fine, probably because we all had to work damn hard to get what we have without any inheritance.

zagubov

As it's only your sons who would benefit from the lease extension, is there any way they can invest in it by lending you the money for whichever turns out to be the cheapest method of lease extension, and putting a charge on the property so they couldn't lose out?
Need solicitors help to set it up, I'd presume.