Flat lease extension help

brightstar85

Anyone on the forums have experience with flat lease extensions, recently completed on a property and lease needs extending in the next 6 years before it falls under 80 years, I was aware of this before purchase and have budgeted £10k to cover premium cost and my solicitor fees and the leaseholds also, done some quotes on various online calculators and ball park figure anywhere from £2700 up to nearly £5k which is fine, found a solicitor who specialises in leasehold extensions deals with everything, his fees including arranging valuation £2100 completely fine. Until I get his figures on the premium low end £7000 top end nearly £10000, he has sent me all his calculations and have noticed he has calculated it with a ground rent of £200 when it is actually £100, the ground rent is due to be reviewed in 2029 and the lease states "the rent payable in respect of the period of twenty-one years following each such determination shall be a one thousandth (1/1000) part of the capital value", his calculations for the ground rent from 2029 is £361.85 which would mean the property value is £361850, which is ridiculous as I paid £88000 for it and we all know the property isn’t going to be valued at that. I’m at a loss I have emailed him querying his calculations but getting a response is near on impossible, obviously I am Paying him because he is an expert but the math ain’t mathing, just wanted to see if anyone has experience in this area.

eddddy

Based on what you say, your assessment sounds correct.

Where did the solicitor get the ground rent details from? Did you provide a copy of the lease, or did you provide the numbers, or something else?

brightstar85

I provided the numbers to him and I have sent screenshots to him advising he has put in the wrong figures but it’s hard work getting any response,

TroubledTarts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82080641#Comment_82080641

Maybe move on to a better solicitor, explain that in your next communication that you don't expect any charges and you are having to move onto a solicitor that responds in a reasonable time and can get the basic calculations correct.

mlz1413

I am currently extending a lease and I noticed that the figure in the sum was £5k different to the advised value.

IE report says worth £160k, calculation is using £165k. The solicitor says they have contacted the valuer but no response. I have emailed them too, but no response. So I'm giving it another week, encase of holidays ,and will then ring.

eddddy

mlz1413 said

I am currently extending a lease and I noticed that the figure in the sum was £5k different to the advised value.

IE report says worth £160k, calculation is using £165k. The solicitor says they have contacted the valuer but no response. I have emailed them too, but no response. So I'm giving it another week, encase of holidays ,and will then ring.

If you mean that the market value of your flat should be £160k, but £165k was used for calculating a lease extension valuation - that will make very little difference to the valuation.

For example, if the lease currently has 90 years left, the £5k difference would add about £70 to the valuation.

Assuming the lease extension valuation is a few thousand; and if you're doing a statutory lease extension your fees might be £3k to £5k; and your freeholder might try to negotiate the lease extension cost up by a few thousand - it might not be worth worrying too much about £70.

mlz1413

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82082209#Comment_82082209

Hopefully picture explains better than I have managed to. I assume the formula should use the long lease.

It's not a huge value, but every little helps as a certain supermarket says.