Extending lease on my flat

intex310

Good morning.

I have 81 years left until end of Jan 2027 and needs to extend my lease.

I am thinking about informal route as I don't have much time left.

Landlord is quoting for £420 to have a valuation but ones I have googled came back with £750 plus vat and upwards.

My question is do I need two separate valuations? Otherwise, Landlord's quote is the cheapest I am getting. Is desktop valuation enough from the Rics regulated company?

I am happy with a premium £5k. Would it be straight forward and get it completed before Jan next year?

tacpot12

You only need one valuation if you agree with it!

A desktop valuation might be sufficient unless you are aware that the property is sub-standard in some respect.

I would probably go with the landlord's suggestion for the valuer.

Lease extensions can take a while as they are dependent on the two solicitors talking and responding to each other. It might be tricky to get one done by January. 6 Months is not unheard of.

sheenas

I not really sure the need for valuation as your have not passed the 80 year rule. I would assume a lease is a document that resides in his solicitors top draw and would be a couple of hours to complete the form.

I did see this calculator that might help https://www.lease-advice.org/lease-extension-calculator/

eddddy

I'm not sure if you've understood the informal lease extension process.

A freeholder can ask for any amount they choose for an informal lease extension, and you can offer any amount you choose.

If your freeholder is a council or charity or similar, they might be fair about it. But many private sector freeholders won't be.

For example, the process often goes like this:

The freeholder gets a valuation for the extension, and the valuation might say something like this:

If this went to a tribunal, the tribunal might decide that the lease extension should cost between £2,000 and £5,000. The most likely outcome would be £3,500.

So the Freeholder offers you the lease extension for £7,000 (to make a bit of extra money)

So it might be sensible for you to have your own valuation, to see if the freeholder's offer is fair. As suggested above, you could get a free rough valuation from an online calculator or pay a valuer to do a more accurate valuation.

intex310

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82150478#Comment_82150478

Yes you are absolutely right. I didn't understand it at all.

As you've said, I will do my online valuation and compare it with theirs. I was confused when I asked for quotes from other surveyors and their prices were doubled the ones from the landlord's.

I have heard and read it all on the news but I am finding it all as a scam! I need to pay for both solicitors! Hope to complete it before it hits below 80 years.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82150525#Comment_82150525

For modern leases, it's a 'scam' that has exsisted since the 1920s. Nothing new, and not exactly a closely guarded secret.

https://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/property-commentary/leasehold-a-feudal-system-/5064029.article

ExEstateAgent

If you start a formal request for a lease extension now it won't matter if it isn't concluded before the lease drops under 80 years.

If you go the informal route the freeholder could delay things and then refuse to extend unless you pay marriage value.

I would advise you to take the formal route for certainty (but as above, who is the freeholder, a private individual or company or a council/HA?).

eddddy

ExEstateAgent makes a very good point.

A 'nasty' freeholder might say "Yes, I'll extend your lease for £5000 (or whatever)", then mess you about, invent delays, etc until the lease has dropped below 80 years. And then refuse to honour their offer of £5000.

To protect yourself, you could start the statutory lease extension process at the same time - by serving a section 42 notice.

You can still try informal negotiations, but if they aren't going well, you can fall back on the statutory process.

To do this, you probably need a solicitor who is very experienced with lease extension legislation (and the tricks that freeholders can try to play).

Or alternatively, don't take the risk of an informal lease extension, and just do a statutory lease extension.

HouseHuntingAmy

The clock point deserves more weight than it is getting, because you are negotiating right next to the 80-year cliff. Below 80 years the premium picks up marriage value - broadly half the uplift the extension creates - so the same extension costs meaningfully more the day your lease dips under. On a £5k premium now, slipping past January could add thousands, not hundreds. This is exactly why the statutory route exists: serving a Section 42 notice fixes the valuation date as the day the notice is served, so even if completion drags, the premium is calculated at todays lease length. The informal route locks nothing - the freeholder can quote what they like, can drag their feet, and can offer terms that quietly keep a ground rent or shorten the extension, so read any informal offer for those two things specifically. On your valuation question: one is enough, and a desktop RICS valuation is fine for a standard flat - but the landlords £420 valuer is instructed by the landlord, so treat that figure as the opening position rather than the truth; the LEASE website has a free lease-extension calculator that gives you a sane range to judge both against. On timing, solicitor-to-solicitor with a motivated freeholder can complete in a couple of months, but if January matters I would start this week - and if there is any sign of stalling, switch to the statutory route before the lease dips under 80, not after.

mlz1413

I would definitely get the ball rolling on the formal route.

During the process the freeholder may well make an offer for a deal outside of the formal route.

I started my formal process in January, think I'm nearly at the end now, but I have a marriage value to pay so the process has been slow.

I asked about an informal route of 25 years for a fixed fee and the offer given was tempting but ultimately I decided against.

During the official process a different offer was made which I took time to consider but again continued with the official route.

For you just getting an extension would be good because marriage values are being discussed by government, but they are years from being decided and made law, but even a 25 year deal for you could be well worth doing.