Is it worth extending the lease if you own share of freehold?

[CEvert]

Is it worth extending the lease if you already own a share of the freehold on the property?
A friend is planning to sell a flat and I believe there are 70 yrs left on the lease.
She has enquired about extending the lease which will cost circa £400.
Do you think it?s worth extending it before selling?
Is 70yrs left sufficient considering the flat would own a share of the freehold and the next buyer can easily extend the lease themselves?
Would not extending the lease significantly affect the selling price?

[noisytoys]

Yes because the bank look at the length of the lease and low leases are unmortgageable even if the building is share of freehold. For the sake of £a few hundred its definitely worth it

[aufaniae]

I didn't realise the lease was even relevant once we'd bought a share of the freehold.

We found out mid-sale that it was essential! The buyer's mortgage lender required the lease to be at lease 75 years. (Ours was 74 years and a few months!)

So, it was impossible for us to sell the flat without extending the lease. It added about a week and only £100 to the sale (it would have been about £300 if we hadn't already been mid-sale IIRC).

Different lenders require different length leases.

I doubt it'll put the price up much if she's got a share of freehold. But it will avoid delays and extra expense mid-sale. Although it may be cheaper to do at the same time as the sale, as we did.

She should talk to her solicitor / conveyancer about doing this at the same time as the sale. If she hasn't chosen a solicitor / conveyancer yet, she should mention this when asking for quotes.

[KindleMum]

Yep, she needs to extend it or very few mortgage lenders will touch it so she'd be really limiting the number of potential buyers. It won't improve the selling price but it's needed.