Extension of leasehold on a property - anyone have experience of this?

[FeelingLucky]

Our buy-to-let flat currently has a lease of about 75 years, so we want to extend it.
Does anyone have any experience of how this works?

TIA

[CarGirl]

you ask the leaseholder for a price to extend it, It's usually very expensive tbh

[fridayschild]

It can be a hideous process if the freeholder doesn't want to extend or is not interested/abroad/never there. You will need to make sure you get a valuer/surveyor on board first who has experience in this type of work - solicitors aren't needed till later, unless you can't find the freeholder. As well as paying your own costs and the cost of the lease extension, you also need to pay all the freeholder's costs, so it's not very cheap. That said, the longer you leave it the more expensive it will get.

[Sorrento]

How did you manage to buy it with less than 99 years or have you had it for 25 years ?

[noddyholder]

If you have been there more than 2 years they have to allow it.You have to pay all costs and there is another cost for under 80 yr leases called the marriage value which bumps it up.You need a valuation for the price with the extension and what it is worth now,then you have to pay the freeholder 50% of that.Speak to a solicitor

[ickletickle]

sorrento, lots of people buy property with leases of less than 99 years.

feeling lucky, obviously, going below 80 yrs is not great but valuation is partly based on valuation of the property, so its not a bad time to do it.

presuming you are in contact with the freeholder, it shouldnt be too difficult. make sure you use a property lawyer, rather than a bog standard lawyer who only deals with regular conveyancing issues.

you propose a price to freeholder and lease extension terms.
freeholder responds - either accepts or challenges, offering new price
you can either accept new price or take holder to leasholder valuation tribunal, who determines a price for both parties.
note you bear all costs - yes. i know. (shock)including if you choose to go to tribunal.
price agreed is valid for 6 months

[FeelingLucky]

Thanks everyone.
Bought the buy-to-let a while ago. Had a valuation done in 2004(?) and was horrified at the cost, so put it on back burner. But we have some money to spare at the moment, so thought it worthwhile getting this sorted.
Freeholder is happy with the valuation done, but says he wants to speak to his solicitor before proceeding to make sure it';s still valid.
he said we should speak with our solicitor too, but we don;t have one.

Anyone got any recommendations for a property lawyer?
I'm in North London.

[lalalonglegs]

My lawyer is Justin Sidnick at William Heath & Co ([email protected] - 020 7402 3151) - he is excellent and based near Paddington. I've recommended him to lots of people and they've all said he was top.

The good news is the downturn has made it cheaper for you to extend your lease and as you're only a tiny bit under the 80 years cut-off, it shouldn't be horrendously expensive. Speak to a specialist solicitor if the valuation seems suspiciously high.

[FeelingLucky]

Thanks Lalalonglegs.
I'll give him a call

[lalalonglegs]

Sorry, meant specialist surveyor.

[FeelingLucky]

Our surveyor said it would cost £3750 to extend to 150 years - one bed flat. Does this sound horrendously high to you, Lala?
Survey was done in 2005.

We don;t mind paying this, but the freeholder expressed surprise at how expensive it was and so perhaps we should haggle?

Also, how much should we anticipate paying lawyers? We've earmarked £500 for each. does this sound okay?

TIA

[ickletickle]

tbh 3750 sounds quite low, so go for it (depending where in north london of course).

I think £500 sounds reasonable if there are no queries or further amends to the contract.

[noddyholder]

That sounds low

[FeelingLucky]

Thanks, we'll just go for it then

[lalalonglegs]

It does depend on overall value - you can easily find out if it is worth while doing by asking an estate agent how much it would be worth with 75 year lease and how much it would be worth with 150 year lease. I'd be surprised if the differential isn't more than £3750 so I would say do it.

[Sidnick]

lalalonglegs your post of march 09

thats quite an advert for ''Justin Sidnick'' are you his wife?

Look at this

www.peterargiriov.com

Fri 20-Mar-09 21:01:32