Lowered the cost of the lease extension - how to via local court system?

[Literaturemakeslifebetter]

Has anyone taken their leaseholder to court to lower the amount of the lease extension they are asking for?
Basically we need to extend our lease up to 100 years before we sell a very small rental flat( been an utter money pit) and the leaseholder told us it would be 12 k 7 years ago- it will no doubt be more now as it is 7 years lower.
Anyway, an estate agent mentioned you can go through a process in the courts which costs about 400 quid if you have had the property a while( we have had it over 20 years) and the court will enforce them to charge a more reasonable amount to lower this amount. Does anyone know what this process is called so I can research it and see if we can do it whilst overseas?

Thanks very much.

I would also like to know but hopefully not need.
could you go though a solicitor? There is a statutory formula/calculation method, applicable to most properties, with house prices as a factor. I would think that as prices have gone up in the last 7 years and your lease shorter, the price of lease extension would actually have gone up.

Ok, as I look into this I realise that because our lease is below 80 years we will get hammered with this stupid marriage clause which will be why they suggested 12k 7 years ago which seemed really high back then when it was below 80 years. So maybe this process is only accessible if you have over 80 years left. The calculator below is useful and it looks like it will be at least 25 k for us to extend our lease on our shitty flat that has cost us so much over the years.I would never buy a leasehold property ever again to anyone reading, total moneypit and the leaseholders just scam you out of money whenever they can for expensive repairs- the last one was 24k on a flat that we paid 88k for...stay away from leaseholds folks, total financial drains.

hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/leasehold-extension-calculator/

INFO on Marriage value
Marriage value is particularly an issue for leaseholders where their lease is less than 80 years. The cost of extending the lease then gets much more expensive due to marriage value forming part of the calculation. Marriage Value equates to 50% of the increase in the market value of the property arising from the extension of the lease. Removal of the Marriage value is not included in the rent Ground Rent changes so will not change in the near future, although the government has promised to deal with this issue in the next stage of reform.

For some leaseholders, these changes could save thousands, to tens of thousands of pounds, according to government.

It used to be called a leasehold valuation tribunal. Has a new name these days, but it's still basically the same procedure. I've done it - it's easy enough, albeit rather boring.

You have a statutory right to extend your lease for a fixed price using published tables and formulae, and your freeholder should know this, so in practice they have no reason not to use these same tables and formulae to calculate the value of their freehold reversion and the price of a lease extension. So there really should be no financial advantage to either party by going to the tribunal. The only element of the calculation that might be disputed is the hypothetical value of the property with the lease extended. In a large block, there may be data on recent sales, but otherwise it's down to surveyors' valuations. If you've already got a buyer with an offer conditional on the lease being extended, that's a good guide too.

Where tribunals are worth their weight in gold is if the freeholder is uncommunicative and then the tribunal can make a declaration and extend the lease even if the freeholder is in absentia.

The only other thing I'd add - and you may not like hearing this - but you don't actually own that flat. You've paid in advance to rent it for several decades, but the freeholder is the one who owns it. It's completely fair and reasonable that they be compensated for forfeiting their right to take possession when the original lease expires. Your conveyancing solicitor should have explained this to you when you bought it.

Thanks Mark19735, that is helpful info, appreciate it.

The mortgage has 4 years or so left on it but lease is probably getting close to 70 years so we need to extend it before we sell up as I cannot see it being an appealing buy without getting that lease back up to 99 years which I think is the standard for the flats in this building. It always rents out but we are sick of the hassle of renting it out- moved overseas and did not have time to sell up and the years have gone by but it always generates horrible large repair bills due to it being an older building so ready to get rid of it as soon as we can extend this lease but trying to figure out the costs involved.