How long does a lease extension take?
A lease extension is the process of a leaseholder extending the terms of their lease. There are some reasons why someone might want to extend their lease. It could be that a person wants to sell their house or flat, but the property has a short lease, so they need to extend the lease. They would do this because a mortgage lender is unlikely to lend money on a property with a short lease. As a lease gets shorter and the number of years gets lower, the lease value decreases, and it becomes more expensive if you extend the lease.
When extending your lease, it is vital that you instruct an experienced property solicitor to assist you. Click the links below to talk to our lease extension Solicitors today.
Lease extension process
There are a variety of factors that enable someone to be eligible for extending a lease. This includes owning the property for at least two years and other criteria laid out in the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act.
A process must be followed when extending a leasehold property, starting with the valuation.
- A valuation is carried out by a surveyor who follows a strict set of checks and undertakes several calculations whilst considering the current lease length, the location of the property, ground rent, lease terms and the value of the property with and without the lease extension.
- The freeholder will then be presented with an opening offer. This figure is then served in section 42, ‘Tenant’s notice’ on the freeholder.
- Once the section 42 notice has been served, this triggers a timetable under which the freeholder has at least two months to respond and serve their own notice. This would be the landlord’s counter-notice or a section 45 notice.
- In the case that you are unable to agree on a price within two months, it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT). The LVT can make a ruling and decide what a fair price is; however, this can be expensive.
- A solicitor should then complete all necessary paperwork and draft a new lease. After both parties have signed the new lease, your solicitor will register the new lease with the Land Registry.
Timeframe for extending a lease
The Leasehold Reform Act outlines some statutory timeframes by which particular tasks must be completed. For example, as previously mentioned, the freeholder must respond to the section 42 notice within two months with a section 45 notice. Following this, negotiations can take up to six months.
Therefore, from start to finish, the process typically takes between 3 and 12 months.
The most significant factor that affects the timeframe is how long it takes to negotiate a price. Finalising the lease typically takes between one and three months, and finally, another few months to register the lease with the Land Registry.
Solicitor for lease extensions in Kingston
When extending a lease, there are various factors to consider, including the costs to extend a lease, the strict timeframes and other legislation-related factors.
Please contact the Litigation team at Rose & Rose, based in Kingston-Upon-Thames, who would be happy to guide you through the process.
Click the links below to talk to a member of our litigation team.
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Ryan Senior
Nick Roots
