Thanks for watching! What did you think of the video? Was everything clear? Was there anything you would like me to expand on? Let me know down in the comments and I'll respond!! Remember, never stop investing in yourself!
Excellent video, well explained. The only thing I'd add is, it's the Marriage Value kicking in that causes a lease extension premium to increase by so much when the lease drops below 80 years. This increase is calculated by taking the long lease value of the property minus the short lease (current) value of the property, which gives the Marriage Value, and 50% of this amount is added to the lease extension's premium.
Thank you very much this video was extremely helpful. Lots of detail, I didn’t quite realise how complicated it was and how so many individual people want a slice of the pie 🥧
Be careful with th Surveyor though; they often place value by sitting at their desk, copy and pasting prevous surveys and laughing all the way to the bank.
@@SelfInvested It was 65 years. the calculator said around 25k to extend, but as you said, it could have easily run another 10k or so and I wouldn't have been able to afford it
The real issues with lease extensions are having to cover the freeholders costs wihtout any assurance of getting the maximum period, and if that freeholder decides to negotiate; thus delaying the process and costing the leasee more than was necessary. Great explaination never the less.
Well, you purchase the property knowing the length of the lease, and you have the automatic right to extend that lease. You should at least pay for the free holders reasonable legal costs, they didnt forcibly make you take on the contract.
thank you! I appreciate the comment! i struggled a bit with this video, and i’m not sure why. i’ve actually extended a lease before, so thought it would be straightforward... might do a follow up based on my own experience!
You’re welcome! Thank you for watching and for leaving such a kind comment :) I’ve done a video on buying your freehold if that’s of interest: th-cam.com/video/bCyGFMiyY3A/w-d-xo.html
You’re welcome! Thank you!! Make sure you check out my video on buying the freehold of your flat. If I could go back in time, I’d definitely go for buying my freehold with the other leaseholders - it’s a better form of ownership th-cam.com/video/bCyGFMiyY3A/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the info, we'll put together. Our buyers have put though an extention application as its council owned any idea how long this could take. Apparently they are only applying on behalf of there own buyers and will hand the rest over to them. So confusing
I am lucky to have found your great video on explaining leases, I definitely will subscribe to your channel. Your videos are beautifully indexed and a valuable reference source. I was searching for a solicitor and you used to accreditation box to narrow down the search to specialist in particular field of law. I hope I might be able to contact you personally, to query a point. Kindest regards..
Very interesting subject well explained. Raises so many more questions like who are the freeholders generally are they private individuals or institutions is it different between ex council properties private owned properties have you the legal right to buy the lease outright. I would love to see more on this subbed to your channel thanks
Thank you for the sub! I will do more vids on this for sure - but it’s more niche than I realised based on the views. The freeholders could be individuals, pension funds, local authorities or housing associations - if the freehold is owned by a local authority or housing association this doesn’t mean you can’t buy the freehold. The lease advice website I link to in the description lists buildings that are excluded from the right to collective enfranchisement: * buildings within a cathedral precinct; * National Trust properties; * The freehold includes any track of an operational railway, including a bridge or tunnel or retaining wall to a railway track; * Crown properties*.* Although the Crown is not bound by the legislation, the Minister has made a statement to the House of Commons that the Crown will be prepared to comply with the principles of it.
Hi, great videos! I'm looking to get my first maisonette as a 1st-time buyer in June 2023 for a 1 bedroom flat with around 68 approx years lease remaining and the lease states "NEW LEASE OF 999 YEARS ON COMPLETION". Firstly, what does this exactly mean? Secondly, currently, it states £100 per annum ground rent would it convert into peppercorn due to new legislation since June 2022 or peppercorn applies to existing lease renewals meaning I would still be liable to pay £100 per annum?
I found this helpful, thank you. I still wonder why there is so much mystery in this process. The property market is quite transparent in that one can see prices of many similar properties on the market and even see actual sales prices of similar properties in that same area. Shouldn't the extension price of the neighbour's recent extension, for an identical flat, in a block of flats, be roughly the same as the price for your flat if the length remaining on the lease is the same? My freeholder is the Royal Borough of Greenwich council. The flat is one of 40 or so in a block of identical flats, several of which have extended their lease.
You make a good point! The government has promised to standardise the cost of lease extensions with an online calculator. Time will tell if it happens and how well it works
I love the video and it is very informative about this daunting task of extending the leasehold. Are you liable for the freeholders solicitor costs? Is this normal?
Great video. I have been quoted 14k plus cost: for my lease extension from 74 years to 125 years. Should i get dig deeper as I have been told this is too high? Thanks again.TreV
Thank you! It's difficult to say without knowing all the detail on the offer and your situation. I suggest getting advice from a lease extension surveyor on how much it would cost to extend the lease through the statutory route so you can compare. Because your lease has dropped below 80 years, it will be more expensive...
Hi. Excellent video. Everything was explained very clearly. Thank you. I have recently contacted the management company about the lease extension. They came back saying the freeholder would like to deal with the matter informally outside the provisions of the current legislation (by way of an arms length). They then said we will need to pay £550 + VAT for the surveyor of the freeholder to value the property. Is it normal? I have done an estimate using the calculator recommended in your video... it gave a range between £4000 and £5000. If the freeholder's surveyor comes back with a premium higher than £5000, how do we challenge them? Do we then need to pay more money to hire our own surveyor to try to negotiate? Thanks in advance.
Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful. I'd always be very careful of extending your lease through the informal route. It could end up cheaper, but the terms may not be as good as going the formal route. I think it might be worthwhile getting some professional advice from a chartered surveyor, initially, that specialises in lease extensions and compare the cost and terms of the informal extension to the formal route. With regard to the lease extension calculator I link to online, it is very simplistic and doesn't take into consideration many things, such as how often your ground rent increases, so I'd take the estimates it gives with a pinch of salt. I'd only use it as a very early rough idea and add contingency and fees to the higher figure. Please add me on instagram if you want to discuss further - @selfinvested_uk - but please be very careful of going the informal route
Great video and clearly explained. I am looking at buying a flat for £165k in London with only 79 years left on the lease. However, the seller wants a quick cash only sale. The owners emailed to the freeholders for a lease extension and they quoted £30k for 50 years extension. Seems like a lot for only 50 years! She wants the sale to go go through by August, however this is not enough time to sort out the extension(with surveyors etc). Can I still buy the flat now without the lease extension agreed and negotiate with the freehold later.? Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks
Thank you, Anthony. Here's an excerpt from the Lease Advise Service website about doing a statutory lease extension, which extends your lease by 90 years and reduces ground rent to zero, in your situtation. "If you are purchasing, and the lease needs extending, it is possible for the seller (if they have owned the lease for at least 2 years) to start the lease extension process and give the buyer the right to extend (assign the benefit of the notice). This means that the buyer will not have to wait 2 years to extend the lease. This has to be done at the same time as the purchase of the property is going through." I think you should speak to your solicitor about this option. I'd be a bit nervous about an informal lease extension.
Sorry I have another question. What's the reason why you searched for a solicitor in your area? Asking as I was thinking to use the same solicitor I used when buying my property (quite far from me) as she was very proactive but now I'm wondering if there are benefits to using one in ones area. Maybe it's because a local solicitor has experience dealing with the particular housing association?
No problem. Ask anything you want. I can’t remember why I searched for a solicitor in my area. If you asked me now, I’d say competency is more important than proximity, so if you’re happy with your solicitor and they have the required experience and accreditation, then why not use them...
Don't quote me on this, but I don't think so. I THINK you'll just be responsible for any admin and solicitor costs associated with extending the lease. Best to get professional advice on this to be sure tho...
Very informative video mate, thank you! One question, I'm looking into purchasing a share of freehold flat. There is currently 88 years left on the lease. Considering that I may sell the flat in the future would it be easy to extend the lease? And, would it cost as much as extending the lease on a normal leasehold flat?
Make sure you talk to your solicitor to be certain, but if you’re buying a flat with a share of the freehold, which has an 88 year lease, I think this would be a completely different situation. It should be a lot more straight forward process because you will be essentially extending your own lease as a freeholder, but as I said, speak to your solicitor to get professional legal advice on this
Freehold is a better form of ownership and would be my preference, but I wouldn’t completely rule out leasehold, especially if I couldn’t afford a freehold property. There are relatively good long leases out there with zero ground rent. In this video I compare the two and talk about what to look out for: th-cam.com/video/B-GZhQ0P48w/w-d-xo.html
@@SelfInvested great! Will check this out. Sorry last question! We are currently considering a flat that has a leasehold tenure or 110 years. And we know we went to sell within 3-4 years as we want to relocate overseas. I know this is an acceptable lease but do you think we will struggle to sell again as the lease gets lower? Is there any point buying if we just need to sell in a few years anyway? Thanks for your help ! 🙏🏽
That’s a difficult question to answer and one that’s best discussed with a mortgage and/or financial adviser. I don’t personally think it would be difficult to sell a lease with over 100 years on it, though. But I would want to check the ground rent. Preferably, I’d want it to be zero. If there is ground rent, then it should be reasonable and not increase more often than every 25/30 years - but advice on this! Also, I would want service charge to be reasonable, and would preferably like resident to have management of the building, so residents have more control over service charge costs...
In you professional opinion would you recommend buying a property with increasing ground rent every 10 years? I am looking to buy a property in London with 119 years remaining on the lease currently the ground rent is £250. I am having second thoughts because of the Ground Rent. I would appreciate you POV
I can’t give you my professional opinion because I’m not a qualified professional. Generally speaking, however, I would be very careful of ground rent that doubles every 10 years, it could end up becoming very expensive for the leaseholder
My lease is at 80 years on a shared owership the other flats in my block have been quoted 8k to do it but would it cheaper to sell or extend the lease ??
Hi, Looking to buy a leasehold property and this part has me intruged. You mentioned at 18:39 the freeholder will ask for 10% of the the offer. Would you mind explaining what is this 'offer' figure you're refering too. Thanks
So, when you serve your Section 42 Notice, you have to make an offer (payment proposal) for the lease extension. This is usually the minimum estimate for the cost of extending the lease, which was provided by your surveyor. The landlord in their initial response will usually ask for 10% of that amount upfront before proceeding any further... Hope this makes sense?
Hi I’m in the process of extending my flat lease so by section 45 was issued on 21st feb and a Surveyor was recommended by my solicitors. He was instructed to carry out an valuation which I just got back yesterday.it took them 3 months to get back with an valuation. I spoke to by solicitor because you said in the video we can go back and negotiate the price but he has told me that I have to go to tribunal. I asked why we can’t go back to freeholder he said because we have already spent 3 months so only way is tribunal. It will cost me £1000 to £5000 pls is this the correct advise or I don’t have time to negotiate with the freeholder.
Hi Saf! So, if I understand you correctly, your landlord served you with a Section 45 counter notice on 21st February 2022? According to the Leasehold Advice website, the application for tribunal must be no more than 6 months after the date of service of the Counter-Notice, would be some time in August 2022, based on the 21st February date, and would mean you should still have time to negotiate. You can find all this information on the Leasehold Advice Service website - www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/ I think if you're unsure about the advice you are getting from your solicitor, I would get them to put it in writing so there is a record of the advice they are giving. If the advice turnouts to be incorrect, you will then have evidence of it. You can also get free advice from Leasehold Advice Service - clients.lease-advice.org/#/ (but they are sometimes reluctant to provide advice on issues you've already sought legal advice on so beware!) If you want to chat more, add me on Instagram and send me a DM. My handle is @SelfInvested_UK
Hi there great channel! Is there any way of removing the doubling ground rent? Mine is every 25yrs which is pretty good. But still hard to get a decent mortgage. Many thanks Lee
Thank you, Lee! How much is your ground rent? What's the length of your lease? Why are you finding it hard to find a decent mortgage? The only way I know is by extending the lease through the statutory route.
Hi there thanks for getting back to me . My ground rent is £250 per yr and have 114 yrs left of lease and ground rent doubles every 25yrs which I thought was reasonable. But had a guy come around and he basically rejected the remortgage as there’s a onerous clause on the flat . So I looked on line and noticed these quite a few mortgage companies that are not happy about doubling ground rents, which I thought was crazy, seeing most flats are leasehold . I’m just worried I will find it hard to sale , if mortgage companies have this view . I see some law coming in “990 lease with no ground rent “ but not sure if that’s going to help us. Basically looking for best chances of selling this flat next year. Many thanks Lee
Haven’t come across that problem before... My ground rent was £250 and doubled every 25 years, before I extended my lease, but didn’t have a problem getting a mortgage. Was the onerous clause the ground rent doubling every 25 years?
Yeah every 25yrs . Nationwide turned us down cause of the onerous. Then looking online it seems mortgage lenders ganged up to stop giving mortgages on lease hold property’s. Maybe it’s my mortgage advisor not pulling his finger out , just getting panicky as need to remortgage by end of month 😣
Hey man, again thanks for all the videos they are really helpful not sure if anyone can help with my question, should it say on the lease that you can/have the right to renew it or it says I have NO contractual right to renew it? is really confusing me, I appreciate any help with this Thanks in advance
You should get professional legal advice on your lease. My lease didn’t explicitly state that I have a right to extend my lease, but I was still able to do a statutory lease extension 2 years after buying my flat.
@@SelfInvested my solicitor was recommended by the developer so I'm not 100% sure of their opinion and it says in the leas "none" under contractual right for renewal So i wanted to see what you guys think and what other leases says Thank you very much!!
Thanks a lot, OMG... no way, I am not going to buy a property with a lease, it's crazy that the freeholder can just say "it's invalid" and you need to pay for everything... it seems you've no right as a leaseholder, it's like in medieval times with a master and a slave...
Yes, you have to be careful with leasehold properties, but some leaseholds are better than others. You can watch this video to learn more: th-cam.com/video/B-GZhQ0P48w/w-d-xo.html Hopefully with the leasehold reforms, which have been promised (watch this to learn more: th-cam.com/video/oiF_4K-JJPk/w-d-xo.html ), the situation for leaseholders gets better and the leasehold system is eventually abolished!
Well, the critical year is 80 years. Once your lease drops below this point it becomes more expensive to extend because of an additional cost known as marriage value. However, generally speaking, the earlier you extend the cheaper it will be. For your specific situation, though, it may be worth getting legal advice because the law on lease extensions is likely to change in the coming years. Check out this video to find out more: th-cam.com/video/oiF_4K-JJPk/w-d-xo.html
From your experience do you know if council owned also suggest extortionate first counter offers and negotiations done as a result or is the council more likely to stick to market value? Thanks in advance
TBH I don’t have any experience of extending a lease sold by a council freeholder, but I’d be surprised if the council were as aggressive as private freeholders. I’ll see if I can find out more for you...
Hi there! I think that I covered it the video, but one of the key requirements is that you've owned the property for at least 2 years in order to extend your lease through the statutory route. You can find a full list of requirements here: www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/#s-2-1
Hi I’m looking into buying a leasehold flat with 94 years on the lease, the extension to bring it back up to 125 years is £4000 is that worth doing now?? I have no idea how long I’d live there Thank you
Hey Dee! That sounds like you have been offered is an informal lease extension and I think you should be very careful of doing this. Make sure you get legal advice before going ahead with an informal lease extension. You may be better off doing a statutory lease extension (as described in the video), which would extend your lease by 90 years (so if it's 94 now, it would be 184 years), and reduce ground to zero, which is a major benefit. Whether the lease is worth extending now is a separate question. 94 years remaining isn't low (you really need to start thinking about extending when it's approaching 80 years) but generally, the earlier you extend the lease, the cheaper it is. It might be worth speaking to a lease extension surveyor to get professional advice.
@@SelfInvested thank you. I did enquire about a longer lease and was quoted £17k for an additional 90 years, I wouldn’t be living there that long so didn’t see any value in extending that long. My solicitor thinks 4K to bring it back up to 125 years could be considered reasonable. I’m hesitant about completing and thought about still looking at freehold property but would lose the fees already paid out but I’d rather get it right.
As long as your initial lease length was more than 21 years and have owned your property for at least two years, you have the legal right to extend your lease. However, even though you may be a qualifying tenant under the law, there may be some unusual circumstances that prevent from extending so make sure you get legal advice. I'm not sure if you have seen my video on leasehold reform but the government recently announced leaseholders will be able to extend their leases by 990 years, instead of 90: th-cam.com/video/oiF_4K-JJPk/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for watching!
What did you think of the video? Was everything clear? Was there anything you would like me to expand on?
Let me know down in the comments and I'll respond!!
Remember, never stop investing in yourself!
Such a helpful advice, many many thanks
Thanks for this video Lemuel. You’re an interesting bloke and your videos are very helpful. Thank you!
Thank you, Tommy :) Glad you like them!
Excellent video, well explained. The only thing I'd add is, it's the Marriage Value kicking in that causes a lease extension premium to increase by so much when the lease drops below 80 years. This increase is calculated by taking the long lease value of the property minus the short lease (current) value of the property, which gives the Marriage Value, and 50% of this amount is added to the lease extension's premium.
Thank you, Sinx! 🙏🏿 And great contribution! 👍🏿
@@SelfInvested No worries. Good luck with the channel mate, I like what you're doing.
Great explanation of lease extensions! Important points to know!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you very much this video was extremely helpful. Lots of detail, I didn’t quite realise how complicated it was and how so many individual people want a slice of the pie 🥧
My pleasure, thank you for watching! Yes, everyone wants a slice of YOUR pie and legally have a right to it. It’s very unfair!
Be careful with th Surveyor though; they often place value by sitting at their desk, copy and pasting prevous surveys and laughing all the way to the bank.
Many thanks for posting this! It was very professional, informative and well explained and stopped me overpaying for a flat with a low lease!
You’re welcome! Glad to hear you found it useful! How low was the lease?
@@SelfInvested It was 65 years. the calculator said around 25k to extend, but as you said, it could have easily run another 10k or so and I wouldn't have been able to afford it
Really helpful and well-explained video, thanks!!!
You're welcome! Are you about to extend your lease?
The real issues with lease extensions are having to cover the freeholders costs wihtout any assurance of getting the maximum period, and if that freeholder decides to negotiate; thus delaying the process and costing the leasee more than was necessary. Great explaination never the less.
Thanks, Robert! I agree. I don’t think leaseholders should have to cover the freeholder’s legal and sievert or fees. The system is very unfair!
Well, you purchase the property knowing the length of the lease, and you have the automatic right to extend that lease. You should at least pay for the free holders reasonable legal costs, they didnt forcibly make you take on the contract.
Excellent video, very clearly explained.
Great video mate. Lease extentions are important.
thank you! I appreciate the comment! i struggled a bit with this video, and i’m not sure why. i’ve actually extended a lease before, so thought it would be straightforward... might do a follow up based on my own experience!
Wow I watched the whole video. Def invested in my self.
Haha! Good to hear! Glad you found it useful. Thank you for watching 🙏🏿
So good. Thank you
Thanks, this is a great video that introduced me to leasehold extensions, made clear and simple!
You’re welcome! Thank you for watching and for leaving such a kind comment :) I’ve done a video on buying your freehold if that’s of interest: th-cam.com/video/bCyGFMiyY3A/w-d-xo.html
@@SelfInvested awesome, I’ll take a look
@@philpell9002 Let me know what you think!
Thanks man. I need to sort my budget... real quick!
Haha! Any time brother!
Great video, thanks for the much needed advice
You’re welcome! Thank you!! Make sure you check out my video on buying the freehold of your flat. If I could go back in time, I’d definitely go for buying my freehold with the other leaseholders - it’s a better form of ownership
th-cam.com/video/bCyGFMiyY3A/w-d-xo.html
I've just watched that one too. Great video but don't think I'll qualify as it's a council estate and I believe only 3 owners out of 8
Oh, yeah. You need at least 3 quarters to be qualifying tenants
Thanks for the info, we'll put together. Our buyers have put though an extention application as its council owned any idea how long this could take. Apparently they are only applying on behalf of there own buyers and will hand the rest over to them. So confusing
It can be very long. It took us 5 months to agree the premium!
I am lucky to have found your great video on explaining leases, I definitely will subscribe to your channel. Your videos are beautifully indexed and a valuable reference source. I was searching for a solicitor and you used to accreditation box to narrow down the search to specialist in particular field of law. I hope I might be able to contact you personally, to query a point. Kindest regards..
You are very welcome, Michael. Thank you for subscribing. I received your email and have responded. Wish you the best!
Thanks
No probs ;)
Very interesting subject well explained. Raises so many more questions like who are the freeholders generally are they private individuals or institutions is it different between ex council properties private owned properties have you the legal right to buy the lease outright. I would love to see more on this subbed to your channel thanks
Thank you for the sub! I will do more vids on this for sure - but it’s more niche than I realised based on the views. The freeholders could be individuals, pension funds, local authorities or housing associations - if the freehold is owned by a local authority or housing association this doesn’t mean you can’t buy the freehold.
The lease advice website I link to in the description lists buildings that are excluded from the right to collective enfranchisement:
* buildings within a cathedral precinct;
* National Trust properties;
* The freehold includes any track of an operational railway, including a bridge or tunnel or retaining wall to a railway track;
* Crown properties*.* Although the Crown is not bound by the legislation, the Minister has made a statement to the House of Commons that the Crown will be prepared to comply with the principles of it.
Thanks 👍
No probs ;)
Nice one!
Thanks for watching!
Hi, great videos!
I'm looking to get my first maisonette as a 1st-time buyer in June 2023 for a 1 bedroom flat with around 68 approx years lease remaining and the lease states "NEW LEASE OF 999 YEARS ON COMPLETION". Firstly, what does this exactly mean? Secondly, currently, it states £100 per annum ground rent would it convert into peppercorn due to new legislation since June 2022 or peppercorn applies to existing lease renewals meaning I would still be liable to pay £100 per annum?
I found this helpful, thank you. I still wonder why there is so much mystery in this process. The property market is quite transparent in that one can see prices of many similar properties on the market and even see actual sales prices of similar properties in that same area. Shouldn't the extension price of the neighbour's recent extension, for an identical flat, in a block of flats, be roughly the same as the price for your flat if the length remaining on the lease is the same? My freeholder is the Royal Borough of Greenwich council. The flat is one of 40 or so in a block of identical flats, several of which have extended their lease.
You make a good point! The government has promised to standardise the cost of lease extensions with an online calculator. Time will tell if it happens and how well it works
I love the video and it is very informative about this daunting task of extending the leasehold. Are you liable for the freeholders solicitor costs? Is this normal?
Thank you, Sak! Yes, it is normal - it’s actually the law. You’re responsible for your landlord’s reasonable solicitor AND surveyor costs!
I cannot thank you enough
You're welcome :)
Does you ever experienced where owner of the land say you can't extend the lease.
I haven't. In that situation, seek advice from your solicitor!
Great video. I have been quoted 14k plus cost: for my lease extension from 74 years to 125 years. Should i get dig deeper as I have been told this is too high? Thanks again.TreV
Thank you! It's difficult to say without knowing all the detail on the offer and your situation. I suggest getting advice from a lease extension surveyor on how much it would cost to extend the lease through the statutory route so you can compare. Because your lease has dropped below 80 years, it will be more expensive...
Hi. Excellent video. Everything was explained very clearly. Thank you.
I have recently contacted the management company about the lease extension. They came back saying the freeholder would like to deal with the matter informally outside the provisions of the current legislation (by way of an arms length). They then said we will need to pay £550 + VAT for the surveyor of the freeholder to value the property. Is it normal?
I have done an estimate using the calculator recommended in your video... it gave a range between £4000 and £5000. If the freeholder's surveyor comes back with a premium higher than £5000, how do we challenge them? Do we then need to pay more money to hire our own surveyor to try to negotiate?
Thanks in advance.
Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful. I'd always be very careful of extending your lease through the informal route. It could end up cheaper, but the terms may not be as good as going the formal route.
I think it might be worthwhile getting some professional advice from a chartered surveyor, initially, that specialises in lease extensions and compare the cost and terms of the informal extension to the formal route.
With regard to the lease extension calculator I link to online, it is very simplistic and doesn't take into consideration many things, such as how often your ground rent increases, so I'd take the estimates it gives with a pinch of salt. I'd only use it as a very early rough idea and add contingency and fees to the higher figure.
Please add me on instagram if you want to discuss further - @selfinvested_uk - but please be very careful of going the informal route
Great video and clearly explained. I am looking at buying a flat for £165k in London with only 79 years left on the lease. However, the seller wants a quick cash only sale. The owners emailed to the freeholders for a lease extension and they quoted £30k for 50 years extension. Seems like a lot for only 50 years! She wants the sale to go go through by August, however this is not enough time to sort out the extension(with surveyors etc).
Can I still buy the flat now without the lease extension agreed and negotiate with the freehold later.?
Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks
Thank you, Anthony. Here's an excerpt from the Lease Advise Service website about doing a statutory lease extension, which extends your lease by 90 years and reduces ground rent to zero, in your situtation.
"If you are purchasing, and the lease needs extending, it is possible for the seller (if they have owned the lease for at least 2 years) to start the lease extension process and give the buyer the right to extend (assign the benefit of the notice). This means that the buyer will not have to wait 2 years to extend the lease. This has to be done at the same time as the purchase of the property is going through."
I think you should speak to your solicitor about this option. I'd be a bit nervous about an informal lease extension.
Sorry I have another question. What's the reason why you searched for a solicitor in your area? Asking as I was thinking to use the same solicitor I used when buying my property (quite far from me) as she was very proactive but now I'm wondering if there are benefits to using one in ones area. Maybe it's because a local solicitor has experience dealing with the particular housing association?
No problem. Ask anything you want. I can’t remember why I searched for a solicitor in my area. If you asked me now, I’d say competency is more important than proximity, so if you’re happy with your solicitor and they have the required experience and accreditation, then why not use them...
@@SelfInvested that's great thank you, I was hoping for that answer as there are already so many things to consider. Thanks again.
@@tanitaojo9902 Probably a good idea to get a local surveyor, though
My flat shares the freehold with 21 other flats. The lease only has 59 years left. Would there be a marriage fee?
Don't quote me on this, but I don't think so. I THINK you'll just be responsible for any admin and solicitor costs associated with extending the lease. Best to get professional advice on this to be sure tho...
Very informative video mate, thank you!
One question, I'm looking into purchasing a share of freehold flat. There is currently 88 years left on the lease. Considering that I may sell the flat in the future would it be easy to extend the lease? And, would it cost as much as extending the lease on a normal leasehold flat?
Make sure you talk to your solicitor to be certain, but if you’re buying a flat with a share of the freehold, which has an 88 year lease, I think this would be a completely different situation. It should be a lot more straight forward process because you will be essentially extending your own lease as a freeholder, but as I said, speak to your solicitor to get professional legal advice on this
@@SelfInvested
You're the man, thank you!
Great video thanks! Would you say it is best to avoid leasehold properties because of these complexities where possible?
Freehold is a better form of ownership and would be my preference, but I wouldn’t completely rule out leasehold, especially if I couldn’t afford a freehold property. There are relatively good long leases out there with zero ground rent. In this video I compare the two and talk about what to look out for: th-cam.com/video/B-GZhQ0P48w/w-d-xo.html
@@SelfInvested great! Will check this out. Sorry last question! We are currently considering a flat that has a leasehold tenure or 110 years. And we know we went to sell within 3-4 years as we want to relocate overseas. I know this is an acceptable lease but do you think we will struggle to sell again as the lease gets lower? Is there any point buying if we just need to sell in a few years anyway?
Thanks for your help ! 🙏🏽
That’s a difficult question to answer and one that’s best discussed with a mortgage and/or financial adviser.
I don’t personally think it would be difficult to sell a lease with over 100 years on it, though. But I would want to check the ground rent. Preferably, I’d want it to be zero. If there is ground rent, then it should be reasonable and not increase more often than every 25/30 years - but advice on this! Also, I would want service charge to be reasonable, and would preferably like resident to have management of the building, so residents have more control over service charge costs...
@@SelfInvested super helpful thanks!!
In you professional opinion would you recommend buying a property with increasing ground rent every 10 years? I am looking to buy a property in London with 119 years remaining on the lease currently the ground rent is £250. I am having second thoughts because of the Ground Rent. I would appreciate you POV
I can’t give you my professional opinion because I’m not a qualified professional. Generally speaking, however, I would be very careful of ground rent that doubles every 10 years, it could end up becoming very expensive for the leaseholder
How will the premium be calculated? normal calculator do not include rising ground rents.
My lease is at 80 years on a shared owership the other flats in my block have been quoted 8k to do it but would it cheaper to sell or extend the lease ??
It’s difficult to say without understanding your circumstances. I think it’s best to get legal and surveyor advice on your specific situation.
Hi, Looking to buy a leasehold property and this part has me intruged. You mentioned at 18:39 the freeholder will ask for 10% of the the offer. Would you mind explaining what is this 'offer' figure you're refering too. Thanks
So, when you serve your Section 42 Notice, you have to make an offer (payment proposal) for the lease extension. This is usually the minimum estimate for the cost of extending the lease, which was provided by your surveyor. The landlord in their initial response will usually ask for 10% of that amount upfront before proceeding any further... Hope this makes sense?
@@SelfInvested many thanks for the clarification, makes perfect sense
Hi I’m in the process of extending my flat lease so by section 45 was issued on 21st feb and a Surveyor was recommended by my solicitors. He was instructed to carry out an valuation which I just got back yesterday.it took them 3 months to get back with an valuation.
I spoke to by solicitor because you said in the video we can go back and negotiate the price but he has told me that I have to go to tribunal.
I asked why we can’t go back to freeholder he said because we have already spent 3 months so only way is tribunal.
It will cost me £1000 to £5000 pls is this the correct advise or I don’t have time to negotiate with the freeholder.
Hi Saf! So, if I understand you correctly, your landlord served you with a Section 45 counter notice on 21st February 2022? According to the Leasehold Advice website, the application for tribunal must be no more than 6 months after the date of service of the Counter-Notice, would be some time in August 2022, based on the 21st February date, and would mean you should still have time to negotiate. You can find all this information on the Leasehold Advice Service website - www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/
I think if you're unsure about the advice you are getting from your solicitor, I would get them to put it in writing so there is a record of the advice they are giving. If the advice turnouts to be incorrect, you will then have evidence of it. You can also get free advice from Leasehold Advice Service - clients.lease-advice.org/#/ (but they are sometimes reluctant to provide advice on issues you've already sought legal advice on so beware!)
If you want to chat more, add me on Instagram and send me a DM. My handle is @SelfInvested_UK
Hi there great channel! Is there any way of removing the doubling ground rent? Mine is every 25yrs which is pretty good. But still hard to get a decent mortgage. Many thanks Lee
Thank you, Lee! How much is your ground rent? What's the length of your lease? Why are you finding it hard to find a decent mortgage?
The only way I know is by extending the lease through the statutory route.
Hi there thanks for getting back to me . My ground rent is £250 per yr and have 114 yrs left of lease and ground rent doubles every 25yrs which I thought was reasonable. But had a guy come around and he basically rejected the remortgage as there’s a onerous clause on the flat . So I looked on line and noticed these quite a few mortgage companies that are not happy about doubling ground rents, which I thought was crazy, seeing most flats are leasehold . I’m just worried I will find it hard to sale , if mortgage companies have this view . I see some law coming in “990 lease with no ground rent “ but not sure if that’s going to help us. Basically looking for best chances of selling this flat next year. Many thanks Lee
Haven’t come across that problem before... My ground rent was £250 and doubled every 25 years, before I extended my lease, but didn’t have a problem getting a mortgage. Was the onerous clause the ground rent doubling every 25 years?
Yeah every 25yrs . Nationwide turned us down cause of the onerous. Then looking online it seems mortgage lenders ganged up to stop giving mortgages on lease hold property’s. Maybe it’s my mortgage advisor not pulling his finger out , just getting panicky as need to remortgage by end of month 😣
Can ex council tenants extend their lease or come under lease reform act
Former council properties are not excluded from the leasehold reform act as far as I'm aware
Hey man, again thanks for all the videos they are really helpful
not sure if anyone can help with my question,
should it say on the lease that you can/have the right to renew it or it says I have NO contractual right to renew it?
is really confusing me, I appreciate any help with this
Thanks in advance
You should get professional legal advice on your lease. My lease didn’t explicitly state that I have a right to extend my lease, but I was still able to do a statutory lease extension 2 years after buying my flat.
@@SelfInvested my solicitor was recommended by the developer so I'm not 100% sure of their opinion and it says in the leas "none" under contractual right for renewal
So i wanted to see what you guys think and what other leases says
Thank you very much!!
Contact the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership ( www.leaseholdknowledge.com ) and see if they can give you some advice...
@@SelfInvested Nice one, thanks
Thanks a lot, OMG... no way, I am not going to buy a property with a lease, it's crazy that the freeholder can just say "it's invalid" and you need to pay for everything... it seems you've no right as a leaseholder, it's like in medieval times with a master and a slave...
Yes, you have to be careful with leasehold properties, but some leaseholds are better than others. You can watch this video to learn more: th-cam.com/video/B-GZhQ0P48w/w-d-xo.html
Hopefully with the leasehold reforms, which have been promised (watch this to learn more: th-cam.com/video/oiF_4K-JJPk/w-d-xo.html ), the situation for leaseholders gets better and the leasehold system is eventually abolished!
So what year is safest to extend one’s lease?
Well, the critical year is 80 years. Once your lease drops below this point it becomes more expensive to extend because of an additional cost known as marriage value. However, generally speaking, the earlier you extend the cheaper it will be. For your specific situation, though, it may be worth getting legal advice because the law on lease extensions is likely to change in the coming years. Check out this video to find out more: th-cam.com/video/oiF_4K-JJPk/w-d-xo.html
From your experience do you know if council owned also suggest extortionate first counter offers and negotiations done as a result or is the council more likely to stick to market value? Thanks in advance
TBH I don’t have any experience of extending a lease sold by a council freeholder, but I’d be surprised if the council were as aggressive as private freeholders. I’ll see if I can find out more for you...
@@SelfInvested that'll be great thank you. I will let you know how I get on too when I get around to it
No probs ;) How long do you have left on your lease?
Dear Sir, may I know if there's any requirement when I apply on the lease extension ?
I mean if the lease remaining years has to be 80+ years
Hi there! I think that I covered it the video, but one of the key requirements is that you've owned the property for at least 2 years in order to extend your lease through the statutory route. You can find a full list of requirements here: www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/lease-extension-getting-started/#s-2-1
@@SelfInvested Thanks Sir, really useful!
Hi
I’m looking into buying a leasehold flat with 94 years on the lease, the extension to bring it back up to 125 years is £4000 is that worth doing now??
I have no idea how long I’d live there
Thank you
Hey Dee! That sounds like you have been offered is an informal lease extension and I think you should be very careful of doing this. Make sure you get legal advice before going ahead with an informal lease extension.
You may be better off doing a statutory lease extension (as described in the video), which would extend your lease by 90 years (so if it's 94 now, it would be 184 years), and reduce ground to zero, which is a major benefit.
Whether the lease is worth extending now is a separate question. 94 years remaining isn't low (you really need to start thinking about extending when it's approaching 80 years) but generally, the earlier you extend the lease, the cheaper it is.
It might be worth speaking to a lease extension surveyor to get professional advice.
@@SelfInvested thank you. I did enquire about a longer lease and was quoted £17k for an additional 90 years, I wouldn’t be living there that long so didn’t see any value in extending that long. My solicitor thinks 4K to bring it back up to 125 years could be considered reasonable. I’m hesitant about completing and thought about still looking at freehold property but would lose the fees already paid out but I’d rather get it right.
Who quoted you £17k? Can you add me on IG? I’m happy to chat a quick chat with you - @SelfInvested_UK
Can the freeholder refuse to extend the lease or do I have legal right to renew it?
As long as your initial lease length was more than 21 years and have owned your property for at least two years, you have the legal right to extend your lease. However, even though you may be a qualifying tenant under the law, there may be some unusual circumstances that prevent from extending so make sure you get legal advice.
I'm not sure if you have seen my video on leasehold reform but the government recently announced leaseholders will be able to extend their leases by 990 years, instead of 90: th-cam.com/video/oiF_4K-JJPk/w-d-xo.html