Lease Extension - A 3 Point Strategy For Success

A lease extension is often the last thing on a leaseholders mind. It involves thinking about the future and with many other stressful everyday things to think about it is often pushed to back of the mind. However, this article is meant to make you stop and think, not extending your lease could be a very expensive. How long you have on your lease effects how easily your home can be sold. Extending your lease does not have to be complex or time consuming, please read on to find out how.

1. Check your existing lease

How much longer does your present lease have to run? Bear in mind that a short lease will seriously affect the value of your property. More to the point, most buyers are reluctant to buy a property with a short lease, and most mortgage companies are reluctant to lend against them. Even if you are not thinking of selling soon, you should still think about the future and looking after your investment by extending your lease. If the remaining lease term is approaching 80 years, then you need to act fast (see point 2).

2. Weigh up the costs

Extending a lease naturally requires some initial outlay, so you'll need to balance short term expenditure against long term security and financial gain from resale. The crucial time for an extension is 80 years. When the term dips below 80 years you will become liable to pay 'marriage value' when extending your lease. This is approximately 50% of the increase in valuation of the property - an increase that you have to pay up front, even though it hasn't actually happened yet. This makes the whole thing much more expensive, so the lesson is - extend your lease before it dips below 80 years!

3. Turn it over to a professional

This is really an essential part of your strategy. Working out the value of a lease extension is virtually impossible for the uninitiated, since it involves balancing up a number of factors, such as local property prices and the loss of the landlord's ground rents. As such, you'll need to appoint a professional valuer, usually a surveyor. You will need to find and instruct a specialist solicitor. A specialist lease extension solicitor will deal with all the paperwork, communicate with your landlord and process the conveyance of the new lease, this will all make it simpler for you.

Although extending your lease might take a small amount of effort, if you follow this strategy you will reap the rewards in the end.


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If you are considering extending a lease then contact Bonallack & Bishop specialist Lease Extension Solicitors today. Senior partner Tim Bishop is responsible for all major strategic decisions and has grown the firm by 1000% in 13 years. He sees himself as a businessman who owns a law firm.