Leasehold Extension - What is it?

Leasehold extension is a right granted to tenants by the 1993 Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act. This Act allows leaseholders to force the landlord to extend their lease by 90 years, which is then added to the remainder of their original lease. The extended lease is then subject to a peppercorn rent, which effectively means that they don’t have to pay any ground rent on that lease.

The Leasehold Reform Act 1993 also lays down the criteria that people need to meet if they want to extend their lease and also sets out the process to be followed in order to do so. Click here for more information about leasehold extension eligibility.

Leasehold extension is something that is only available to residential leaseholders, most often in blocks of flats. If you end up in a dispute with your landlord over your desire to extend your lease, then you will have to apply to a leasehold valuation tribunal, where your case will be heard and ruled on by an independent panel. Applications to the  Leasehold Valuation Tribunal – which are expensive and can cause considerable delay – are relatively uncommon – fortunately common sense and a wish on behalf of both parties to keep legal costs down usually triumphs are successfully negotiated  end up at a tribunal .

If you are thinking of a lease extension, then there is certain information you will need to collect and certain people you will need to get involved to help you. The process isn’t enormously complicated, but as with any aspect of the law it requires a particular process to be followed and can be a bit confusing at first. In particular, there are a number of strict deadlines would you need to keep to. As a result it is definitely worth doing a bit of research to get to grips with the issues and then you will definitely need to appoint specialist lease extension solicitors and surveyors who will be able to help you through the process.

For advice about how Leasehold Extension could help you, contact us today

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