Getting Started On The Right To Extending A Lease - By: Tim Bishop

Extending your lease is a statutory right awarded under the Leasehold Reform Act 1993. It allows leaseholders to extend their lease for a further 90 years on top of the remaining term. As well as this, once extended the leaseholder will no longer be liable to pay ground rent.

The lease extension process is kicked off by the tenant servicing notice on the landlord (Tenants Notice), once this is served on the freeholder the whole process is quite documented.

The qualifying criteria for a lease extension is that the tenant must have owned their lease for at least 2 years initially and it must have been granted for 21 years. There is no formal need for the leaseholder to have lived in the property for those two years. Therefore if a leaseholder has owned their flat for 2 years and the lease was granted for 21 years + in the first place, then they should be entitled to an extension. This rule is not set and fast however, and often tenants will find themselves eligible where they didn't think they were and unfortunately visa versa. Due to this, legal advice should always be taken first.

Something you should be aware of is that once the Tenant's Notice is served and registered then it is an assignable right with the property. This consequently means that the leaseholder can serve the notice and sell their property at the same time adding value to the sale. This will improve the salability of the flat.

Before you start the lease extension process you should make sure that you have enough money under your belt. You will not be able to extend your lease if you do not have sufficient money to do so. Part of the money you will need to raise is; your solicitor's fees, your surveyor/valuers fees and all the landlords fees for the same services. When dealing with these professionals, you need to know that everyday high street solicitors and valuers will not do lease extensions very often, if at all. Due to this, you will need to make sure that you dealing with a specialist in the area of extending a lease.

Extending a lease is not a quick process. It often takes up to 6 months to complete and can be even longer where a landlord refuses your offer and you have to bring a claim before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. Irelevant of this, as a leaseholder getting an extension can gain you money in the future.

About the Author

Bonallack & Bishop are a firm of solicitors experienced in helping you extend your lease. They can offer you advice on extending a lease . Senior Partner Tim Bishop is responsible for all major strategic decisions, seeing himself as a businessman who owns a law firm. Tim has expanded the firm by 1000% in 12 years and has plans for its continued development.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Tim-Bishop/62652

Additional Articles From - Home | Reference & education | Legal