Lease Extension

If the lease on your flat is older than 200 years, you cannot extend it.

Once a lease term falls below 80 years the premium for an extension may increase. So it is common practice for most leaseholders to extend their lease before it falls below 80 years.

If you own a house and want to extend your lease, you will need to use the formal negotiation route. There is more information on formal negotiations below.

If you meet the minimum criteria set out in the Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 you have a right to extend your lease.

Depending on what terms you are seeking as part of the extension, you can choose to enter formal or informal negotiations.

Formal negotiations will require you to obtain independent legal, and usually valuation, advice.

Many leaseholders prefer to negotiate directly with their freeholder, without following the procedures set out under the 1993 Act. This process is known as informal negotiations.

As this is a legal transaction, you should first get independent professional advice (legal and/or valuation advice), as you would have done when you acquired your leasehold property.

Whether you use the team who did your original conveyance or you want to appoint a new team, useful guidance is available from independent resources, such as the Leasehold Advisory Service (http://www.lease-advice.org).

The landlord clients of HomeGround Management Ltd are willing to enter into informal negotiations with their leaseholders. You can apply for a leasehold extension and pay the administration fee through your personal account on the HomeGround portal.

To register for a personal account you need your alphanumeric security key and your 12-digit customer reference number. These should be on your HomeGround invoice or your welcome letter and you can register here.

If you have already registered on our portal and need help with your password, please click here.

Although we recommend that you use the forms on the online portal, you can get in touch with the asset transaction team through this contact form or by post at:

HomeGround Management Ltd
PO Box 6433
London W1A 2UZ

We can then send you the form for lease extensions by email or post.

Once an application has been received, and the administration fee has been paid, within 3–5 working days HomeGround will send you the price at which the freeholder would be willing to extend your lease. This offer price is always inclusive of the freeholder’s fees and expenses and VAT (if applicable), so there are no hidden extras.

Once you have received this offer price, you can:

1. Either accept it
2. Or make a counter-offer if you think the offer price is too high – further counter-offers may follow until an agreement is reached.

Once agreement is reached between you and the freeholder, then HomeGround will instruct the freeholder’s solicitors to formalise the matter.

Our freeholders do not require a leaseholder to appoint their own solicitor in order to complete the conveyancing stage of the transaction.

If you have a mortgage, your mortgage provider may require you to appoint your own solicitor. We recommend that you contact your mortgage provider to check. If this is the case, you will need to provide contact details for your solicitor.

If you and the freeholder are unable to agree a price you do retain your rights under the Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 and you can proceed with formal negotiations.

The fee covers the costs of obtaining a landlord offer price. If an agreement is reached on an informal basis, the fee will be deducted from the price upon completion of the transaction.

HomeGround undertakes various services on behalf of your freeholder, including:

• Checking the terms of your lease for length and level of ground rent payable;
• Checking whether you meet the qualification requirements under the legislation (for example, has your property been registered to you for at least two years?);
• Checking whether the account is in breach or in arrears;
• Referring to recent case law on lease extensions, where required;
• Obtaining a landlord offer price and preparing an offer letter setting out the price, inclusive of the landlord’s legal and administrative costs for dealing with the sale;
• Assessing any counter-offers received and dealing with subsequent negotiations on behalf of the landlord.

HomeGround and the landlord are only able to negotiate with the current owner of the property.

You will receive an offer letter that states the terms under which the landlord is prepared to extend your lease.

The offer will be valid for 90 days, and it will reflect the value of the landlord’s interest in the property at the time of your application. It will be inclusive of the landlord’s legal and administrative costs for completing the sale.

The landlord offer price represents the long-term value they attribute to their interest in the property.

Since HomeGround do not represent former owners of the freehold title, we will not have been privy to any previous discussions you may have had during that period of ownership.

However, we would like to emphasise that offer figures issued on behalf of our clients are negotiable and that you do have the option of taking independent advice and of putting forward a counter-offer, which will receive due consideration.