Our Property Teams are experts in dealing with leasehold properties. They have a wealth of knowledge to assist you at either the initial purchase of a leasehold property or during the course of your ownership in assisting with any matters which may arise.
There are many misconceptions surrounding leasehold properties. A leasehold property means that although you are the person with the right to occupy the property, you will be obliged to pay a ground rent and a service charge to the Landlord or Management Company in respect of the ongoing maintenance of the building. Leases provide the duration of time that you are eligible to occupy the property for. This could be 100 years or 999 years. Once the term ends then the Landlord is entitled to take back the Property.
It is always beneficial to have as long as possible remaining on the lease. Where leases have less than 80 years remaining, this can cause problems when mortgaging properties as the majority of lenders have strict guidelines as to how long they require remaining on a lease.
Owners of leasehold properties have the benefit of legislation which provides that subject to meeting certain criteria you are entitled to a lease extension of 90 years added to the term remaining on your lease.
Our expert Lawyers are able to deal with extending the term of years remaining on your lease. There are several options available in order to extend your lease. The easiest way is to agree directly with the Landlord an extension to the term of years remaining on the Lease. Once an agreement has been reached, our experts will be able to deal with the legal aspect of the lease extension. This option means that there are no formal requirements which have to be undertaken in respect of the legislation which protects you as a leasehold property owner. This can save you substantial costs.
In some cases, a Landlord is unable to agree a lease extension without following the legislation. These Landlords can include Local Authorities and Charities. If this is the case, then a formal notice will need to be served in accordance with the legislation which will then require the Landlord to grant a lease extension. This process can be lengthy and complex.
Our experts are able to deal with all aspects of a lease extension including the service of notices and dealing with the registration of the final lease extension which is granted.
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