Wondering if anyone here has some advice for me. I own my 1 bedroom flat and wish to sell it. The lease is now at 66 years. I went to an estate agent (who has valued the property at £280K to 300K, though another agent reckons £310 to £320K) and at his office he typed my details into a leasehold calculator including when the lease expires, and based on the property valuation, it came up with £20 to £22K to extend it by adding 90 years to my existing 66 years, making it 156 years with no ground rent to pay anymore. He said if the freeholders ask for more that I shouldn't have to pay any more than £22K.
Another cheaper option he suggested was asking to just extend it back to 99 years and even offer to increase my £50 a year ground rent to something like £300 or £400 a year. That, he said, could mean paying around £10K. He said because there's still ground rent, it could be of more financial interest to the freeholders.
I wrote to my freeholders a few days ago saying "Dear Sir or Madam,
I am interested in extending my lease for the above mentioned property to 99 years. Please let me know what premium you would be looking for in this instance.
Yours faithfully,"
They wrote back saying thanks for the enquiry, please provide how many bedrooms and current market value. So I sent a reply letter yesterday answering their questions.
I don't really know how it's going to go from here. Like, how long it'll take (I've heard it can take 3 months or even a year), but my main concern is how much they'll ask for. If the 'normal' route of adding 90 years is meant to be about £20K, then asking to just extend to 99 years and increase the ground rent should be quite a bit less, no? I'm guessing it could go to a tribunal if we can't reach an easy agreement.
Forgot to add, I've not told the freeholders that I'm selling, nor am I going to. Has anyone here had dealings with freeholders and extended their lease?
Another cheaper option he suggested was asking to just extend it back to 99 years and even offer to increase my £50 a year ground rent to something like £300 or £400 a year. That, he said, could mean paying around £10K. He said because there's still ground rent, it could be of more financial interest to the freeholders.
I wrote to my freeholders a few days ago saying "Dear Sir or Madam,
I am interested in extending my lease for the above mentioned property to 99 years. Please let me know what premium you would be looking for in this instance.
Yours faithfully,"
They wrote back saying thanks for the enquiry, please provide how many bedrooms and current market value. So I sent a reply letter yesterday answering their questions.
I don't really know how it's going to go from here. Like, how long it'll take (I've heard it can take 3 months or even a year), but my main concern is how much they'll ask for. If the 'normal' route of adding 90 years is meant to be about £20K, then asking to just extend to 99 years and increase the ground rent should be quite a bit less, no? I'm guessing it could go to a tribunal if we can't reach an easy agreement.
Forgot to add, I've not told the freeholders that I'm selling, nor am I going to. Has anyone here had dealings with freeholders and extended their lease?
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