How to Extend my Lease
In order to be eligible to extend your lease, you will have to have owned the property for a minimum of two years.
Once you are eligible, you will need to complete the following steps to successfully extend your lease.
What happens if the landlord doesn’t respond to my Notice?
If the landlord has not responded you should seek advice from your solicitor, however in short you will have to proceed to the LVT for determination of the premium.
What happens if Negotiations Fail
Although the respective surveyors are tasked with reaching an agreed figure for the leasehold extension, in some cases this isn’t possible.
Such situations tend to arise on high value properties, properties with substantially short leases or where one of the parties is more towards the difficult end of the spectrum.
If you find yourself in this situation you only have 1 option and that is to proceed to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT).
The LVT is a formal tribunal whereby a panel of experts will hear the arguments from both the landlord and the tenant. The experts will then make a formal decision on the leasehold extension premium based off the information that has been presented to them.
The LVT panel will consist of a person with a law background, usually a solicitor, a person with a property valuation background, usually a surveyor and then finally a lay person.
Proceeding to LVT is not to be taken lightly and generally your surveyor should do all they can to avoid it. However, if you find yourself in the situation whereby you are proceeding to LVT, you should seek advice from your solicitor at the first instance to ensure that you have taken account of all statutory timeframes and have a full understanding of the cost implications.