Your Rights
legal entitlements
Knowing what you are entitled to is important. Your rights as a Leaseholder / Lessee / Flat
Owner are explained.
Legal Entitlement
The Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (‘the Act’), are the two pieces of legislation that give a flat owner, subject to qualifying conditions, the right to extend their flat’s lease by a further 90 years, or to purchase the freehold with other flat owners in the building.
The right to ‘extend’ or ‘purchase’ is an absolute right of the flat owner. Once the flat owner decides to extend the lease or, in conjunction with others, buy the freehold, the process will provide for such an extension or purchase to be achieved. Either through negotiation between the parties or, in the case of a dispute with the Landlord, by the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) the flat owners will be able to purchase the freehold or in the case of an individual Leaseholder extend their lease.
Conversely, a Landlord will be entitled to receive fair value for the lease extension or freehold sale. The aim is that both parties will achieve a fair and satisfactory result. They will receive what
they are entitled to, no more and no less.
In order to extend your lease or acquire your freehold you will need the services of a experienced solicitor. We would be delighted to discuss those requirements during our initial consultation and make appropriate recommendations, if asked, based on the complexity and nature of your specific case.
Extending a Lease
To qualify, the lease must have an original term of at least 21 years. The Leaseholder must have owned the property for at least 2 years. The new lease will be for a term of 90 years – in addition to the current unexpired term. Once extended, the rent, under the new lease, will be at a peppercorn (effectively, nil). Service charges will remain unaltered.
Collective Purchase of a Freehold
To qualify, each participating Leaseholder must own a lease which had an original term of at least 21 years. No less than 50% of the Leaseholders of all the flats in the building must participate. There are a few additional requirements, but the above are the main prerequisites. If you are unsure if you qualify, please contact us today for a consultation and one of our team will be able to help.