Do you have a right to extend your lease under the Leasehold, Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993??

As an owner of a residential leasehold property, you may have the right to extend your current lease a further 90 years after the expiry of your current lease.

Entitlement to extension

The right to extend a lease applies to a qualifying tenant who has owned the property for at least 2 years.

Note: leaseholders who own three or more flats are NOT excluded in this case.

What is a qualifying tenant

To qualify, a leaseholder must hold the leasehold interest in a flat under a long lease (a lease of more than 21 years) and must not own three or more flats.

A leaseholder who holds a sub-lease/tenancy included in the definition of qualifying tenant.

Who isn’t a qualifying tenant

If you hold a business tenancy, a tenancy where the immediate landlord is a charitable housing trust or hold an unlawful sub-lease out of the non-qualifying superior lease, you are not a qualifying tenant.

Terms of the new lease

The new lease will be a ‘peppercorn’ (£0 ground rent) and a premium will be payable for the grant of the new lease. Once granted, the new lease will immediately replace the tenant’s existing lease.

Note: this right is available irrespective of the rights to collective enfranchisement)

The terms of the new lease are to stay the same at the existing lease but for the new rent being peppercorn, service charge provisions and will contain a statement that the lease is being granted under the Leasehold, Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.

The terms in the new lease may also include new terms which rectify any defects in the current lease and the landlord’s right to apply to the court for possession for redevelopment purposes during the last 12 months of the original term or the last 5 years of the extension (subject to compensation being payable to the tenant).

How is the premium calculated

The amount of the premium payable by the tenant for the lease extension is calculated by accumulating:

• The reduction in the value of the landlord’s interest;
• Where the unexpired term of the tenant’s existing lease does not exceed 80 years, 50% of the marriage value; and
• Compensation to the landlord

Landlord’s protection

The landlord can oppose the tenant’s request on the basis that the tenant’s existing lease expires within 5 years and that the landlord intends to demolish/reconstruct the property and would be unable to do so without being given possession of the premises.

Contact us for more information to understand more about your rights. At Morgan Hill Solicitors, we take care of the legal side of your transaction so you can focus on the important stuff.