lease extensions

Leaseholders have the right to purchase an extension to their lease, and below there is some useful information for anyone interested in doing so. Note that none of the below constitutes advice or recommendation from the GLERA Committee. It is a personal decision whether to purchase an extension to one’s lease, and anyone considering this may wish to consult a solicitor to assist in the process.

Under current legislation (2023) lease extensions become more expensive once they have less than 80 years to run – this is when a marriage value becomes payable. Leases on Golden Lane Estate are getting close to that 80 year mark (December 2026 for Cuthbert Harrowing through to October 2031 for Stanley Cohen).

The expiry date for each block is listed below (as provided by the Lease Extension team). They vary as leases for each block commenced when the first property within it was sold by the Corporation.

the process

Contact the Barbican Estate office and they will send you a guide and a letter outlining the steps involved. Below an excerpt from correspondence in 2023 – make sure you contact them to verify nominated estate agents etc.

 Proposed Lease Extension – Golden Lane Estate 

Thank you for contacting the Barbican Estate Office regarding an application to extend your lease for an additional 90 years from the original expiry date. 

Please find enclosed a Section 42 notice and an additional information form along with the guide to lease extensions for leaseholders. 

If you are interested in extending your lease you would need to have a valuation carried out with one of our nominated estate agents. Our nominated estate agents are Frank Harris (0207 600 7000), Hamilton Brooks (0207 606 8000), Scott City (0207 600 0026) & Nicola Lee (0203 488 4330). 

Once the valuation has been carried out, please provide us with the valuation letter and we will advise you of the premium amount. Please ensure the valuation is not more than 3 months old. 

If you agree with the suggested premium, you should enter this amount on page 2 of the Section 42 document enclosed. 

Please then return the completed Section 42 form to the Barbican Estate Office and the Comptroller & City Solicitor will respond with a counter notice. Please ensure that the completed form is returned the day that it is dated. 

The charge for a standard transaction is £535.00 for the City of London’s Legal Fees. These fees are in addition to the premium and are paid on completion of the new lease. 

The above standard legal fee will apply assuming that this matter proves straightforward, but the fee may be increased if it does not.

CoL Lease Extension Team, 2023

With regard documents below, use them as reference only – contact the Lease Extension team before you start the process to make sure you have the most up to date info.

lease extension value calculations

The lease extension valuation provided by the nominated estate agent is different from a market valuation (the one you would get if you were planning to sell). That means at any given time a two-bedroom maisonette flat in all blocks should have the same evaluation – it will not be affected by how much has been invested in updating the property (kitchen, bathroom refurbishments for example).

Once you get the lease valuation you can get an approximate idea of how much the lease extension premium is likely to be using the Leasehold Advisory Service calculator.

time lines

Once the valuation letter has been received, we do respond quite quickly with the premium figure, within 7 days (but this dependant on workload). The date the valuation is received is still used when calculating the premium.

Once the premium has been advised of to the resident then they have two months to serve the Section 42 notice. This is advised in the covering letter/email that is sent.

Once the Section 42 notice has been served and if completed correctly, our legal team have two calendar months (or date stated on the Section 42 notice) to respond.

CoL Lease Extension Team

The Comptroller and City Solicitor will issue a counter-notice and you will then have six months from the date of the counter-notice to complete the lease extension notice.

The lease extension documents must then be submitted to the Land Registry. At the moment there are reports that this bit of the process can take up to two years but can be expedited where necessary – selling your home, or re-mortgaging for example.

legals

Although anecdotally a number of leaseholders have managed to complete the process up to the Section 42 stage, it is sensible to talk to a legal professional before you begin and it is very likely that you will need a solicitor to submit the lease extension documents to the Land Registry.

PLEASE NOTE: GLERA cannot give advice on lease extensions, it can only share information.

related info