Homehold provide a complete lease extension service, right from start to finish. Our service covers all the necessary work – from the valuation and negotiation of your premium, all the way through to registration with Land Registry.
Our surveyors provide the valuation and negotiation work, making sure we get a fair premium for you. In collaboration with our subsidiary firm of lease extension solicitors, Leasehold Legal Services, we provide a seamless service, so you never have to project manage your lease extension.
Wherever you are in the borough whether you’re in Arkley, Totteridge or Chipping Barnet – we can help with your lease extension.
Considering using Homehold for your lease extension in Barnet?
Who can extend their lease in Barnet?
Nearly all leaseholders of flats can extend their lease in Barnet.
If you have a shared ownership flat, you will have to staircase your ownership to 100% before you will be able to carry out a lease extension.
It used to be a requirement to have owned your flat for two years. This requirement was however removed on 31 January 2025.
We have covered a variety of properties in the London Borough of Barnet, from period conversions and ex-local authority flats in Finchley, to modern purpose-built flats in Golders Green. Whatever type of flat you have, we can help with your lease extension.
How much does a lease extension cost?
The premium is the price you pay for your lease extension, and it consists of three factors:
- The notional value, which is sometimes referred to as the long lease value. This is what your flat would be worth after your lease extension.
- Your ground rent, and any rises.
- The number of years remaining on your lease.
If you have a private landlord, the cost of your lease extension is likely to be higher than an ex-local authority flat when doing a Barnet Council lease extension. This is partly because the legislation requires you to compensate your freeholder for the loss of your ground rent revenue. Barnet council nearly always let their flats with a £10 ground rent. Many private freeholders in Barnet have rising or doubling ground rents, which will have an impact on your premium.
Equally, the average flat price in Barnet is £448,747 (according to Rightmove at the time of writing), therefore the value of your flat will also be a significant factor.
Period conversions are harder to value than purpose build properties, as each flat is essentially unique and unlikely to have many similar flat sales we can use as evidence for the value. This could present an opportunity for your freeholder to argue for a higher premium.
What’s the process?
Our process has three main stages:
Stage 1: Preparation and Valuation
Your case begins with our subsidiary law firm, Leasehold Legal Services. They will review the title documents related to your flat. This is done to ensure that there are no delays or nasty surprises down the line.
Once reviewed, our team of dedicated surveyors carry out a valuation to determine the value of your flat as though it was sold with a long lease. This involves assessing nearby flats that are similar to your own, and comparing any differences. Clearly if you own a flat within a purpose-built development in Friern Barnet, the best evidence will be other flats within your development or the immediate area.
Our valuation team will provide you with a detailed report of our findings, and a “high” and “low” range which we determine to be a fair premium for your lease extension. They will also suggest a starting offering a premium for your lease extension on the lower side.
Stage 2: Notice Serving and Negotiation
Once happy with the valuation, your file is picked up by Leasehold Legal Services, who serve your initial notice -- known as a Section 42.
There is a two-month period for your freeholder to respond, plus a customary 15 days for the notice to work its way through the postal service. In most cases they use nearly all this time to issue their Section 45 counter-notice. The counter notice will contain a higher premium – which they typically do with the view of being negotiated down.
At the point of the counter-notice, premium negotiations can commence. This can take up to six months and involves going back and forth with evidence to justify our respective positions. We aim to get as low of a premium as possible. In most cases we end up within the between the high and low figures we’ve provided in our report, somewhere in the middle of our respective figures.
Stage 3: Conveyancing and Completion.
At the point the premium is agreed your case passes back to Leasehold Legal Services for the final time.
Your freeholder’s solicitor will issue a draft lease containing the statutory terms of an additional 90 years and a peppercorn (£0) ground rent. In some case they will also amend or add new terms, and your solicitor will discuss with you whether the terms are acceptable under the legislation.
Under the legislation the freeholder requires the leaseholder to pay their costs. Where Barnet council are your freeholder, we expect these costs to be cheaper than a commercial landlord, as they have an in-house solicitor team which keeps costs down. External corporate solicitors which private freeholders nearly always use tend to charge much higher fees.
What do Homehold charge?
Our fees are simple: we charge a fixed fee of £2,580+VAT
This will be charged in three identical portions of £860+VAT.
Our fees cover our end-to-end service, including our valuation and legal work with our subsidiary law firm Leasehold Legal Services. There will be no surprises with our costs.
Hear it from another flat owner in Barnet
Very happy with the Homehold service, the lease extension went very smoothly and appreciate the team at Homehold (especially Dale, Rebecca and Nicola) who dealt with my case, they were great to work with and always kept me informed on the status and answered any queries I had in a timely manner. I would highly recommended.
Vanessa Dela Cruz
