Homehold provide a stress-free service from start to finish to assist in extending your lease.
Lease Enfranchisement is a complex process and a niche area of law. We have a valuation team in-house and the legal work is completed by our own firm of lease extension solicitors, Leasehold Legal Services.
Our team have completed lease extensions on a wide range of flats and maisonettes in Brent. Using the legislation, we have extended these lease by 90 years and reduced their ground rent to a peppercorn (effectively nothing!)
We are a specialist firm that has experience negotiating with lots of different borough councils and the London Borough of Brent is no exception. We also have negotiated with smaller and private landlords in Brent. For example, we are working on Milman Road, near West Kilburn, which is an early 20th century period conversion.
Who can extend their lease in Brent?
If you own a flat in Brent and its surrounding areas, then you almost undoubtedly have the right to extend your lease - if Brent Council is your freeholder then you almost certainly have the right.
There are only two exceptions to stop you from extending your lease. If you haven’t owned your flat for two years or your flat was purchased under a “shared ownership” scheme (and hasn’t been fully staircased) you won’t have legal right yet.
One of our specialities is working on Local Authority blocks. For example, we did a lease extension for a client in Mapes House and William Dromney Court in Brondesbury Park. These cases are somewhat easier to work on as where the freeholders are a local council, they tend to have above 80 year leases and ground rents of £10.
How much does a lease extension cost?
The cost of a lease extension varies from flat to flat and comes down to three individual variables.
- The value of your flat.
- How much ground rent you pay and what it increases by in the future.
- The length of the current lease.
Most ex-Local Authority flats, including Brent councils’ leasehold stock, commonly have a 125-year lease from the mid-80s onwards. These flats have low ground rents of £10 per year. Because these flats have leases still over 80 years and low ground rent, the cost of extending the lease is comparatively low.
In contrast, flats where the freeholders are private individuals or companies, the flats are more likely to have shorter leases and higher ground rents. Both of these can push up the cost of a lease extension.
One of the biggest factors in the cost of the lease extension is the value of the flat. This can vary immensely from different styles of flats and maisonettes. For example, a three-bedroom split-level maisonette with a garden will have a higher value proposition compared to a laterally arranged three bedroom flat.
You can get an idea of the cost of the lease extension on our lease extension calculator. Alternatively, you can book a free consultation to speak to one of our experts who can help explain the costs and process in more detail.
What’s the process?
Homehold ensures a smooth and complete service to extend your lease. We are different to most other lease extension companies because we see through the lease extension from instruction to completion. We keep clients updated throughout the process each week.
Stage 1: Preparation and Valuation
LLS, our in-house lease extension solicitors, will start your lease extension with a legal review, which is a thorough analysis of your flat’s existing lease, title register and title plan and the same documents for your block will also be reviewed. This is done to confirm all the necessary essentials are ready and we can avoid any future complications and delays.
After this initial review, it’s time for the valuation team to get started. The contents of their valuation report include findings and calculations to find an accurate range of value for your flat. The team look through similar flats that have sold with long leases in recent history in Brent. Due to every property having different lease lengths and qualities, the market value is adjusted accordingly to reflect the differences. We will also adjust the price using the Land Registry House Prices Index for Brent.
Stage 2: Notice Serving and Negotiation
This next stage will start with the solicitors at LLS, who will draft a notice to be served to your freeholder. This document, known as a Section 42 notice, states your legal right to extend your current lease and how much you would like to pay to do this.
The freeholder has two months to respond with the price they want you to pay for the lease extension.
The freeholder may accept or offer very close to your first offer, however in our experience this is unlikely, so we will need to enter negotiations with your freeholder to achieve a fair price. We will negotiate with your freeholder until you are happy with the price to pay for your lease extension – no matter how long this may take – and the cost of negotiating is included in our fixed-fee price.
Stage 3: Conveyancing and Completion.
The final part of the process is when we have an agreement, between yourself and the freeholder, on the premium you will pay. The solicitors will then begin the required legal work to complete your lease extension.
Your freeholder’s solicitors will usually produce paperwork which states your lease will be extended by 90 years and your ground being set to £0. The other terms in your lease will be kept much the same.
Most councils in London have their own legal team to perform this and Brent council is the same. Equally, most private freeholders will use specialist lease extension solicitors to do so.
How much do Homehold charge?
We charge an overall fixed fee of £2,325+VAT for a complete end-to-end service.
We break up the fee into three equal portions of £775+VAT.
Any legal work analysed and produced by our in-house subsidiary law firm; LLS is covered in the fixed fee. LLS is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Why use Homehold for your lease extension?
We have completed many lease extensions in the London Borough of Brent and most recently we did a lease extension on Coverdale Road, Shepherd’s Bush, NW2 and currently working on Millman Road, Queen’s Park, NW6.
We have worked on a vast range of properties from ex Local Authority maisonettes to period conversions and a converted church in Cricklewood. No matter what kind of property you live in whether you are in Kilburn, Kingsbury or Kenton we are always ready to achieve the best price for your lease extension.
Hear it from another flat owner in Brent
Legal expertise, time frames, regular updates and very responsive polite service at a fixed competitive price made my lease extension easy and anxiety free. Can't recommend it enough
Claire Hewitt
