Homehold is a lease extension firm that works for leaseholders. In collaboration with our subsidiary law firm Leasehold Legal Services, we help our clients extend their leases with our end-to-end service - including everything you need to extend your lease from the valuation and subsequent negotiations to all the legal work.
It doesn’t matter if your flat is in Brook Green, East Acton or Chelsea Harbour, we cover a wide range of flats, from purpose-built ex-local authority flats in White City to Victorian conversions in Walham Green.
Our dedicated team have the skills and experience necessary to complete your Hammersmith and Fulham Council lease extension.
Considering using Homehold for your lease extension in Hammersmith and Fulham?
Who can extend their lease in Hammersmith and Fulham?
Nearly all leaseholders have a right to extend their lease. This includes ex-local authority flats where your freeholder is Hammersmith and Fulham Council. There is one exception to this:
- Where your flat is part of a ‘shared ownership’ scheme. You will need to staircase your ownership to 100% before you can extend your lease.
On 31 January 2025 the requirement of owning your flat for two years was removed.
How much does a lease extension cost?
Under the legislation, there are three elements that inform the cost of the lease extension itself:
- The value of your flat as though it sold with an extended lease;
- The number of years remaining on your lease;
- The amount of ground rent, including any rises.
Many local authority flats in Hammersmith and Fulham, including the White City Estate, have fairly long leases. This is due to the fact many ex-local authority flats were originally leased with 125-year terms in the 1980s with the introduction of the right to buy scheme. Most of these will also have fairly low ground rents at £10 per annum. Accordingly, the cost of a lease extension is likely to be less with a Hammersmith and Fulham Council lease extension than if your freeholder is a commercial landlord.
Where your landlord is a private freeholder, the cost of your lease extension is likely to be higher than an ex-local authority flat, often due to shorter leases and high ground rents. As an example, we extended a lease for a Victorian conversion in Shepherd’s Bush with a £250 ground rent that rose significantly, and this resulted in a higher premium than a typical authority flat that only pays £10 per year.
At the time of writing, the average flat price in Hammersmith and Fulham is £661,407 according to Rightmove, which means your premium will be significantly influenced by the extended lease value. No matter who your freeholder is, Homehold’s team of valuers can assist with your lease extension and obtain a fair price in accordance with the legislation.
What’s the process?
Homehold’s end-to-end service is unique and only available to leaseholders, which we provide in conjunction with our subsidiary law firm Leasehold Legal Services. As an alternative to instructing a separate firms of lease extension solicitors and surveyors, our all-in-one service covers the valuation, negotiation and legal work – all for a fixed fee. Not only does this remove the stress of project managing your lease extension across several firms, our fixed fee removes the risk of ever-rising costs.
In addition, as we only work for leaseholders, we can assure our clients of zero conflict of interest.
Stage 1: Preparation and Valuation
Before we start the valuation, the team of solicitors at Leasehold Legal Services conduct a review of all the necessary title documents for your flat and development. By doing so we can spot anything that could be a nasty surprise later down the line!
At this point the valuation team at Homehold will carry out a detailed analysis of the evidence to support the valuation of your flat and subsequent premium. We will send you a valuation report of our findings, which will include the initial notice figure we suggest serving notice at.
Stage 2: Notice Serving and Negotiation
With the valuation report provided, the solicitors at Leasehold Legal Services serve your freeholder a notice known as a ‘Section 42 Notice’ containing our initial notice figure. This requires your freeholder to respond with their own ‘Section 45 Counter-Notice.’ We expect your freeholder to use the full two months to come back to us, and they will nearly always suggest a very high figure in their counter-notice.
The valuation team enters negotiations to drive down their counter notice figure, using the evidence we collected in our report to support a lower premium.
We do not charge by the hour, like many of our competitors. This means we can work until we’ve reached an agreeable price for you – regardless of how long it takes.
Stage 3: Conveyancing and Completion.
With the premium agreed, it now up to our solicitors at Leasehold Legal Services to conduct the final conveyancing work to complete your lease extension.
Your freeholder’s solicitor will provide a draft lease containing an additional 90 years to your lease and a peppercorn (i.e. £0) ground rent, which are required under the legislation. Sometimes they will try and add additional terms, which our solicitors will discuss with you.
With the lease agreed, the solicitors can finally register your lease at the Land Registry.
What do Homehold charge?
Our fixed fee is £2,580+VAT
This is paid in instalments of £860+VAT
No hourly rates apply, so our fees will not increase over the course of your lease extension.
Why use Homehold for your lease extension?
We offer an end-to-end service for leaseholders for a fixed fee – including all legal, valuation, negotiation work and things like Land Registry charges. This removes any fear about increasing costs or project managing your lease extension. In addition, you can be certain there is no conflict of interest – we never work for freeholders.
Our valuers have extensive experience extending flats in Hammersmith and Fulham, from Victorian mansion blocks in Fulham to Inter-war ex-local authority flats in the White City Estate. You can be assured our valuers have experience extending leases in your area.
Hear it from another flat owner in Hammersmith and Fulham
Thank you for being outstanding through the maze of leasehold extension Our lease extension process was made as straightforward as possible despite having a difficult freeholder. We got the best result we could with Linz who instilled confidence in us, and really knew his stuff. Outstanding job! Would recommend to anyone thinking of getting a lease extension.
Louise
