How Long Should Be Left on a Lease Before You Extend?

If you own a flat, one of the most important decisions you’ll face is when to extend your lease. Many leaseholders don’t realise that the length of the lease can drastically affect the value of their property—and waiting too long can cost thousands of pounds more than dealing with the problem now.

In this guide, we explain the critical 80-year threshold, what happens if you wait, and why acting early can save you money and stress. If you are looking to handle a short lease problem, we offer a personal, solicitor led lease extension service.

What is a leasehold?

In simple terms, owning a leasehold flat means you own the property for a set number of years, not the land it's built on. When your lease expires, ownership of the flat reverts back to the freeholder—unless you’ve extended it.

Leases commonly start at 99 or 125 years. But once they start ticking down, the value of your flat and its mortgageability can suffer. Ultimately, it can be a difficult problem to sort if you are up against the clock in trying to sell or remortgage.

The 80-Year Rule for lease extensions

The golden rule in lease extensions is this:

This is because of something called “marriage value”—a legal term that reflects the increase in property value when the lease is extended. Under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, once your lease hits 80 years or below, the leaseholder must pay 50% of the marriage value to the freeholder. This is essentially a made up concept that enriches freeholders - and it is set to change during the course of the current parliament (by 2029) but this is simply too far away for most.

To explain the concept further, if your flat is worth more with a longer lease, you’ll have to split that uplift in value with the freeholder when the lease extension is valued under the 1993 Act.

That can easily add £5,000–£15,000 or more to the premium, depending on location and property value. As the lease term becomes shorter, the marriage value continues to increase until it forms by far the largest element of the premium.

Why do mortgage lenders care?

Most high street lenders require at least 90 years remaining on the lease to offer a mortgage. Some won’t lend at all below that level. That makes selling the flat extremely difficult unless the lease is extended first—often at the seller’s expense.

Buyers may also demand a hefty discount for short leases because they are aware that they will need to solve the issue soon, covering the premium and landlords costs.

How much time should you leave to extend?

Ultimately, the decision of 'when' is driven by what a buyer or mortgage company finds as acceptable. We tend to find that any lease with less than 100 years can be an issue during a sale.

It is therefore sensible to start the process long before looking to market the property, if the lease has less than 100 years remaining. This allows time to:

• Serve a Section 42 Notice to trigger your statutory rights

• Get a formal valuation from a surveyor

• Negotiate with the freeholder

• Allow for possible delays or disputes and the involvement of the FTT, if needed.

  
  

Statutory lease extensions add 90 years to your current lease term and reduce the ground rent to a peppercorn (zero), giving peace of mind and protecting resale value.

Can I negotiate informally?

Yes. Some freeholders will offer an informal lease extension. This can be quicker—but beware:

• They may not add the full 90 years

• They may retain ground rent (and cause you to have to go back and renegotiate, if you can't sell the flat with a ground rent)

• You’ll have fewer legal protections

• Your flat may end up on the second rung of a two-tier market i.e. those flats that have had a section 42 lease extension (and therefore no ground rent) and your flat, with an informal deal that keeps a ground rent

  
  

We recommend the statutory route, which gives stronger legal rights and more predictable outcomes. It is common for leaseholders to go down the informal route expecting things to be quicker and cheaper, however matters usually become protracted and the freeholders solicitors can leverage their bargaining position to force new clauses into the lease.

➡️ Read more about statutory lease extensions

What if my lease is already below 80 years?

Don’t panic, but consider if you can wait for the leasehold forms to be brought in by secondary legislation at some point in the next four years or if you simply need to cut your losses and serve a section 42 now.

The longer you leave it, the more expensive it gets as things stand. A qualified leasehold solicitor can help you serve notice and get the process underway.

Do I need to own the flat for 2 years first?

No. The law changed in March 2025 and a leaseholder no longer has to have owned the flat for two years. You can serve a section 42 notice from day one of being the registered owner of the flat at the Land Registry.

Next Steps

If your lease is approaching 80 years, the time to act is now. At Peppercorn Law, we offer a fixed-fee lease extension service for flat owners nationwide, helping you protect your home and its future value.

✅ Fixed Fee. No Surprises. Nationwide Service.

➡️ Start your lease extension today