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Lease extension in Brighton in 2025 - what to ask your solicitor

Jan 6

4 min read

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When looking to extend the lease on your Brighton flat, there are likely to be a lot of questions if this is your first time serving a section 42 notice, such as:


  • How much will the lease extension cost?

  • Do I need to use a solicitor?

  • Can I use the same valuer as my freeholder?

  • Can my estate agent value the lease extension?

  • How long does it take to extend the lease?


These are all valid burning questions but in this blog, we look at the questions you should be asking which may not seem as obvious.


At Peppercorn Law, we have handled hundreds of lease extensions and related cases in Brighton, Sussex and beyond, set out some suggestions to help give you heads up before you commit lots of time and money to the process. Let's get straight into it to questions you should be asking your leasehold solicitor.


What should I ask my solicitor?


  1. Have you handled a lease extension involving my freeholder before?

    At risk of stating the obvious, if a solicitor has handled cases against a particular freeholder, such as Brighton and Hove City Council, Southern Land Securities or Maxiwood Limited (all owners of lots of freeholds in Brighton), they will be able to guide you on several useful points the likely freeholders costs, which valuer the freeholder tends to use, how aggressive they are in negotiations (i.e. if a First-tier Tribunal application has been required in previous cases due to a failure to reach agreement on the premium and/or new lease terms) or if the matter concluded fairly swiftly after the landlords counter notice was received. They may even be able to guide you on the typical legal and valuation costs of the freeholder.


  2. Which leasehold valuer would you recommend?

    Every specialist leasehold solicitor will have a handful of surveyors they has worked with. It's important to remember that anything to do with negotiating the premium for the lease extension will fall to the valuer or surveyor.


    They will be up to date with the relevant valuation principles and case law, although it is worth using a lease extension calculator initially to give you an idea of the likely premium, despite the limitations of online calculators for rising ground rents or very short leases.


    In some cases, we are able to direct you to a valuer that has obtained a favourable result or quick negotiation with your freeholder based on other cases we have handled. It is worth asking the question with whichever solicitor you appoint, rather than going with an unknown quantity, as this is not an area you want to appoint a general surveyor to handle; they will simply be a push over in negotiations and you can guarantee one thing - your freeholder is likely to have an experienced leasehold valuer on hand and you do not want to be outgunned and pay thousands of pounds over the odds.


  3. Can I have a desktop valuation?

    Depending on your specific circumstances, such as the length of your lease, the ground rent pattern and the style of your apartment building, it may be beneficial for you to keep costs down and push for a desktop valuation rather than the traditional valuation by a surveyor that attends your flat.


    The benefits are twofold; speed and reduced costs. Firstly, an experienced valuer will be able to draw on publicly available data such as house prices, recent sales, copies of your registered lease and then get their valuation report in hand usually over a week or two. No need to book an appointment and wait around the house for an appointment.


    Secondly, because your valuer hasn't had to travel and take time out of their day, you can usually arrange a desktop valuation at a lower cost to the traditional inspection option. We also feel that it means you can use the best valuer available, rather than a less experienced local valuer.


    There are some considerations to take into account, such as whether you have a parking space lease on a separate leasehold title (it may not be obviously to someone that isn't visiting the property) or if the flat layout is different to the lease plan (again, that isn't something that would be clear to someone working from historic documents). In addition, the shorter the lease, the more likely it is that a physical inspection would be sensible, for example if marriage value is payable as part of the premium to extend the lease.


    Whilst we recommend using a lease extension calculator to give you a ballpark figure in the planning stages, ultimately the premium payable to extend the lease by 90 years and reduce the ground rent to a peppercorn will need to be established by a leasehold valuer, and we recommend contacting Easy Lease Extension for a quote.

    Brighton lease extension leasehold solicitor experienced in section 42 notices

    We hope that you keep these questions to hand when planning to extend your lease in 2025, whether in Brighton or other parts of England and Wales, and that you get off to the best possible start in the lease extension process.


Jan 6

4 min read

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12

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