Barnet Lease Extension Solicitors & Surveyors

No. Barnet Homes manages council homes on behalf of the London Borough of Barnet, and the council has approved a new ten year management agreement from 2026, but the freehold belongs to the council. Your Section 42 notice must be served on the council as landlord.

Day to day, you may find that Barnet Homes staff deal with the claim on the council’s behalf. We check the title at HM Land Registry before anything is served, so the notice goes to the right party.

First, which part of the estate you are in. Grahame Park is being rebuilt in phases, with Notting Hill Genesis building the early phases and the council planning the north-eastern section, so some older blocks are due for demolition and others are not. The freeholder can also differ from block to block, and the title will show which.

If your block is in a later phase, extending may still pay. If a buy-back is close, it may not. We can look at the timetable and the numbers with you.

Usually more than one party. Where there is a head lessee between you and the freeholder, the 1993 Act identifies a competent landlord who conducts the claim, but the notice must also be given to the other landlords in the chain. Getting this wrong can delay or derail the claim.

Arcadia Law check the head lease and the titles before serving, and our surveyors take account of each landlord’s interest when they value and negotiate the premium.

Because the premium depends on the value of the flat. With the same lease length and ground rent, a flat worth £550,000 in Finchley will produce a much larger premium than one worth £325,000 in Burnt Oak, and once marriage value applies the gap grows further.

We value each flat on comparable sales in the same block or nearby streets, which is especially important in a borough where values vary as much as they do in Barnet.

Not for a long time, as a rule. New flats in Colindale are generally sold on long leases, so the term is unlikely to be a problem. The point to check is the ground rent. Leases granted from 30 June 2022 carry no ground rent for most new flats, but some earlier leases include rents that rise over time.

If yours does, a statutory extension would reduce it to a peppercorn and add 90 years. We can review the lease and tell you whether acting now is worthwhile.

Yes. Owning a share of the freehold does not lengthen your lease, and buyers and lenders look at the lease itself. A short lease still affects value and mortgage options, even in a building you jointly own.

The advantage is that the freehold owners can usually agree an extension between themselves by deed of variation, often for a nominal premium. Blakes can advise on fair terms and Arcadia Law can draft and register the deed.

Not long. Marriage value is added once the lease falls below 80 years, so you have around two years before the premium rises. Many Right to Buy leases granted in Barnet in the 1980s are now at about this point.

The valuation date is fixed when the Section 42 notice is served, so serving before the 80 year mark protects you even if negotiations with the council carry on after that.

Yes. A statutory extension reduces your ground rent to a peppercorn but leaves your service charges unchanged. Barnet Homes will carry on managing the block for the council and recovering your share of repairs, insurance and major works under the lease.

The extension changes the length of your lease and ends the ground rent. Everything else about your obligations as a leaseholder stays the same.