Kensington & Chelsea Lease Extension Solicitors & Surveyors

For some council leases, yes. The council describes a voluntary scheme that can extend the lease by surrendering it for a new one, on terms that differ from the statutory route, including how future improvement works can be charged.

The statutory extension gives you 90 extra years, a peppercorn ground rent and access to the First-tier Tribunal if the premium cannot be agreed. We can compare the two for your flat. Note that the old two year ownership rule some guidance still mentions was abolished on 31 January 2025.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The Tenant Management Organisation only managed the council’s homes, and the council took that management back on 1 March 2018 after the Grenfell Tower fire. The freehold has stayed with the council throughout.

If you own a flat on a council estate in the borough, your Section 42 notice is served on the council, and the council will instruct its own valuer and solicitor to respond.

Yes. The 1993 Act applies to estate landlords in the same way as any other freeholder, as long as your lease was originally granted for more than 21 years. Estate leases are often detailed, and some flats are held under a head lease, so we check the whole chain of titles before anything is served.

The estate will have experienced advisers, so the case for your premium needs to rest on good, nearby evidence from the start.

It does not stop you extending. Lancaster West is going through a long refurbishment programme, and leaseholders contribute to some works through their service charges under the lease. Those charges continue whether or not you extend.

Buyers’ solicitors will ask about planned works, so it helps to have both a long lease and clear information on future costs when you sell. We can advise on timing and value the flat with the works in mind.

The premium is calculated from the value of the flat, so higher values mean higher premiums for the same lease. A flat worth £1,500,000 near Sloane Square will produce a much larger figure than one worth £500,000 in North Kensington with the same number of years left.

Values in this borough can change street by street, so we use sales from the same building, terrace or square wherever we can, rather than broad borough figures.

We would not advise waiting on the strength of possible future changes. Your lease is already below 80 years, so marriage value is payable now, and it grows as the term shortens. Lenders also become more cautious with shorter leases, which can make the flat harder to sell or remortgage.

Serving a Section 42 notice fixes the valuation date. We can value the flat and talk you through the likely premium before you decide when to serve.

Clarion Housing Group owns the Sutton Estate in Chelsea, so the Section 42 notice is served on Clarion rather than the council. Clarion will instruct its own valuer and solicitors and is entitled to its reasonable costs under the 1993 Act.

We value the flat using sales on the estate and nearby, negotiate the premium with Clarion’s valuer, and Arcadia Law complete and register the new lease once terms are agreed.

Yes. Once the Section 42 notice has been served, the benefit of it can be assigned to your buyer at completion. The buyer then continues the claim with the valuation date your notice has already fixed, which can make the flat easier to sell.

This is a common approach for short lease flats in the borough, where buyers and their lenders are cautious about leases below 80 years. Arcadia Law can deal with the assignment alongside the sale.