The Leaseholder’s Guide
Extending Your Lease: The Complete Guide for Leaseholders
A clear, considered guide to the statutory lease extension process for flats — from your first question to your completed lease. Whether you’re getting a quote or already instructing us, keep this page to hand as your reference for the whole process.
Last reviewed: August 2026
Understanding your lease
Why extending your lease matters — and why now
A lease is a wasting asset. With every year that passes the term shortens and, in most cases, the cost of putting it right rises. Extending protects both the value of your home and your freedom to sell or remortgage.
The most common reasons our clients choose to act are straightforward:
- Protecting value & mortgageability. Lenders are cautious about short leases; a longer term makes a property easier to sell and to borrow against.
- Avoiding marriage value. Acting before the lease falls below 80 years can remove a significant element of the premium entirely.
- Removing ground rent. A statutory extension reduces your ground rent to a peppercorn — nil — for the life of the lease.
- Peace of mind. A long lease removes a recurring worry and makes your home easier to pass on, remortgage or sell whenever you choose.
The 80-year threshold & marriage value
The single most important number in a lease extension is 80 years. While your remaining term is above 80 years, the premium is based principally on the value of the ground rent the freeholder gives up and the eventual return of the property to them. Once the term falls to 80 years or below, an additional element called marriage value comes into play — the increase in your flat’s value that the extension itself creates. Where the lease is 80 years or shorter, the law requires this uplift to be shared, and the freeholder is entitled to 50% of it. That share is added to the premium, which is why costs step up sharply below the threshold.
Crucially, the relevant date is when your formal notice is served. Acting while the lease is comfortably above 80 years fixes the position early and can avoid marriage value altogether.
Our advice
If your lease is nearing 80 years, don’t leave it too late. Because the valuation date is set when the notice is served, serving in good time — before the lease drops below 80 years — can protect you from a materially higher premium. If you are close to the threshold, speak to us promptly.
Where the law stands today (reviewed August 2026)
Leasehold reform has been in the headlines for several years, and it is easy to be confused about what has actually changed. The position is simpler than it sounds: your right to extend still operates under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, and most of the widely reported reforms are not yet in force.
Banned ground rents on most new long residential leases, setting them at a peppercorn. It applies to new leases — it does not reduce ground rents on existing leases.
A wide-ranging Act promising significant changes to how premiums are calculated — but most provisions require further regulations before they take effect.
The one reform relevant to lease extensions now in force: you no longer need to have owned your flat for two years before you can extend.
The abolition of marriage value, a 990-year extension term, and prescribed calculation rates are enacted but not yet commenced. Implementation may be several years away, and remains subject to consultation and legal challenge.
What this means for you
Today’s rules still apply in full: a statutory extension adds 90 years at a peppercorn ground rent, marriage value is payable where the lease is 80 years or below, and you remain responsible for the freeholder’s reasonable costs. Because the timing and final shape of future reform is uncertain — and may not arrive for years, if at all — waiting in the hope of a better deal carries real risk, especially as your lease continues to shorten. We will always advise you on the live legal position when you instruct us.
For more background, see Leasehold Reform & Legislation and Leasehold Basics.
How we work
Surveyors & solicitors, under one roof
A lease extension needs both a specialist valuer and a specialist solicitor. Most leaseholders have to appoint, coordinate and chase two separate firms. With extension.lease, both firms are already working together on your behalf — so nothing falls between the cracks. Each leads at the stage suited to their expertise, which means you may deal with different members of our teams at different points, all coordinated behind the scenes.
Blakes Chartered Surveyors
RICS regulated — valuation & negotiation
- Prepare a detailed RICS valuation report establishing the likely premium
- Recommend the opening offer figure to include in your formal notice
- Negotiate directly with the freeholder’s surveyor to secure a fair settlement
Arcadia Law
SRA regulated — legal representation
- Review your lease and title, and confirm your right to extend
- Draft and serve the Section 42 Notice that starts your claim
- Handle the counter-notice, the new lease and registration at HM Land Registry
What our combined service covers
We act on a fixed-fee basis for the professional work involved in a standard statutory lease extension, so you have certainty from the start. The precise fee for your case — and the payment structure — is set out in your personal quote and covering letter.
Included in our service
- RICS valuation report, supporting your offer and forming the basis for negotiation, prepared from your lease, floor plans and comparable evidence (occasionally supplemented by an inspection where plans cannot be located)
- Premium negotiation with the freeholder or their surveyor, handled on your behalf
- Section 42 Notice — drafting and serving the formal notice that begins your claim
- Reviewing the counter-notice and advising on strategy
- The new lease & registration at HM Land Registry
- Standard disbursements within the package
Outside our service
- The premium itself — the sum paid to the freeholder
- The freeholder’s reasonable costs, payable under the 1993 Act
- Tribunal representation — rarely needed, quoted separately if it is
- Complex title or a missing freeholder — quoted individually
See our Pricing page for the current fixed fee.
The statutory process
The statutory route follows a defined sequence under the 1993 Act. Both Blakes and Arcadia Law act for you throughout, each taking the lead at the stage best suited to their expertise. Here’s the journey in outline — see our full step-by-step process page for more detail on each stage.
We confirm your eligibility, value your flat and prepare the Section 42 Notice.
The Section 42 Notice is served on the freeholder and the valuation date is fixed. The statutory deposit (10% of the proposed premium, or £250 if greater) is paid.
After around two months and ten days, the freeholder responds with their counter-offer and proposed terms.
Our surveyors negotiate the premium. Some cases settle within weeks; others take several months.
The new lease completes and is registered at HM Land Registry. Many cases finish sooner; where a freeholder is slow it can take 9–12. We can ask HM Land Registry to expedite where necessary.
How we keep you informed
A lease extension is, by its nature, a process with quiet stretches — statutory deadlines have to run their course, and evidence takes time to gather and exchange. We contact you when there is a substantive development — a counter-notice received, an offer to consider, terms agreed, or when a decision or instruction is needed from you — and explain clearly what it means, in plain English. Between updates, work continues behind the scenes: deadlines are diarised and monitored, evidence is prepared, and negotiations are advanced on your behalf. If a question arises at any point, you can always reach us — you never need to wait for a scheduled update.
Answers & reassurance
The questions leaseholders ask most often — and calm, practical answers to the issues that occasionally arise during a claim.
Eligibility
Am I entitled to extend my lease?
Most leaseholders have a statutory right to extend, provided the flat is held on a long lease (one originally granted for more than 21 years). Since the two-year ownership rule was abolished in January 2025, you no longer need to have owned the flat for a set period first.
Do I need to live in the flat?
No. There is no residence requirement. You can extend whether the flat is your home, is rented out as an investment, or is currently empty.
I’ve inherited a flat with a short lease — can I still act?
Yes. Personal representatives can generally exercise the right to extend as part of administering an estate. It is often sensible to do so, as a longer lease makes the property easier to sell. See our full note for executors and short leases.
Can I extend while I’m buying the flat?
Often, yes. A seller can serve the notice and assign the benefit of it to you on completion, allowing your extension to proceed straight after purchase — or sometimes to complete alongside it.
Cost & the premium
What makes up the total cost?
Three parts: the premium paid to the freeholder; your own professional fees (surveyor and solicitor); and the freeholder’s reasonable legal and valuation costs, which you are responsible for under the 1993 Act. We provide a tailored estimate of all three before you commit.
What determines the premium?
Principally your flat’s value, the number of years left on the lease, and the ground rent. Where the lease is 80 years or below, marriage value is added, which increases the premium.
How can I fund the cost?
Common options include savings, remortgaging or a further advance, or bridging finance. Only a modest proportion of the total is usually payable at the outset, with the balance due on completion months later.
Do I pay the freeholder’s costs even if I withdraw?
Generally you are responsible for the freeholder’s reasonable costs incurred up to the point of withdrawal. We always talk through the implications with you before any such decision.
Timescales & what to expect
Why haven’t I heard anything for a while after the notice is served?
This is normal. The freeholder has a set period — in practice around two months and ten days — to prepare their valuation and respond. There is genuinely nothing to report during this stretch, but your claim is progressing to timetable behind the scenes.
What is the realistic overall timescale?
Most statutory claims complete within six to nine months on average. Straightforward cases can complete in four to five; where a freeholder is slow or unreasonable, it can take nine to twelve. We will never rush a case in a way that compromises your interests.
Why can registration take so long — and can it be sped up?
HM Land Registry has experienced extensive delays, and it is not unusual for a new lease to take many months to register. This does not affect the validity of your extension. Where you need registration completed sooner — for a sale, remortgage or transfer of equity — we can apply to expedite it.
When something unexpected comes up
My freeholder can’t be traced — what now?
A missing or absent freeholder does not defeat your claim. The law provides a route through the court — a vesting order — that allows the extension to proceed and the premium to be determined by the Tribunal. We handle these cases regularly.
What if the freeholder is unreasonable or the premium can’t be agreed?
Either party can ask the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine a fair premium. In practice this is rarely necessary — more than 99% of our cases settle by agreement.
The freeholder has offered me an informal deal — should I take it?
Informal offers can look attractive but carry no statutory protection: the term and ground rent are whatever the freeholder proposes, and there is no right to a Tribunal if talks break down. We will compare any informal offer against your statutory entitlement so you can decide with full information.
See our full FAQs page for more, organised by topic: Leasehold Basics, Eligibility & Process, Costs & Valuation, Disputes & Negotiations, Terms of the New Lease, Timing & Urgency and Practical Considerations.
Glossary & next steps
- Premium
- The price paid to the freeholder for the lease extension.
- Marriage value
- The uplift in the flat’s value created by extending. Payable, and shared 50/50, only where the lease is 80 years or below.
- Peppercorn ground rent
- A nominal rent of nil — the ground rent payable after a statutory extension.
- Section 42 Notice
- The tenant’s formal notice that starts the statutory claim and fixes the valuation date.
- Section 45 Counter-Notice
- The freeholder’s formal reply, admitting the claim and setting out their counter-offer and terms.
- Valuation date
- The date the Section 42 Notice is served — the reference point for calculating the premium.
- Freeholder / landlord
- The owner of the freehold (or superior interest) from whom the extension is sought.
- First-tier Tribunal
- The independent body (Property Chamber) that determines the premium or terms if the parties cannot agree.
- Vesting order
- A court order allowing an extension to proceed where the freeholder is missing or cannot be traced.
- Disbursements
- Routine third-party costs, such as Land Registry fees, incurred during the legal work.
Throughout this guide, “the 1993 Act” means the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 — the legislation that gives qualifying leaseholders of flats the right to a statutory lease extension.
Ready when you are
The first step is simple and free: a no-obligation conversation to check your eligibility and give you a clear estimate of the process and costs.
This guide is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal, valuation or financial advice. It describes the statutory lease extension process for flats in England & Wales and reflects our understanding of the law as at August 2026; the law and its implementation may change. You should not act, or refrain from acting, on the basis of this guide alone — please obtain tailored advice before proceeding. Last reviewed: August 2026. A trusted partnership between Blakes Chartered Surveyors (RICS Regulated) and Arcadia Law (SRA Regulated). © 2026 extension.lease.
