Legal Q&A: how can I get my landlord to extend the lease on my flat?

What does using "statutory procedures" to get my landlord to extend the lease on my flat involve? 
Fiona McNulty21 October 2017

Question: My landlord keeps making excuses not to extend the lease on my flat, where I have lived for years. I have been advised by a lawyer friend to use the “statutory procedures” as I am not getting anywhere with my landlord. What does this involve?

Answer: To use the formal process laid down in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act (as amended) to extend your lease, you must satisfy the qualifying criteria to use this procedure.

That is, you must have owned your property for a minimum of two years and your original lease must have been granted for at least 21 years.

There are exemptions, such as when the National Trust owns the freehold.

If you qualify, you are entitled to extend your lease by 90 years on top of the remaining term of your original lease, and the ground rent currently payable will be reduced to a peppercorn — ie, no rent is payable.

The process involves serving formal notices and negotiations between the landlord’s surveyor and yours.

Instruct a valuer to provide a valuation and a solicitor to serve the necessary Notice on the freeholder, who then has two months to serve a Counter Notice.

During the next six months, if both parties’ surveyors fail to reach agreement, your solicitor can make an application to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the outcome.

Often the only dispute is the amount of the premium to pay for the lease extension. You must pay the landlord’s costs as well as your own.

If you have a question for Fiona McNulty,please email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a solicitor specialising in residential property.

These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.

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