Find a lease extension solicitor

Are you thinking of extending your lease, buying your freehold or applying for the right to manage? We can connect you with our expert lease solicitors for a free consultation and quote.

Fill in the form below to get the ball rolling

Why do I need a specialist lease solicitor?

Extending your lease or purchasing the freehold is complicated. There is a formal or statutory process and a strict timetable to follow. Therefore it’s important to appoint a solicitor who really understands the system.

A specialist lease solicitor can also advise on:

Collective enfranchisement if you live in a block of flats. This is the right for tenants to join forces to buy the freehold from the landlord or freeholder
Exercising your right to manage and how to set up a company to take control
Granting of new leases and deeds of variation
The problems that arise from absent freeholders

Our partners at Bonallack and Bishop are members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners with over 25 years of experience.

Why extend your lease?

Your lease is gradually losing value. The shorter any remaining lease term becomes, the less it is worth – and as a result any extension of your lease gets more expensive. So the value of your flat is likely to be significantly increased by a properly negotiated lease extension.
Mortgages are much harder to obtain on shorter leases. Some lenders simply refuse a mortgage on leases with under 60-70 years remaining.
A short lease is usually more difficult to sell. Many purchasers are simply reluctant to purchase any lease with less than 90 years left.

Why buy your freehold?

You and your neighbours will be in charge and have full ownership and control over the building.

Once you have ownership you can collectively set ground rents, shop around for the best insurance and be in control over the maintenance of the entire building.

Buying your freehold isn’t something you can do on your own. The law states that at least half of the leaseholders need to come together to buy the freehold which can be difficult.

Why exercise your “right to manage?”

It is much cheaper to exercise the right to manage as you don’t have to pay to buy the freehold. This makes it easier to organise with your leaseholder neighbours.

The ‘right to manage’ company (made up of you and fellow leaseholders) take over the management of the building or can appoint their own managing agent.

Your freeholder will still be involved in the block when it comes to lease extensions and major alterations but won’t be as involved with the ongoing maintenance, repairs and insurance.

Why use our partners?

After receiving hundreds of calls for help with leasehold issues here at the HomeOwners Alliance, we went on the search for a leasehold specialist solicitor with extensive experience, whose leasehold advice you could rely on, who had great customer feedback and was a member of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement practitioners (ALEP).

Our chosen partners at Bonallack and Bishop provide FREE initial telephone advice – no strings attached – and a FREE ESTIMATE of how much your lease extension is likely to cost you – which will include a very rough estimate of the likely price of your premium, as well as the legal and valuation costs.

Their solicitors can handle the process from beginning to end – working alongside specialist surveyors from the initial valuation, all the way, if required, to the First-tier tribunal – Property Chamber (Residential Property) which deals with leasehold valuations.

In addition to helping you to extend your lease, the solicitors at Bollanack and Bishop are also highly experienced in dealing with the following two related issues:

Freehold Enfranchisement – leaseholders have the right to come together and buy the freehold to their block of flats.
Right to Manage Companies – you may be able to force your landlord to transfer to the leaseholders the the right to manage their own block.