Extending your lease
When you lease your home, the longer your lease is, the better. A longer lease helps protect the value of your home and makes it easier to sell or remortgage.
You can find the number of years left on your lease in your lease document or Land Registry title.
This page explains when and how to extend your lease – and what options are available to you.
Eligibility
You can apply to extend your lease if you are the long-leaseholder or hold a lease:
- with a term of 21 years or longer
- granted under the Social HomeBuy scheme with 100% ownership
- granted under the Right to Buy or Right to Acquire schemes
Your options
If you’re an outright leaseholder
There are two ways to extend your lease: Formally or informally.
If you’re a shared owner
You can only extend your lease through the informal route and will pay the full cost of the extension.
Option one: Formal route
This is a legal process under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.
Your lease will most likely be extended by 90 years if you live in a flat or 50 years if you live in a house.
Option two: Informal route
You agree the terms with us directly, but still broadly follow the principles of the above Act.
If we’re the freeholder of your home, your lease will be extended (where possible) up to 990 years with zero ground rent.
If we’re not the freeholder of your home, the term offered will depend on the head lease. Ground rent may still apply.
The informal route is a voluntary option, with the premium determined based on the RICS surveyor’s valuation. Please note that this valuation is considered final and is not open to negotiation.
Another option for shared owners
If you live in a house, you may want to consider buying more shares (staircasing) rather than extending your lease.
Once you own 100% of your home, the title of your house can become a freehold – depending on whether you have any restrictions on your lease.
To learn more about buying more shares in your home, message our Staircasing team or call them on 0208 189 7465 (option 1, then option 3).
Things to know before you apply
- Your current lease will be surrendered
- A brand-new lease will be issued with the updated term
- If the term left on your lease falls below 80 years, costs rise significantly – known as marriage value
- Any arrears must be cleared before we can complete the extension
Lease extension costs
The costs to extend your lease typically include:
- a RICS valuation report*
- the premium payable to us - including any marriage value where applicable
- our administration fee for extending your lease
- solicitor fees – for your conveyancer to handle the legal work
- our legal fees
- Land Registry fees
*A property valuation from a qualified surveyor registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
View our full list of admin fees
Advice on costs
You can get free guidance from Lease Advice and use their lease extension calculator.
How to formally extend your lease
There are five steps to follow:
- Step one: Instruct a solicitor
You can use your own solicitor, or we have a panel of independent conveyancing solicitors who are experts in lease extensions.
- Step two: Send us a Section 42 Notice
This document should reflect the current lease terms and include:
- the proposed term
- the premium
- your solicitor’s details
Your solicitor will need to send us a copy in the post to L&Q Head Office, 29-35 West Ham Lane, London, E15 4PH.
- Step three: We check the notice
We’ll check to make sure the notice is valid and appoint our own solicitor and surveyor to value the cost of extending your lease.
Please note, you’ll have to pay the surveyor directly for the valuation at the time it’s booked.
- Step four: Our solicitor serves a counter notice
Within two months, our solicitor will issue a Section 45 Counter Notice. This may agree your proposal or suggest a new premium.
If needed, your solicitor can negotiate the premium. If no agreement is reached, the First-tier Tribunal can decide.
- Step five: Completion
Once the final premium is agreed and the counter notice is accepted, solicitors will draft the new lease.
These documents can take up to five working days to prepare and must be signed by an authorised signatory.
Your solicitor then registers the new lease with the Land Registry.
How to informally extend your lease
There are six steps to follow:
- Step one: Send us a Valuation Request form
You’ll need to complete the form (in your enquiry pack) and return it to us.
You can send it to us online or by post to L&Q Head Office, 29-35 West Ham Lane, London, E15 4PH.
We recommend you instruct an independent, RICS qualified, surveyor to value the cost of extending your lease.
View our list of lease extension surveyors
Please note, you’ll have to pay the surveyor directly for the valuation at the time it’s booked.
Once we’ve received the above information, we’ll open a lease extension within 10 working days.
- Step two: We instruct your surveyor to carry out a valuation
The surveyor will contact you directly to arrange the date of the inspection and collect their fees.
- Step three: Pay our admin fee
We’ll confirm the premium and request our admin fee.
Payments are taken by card over the phone on 0208 189 7465 (Option 1, then Option 2).
We can’t move forward until you pay the admin fee. If we don’t receive a response within five working days, we’ll send you a reminder.
We’ll then close the file if we have not received payment within 10 working days after the reminder was sent.
- Step four: We issue a Lease Extension Offer letter
Once the admin fee has been paid, we’ll issue a Lease Extension Offer letter showing the maximum term we can grant, the premium and any ground rent.
If you accept the premium noted in the offer letter, you then return a Lease Extension Acceptance form.
- Step five: Solicitors are instructed
You can use your own solicitor, or we have a panel of independent conveyancing solicitors who are experts in shared ownership.
View our list of conveyancing solicitors
We’ll then instruct our solicitor to open a file and share the details with your solicitor.
As per the Anti Money Laundering regulations, we’ll complete due diligence checks (ID and source of funds). We or our solicitors will let you know what information we need from you.
- Step six: Completion
Once the draft lease has been approved by your solicitor, we’ll both receive a copy of the lease from our solicitors to sign.
When our solicitors hold a copy of the signed lease, they’ll arrange a completion date with your solicitor.
Upon completion, we’ll email you to confirm.
Your solicitor then registers the new lease with the Land Registry.
We’ll update your account with any adjustments related to ground rent payments – where applicable.
Location set
You can change the location near the bottom of the page