HARPER AGENCY ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING AN INFLUX OF ASSIGNMENTS IN RELATION TO THE LEASEHOLD REFORM ACT

The following is a step by step guide to leaseholders wishing to extent their lease in certain circumstances acquiring the freehold, it happened to be noted that all reasonable steps to locate an absentee/missing freeholder has to be undertaken by an impartial investigator where that investigators efforts are incorporated in legal reports/witness statements and submitted to the Court for the Judge to make his decision.

For the most part Harper Agency are able to trace absentee landlords and in this connection our success rate is running at 92%. Thereafter it is simply a question of the leaseholder negotiating with the freeholder some sort of remuneration whereby the freeholder will extend the lease.

In some cases, it is simply not possible to track down the missing/absentee freeholder. Such circumstances might include that the freeholder has passed away, he has moved out of the UK to another country and that being the case then the report is submitted to the Court; so that the Courts can decide whether to allow the leaseholder to apply for the freehold.

Guidelines for the Freeholder

Another word for the landlord who will own the property and the land upon which it sits. additionally the freeholder will receive ground rent from the leaseholder. this ground rent in the past this ground rent was extremely minimal and landlords did not bother being around in order to collect. so even though you will invariably have a mortgage for the property, you will still have to pay this ground rent.

What happens when your lease expires?

If the leasehold of your property happens to expire, then the property will revert back to being a freehold instead of a leasehold. This will therefore mean ownership of the land and building will go back to the freeholder. Please note, leasehold properties decrease over time.

The more the lease on the property runs down without being renegotiated, then technically, the property can decrease in value; this can however be counteracted by market movement!

Negotiating fresh lease

Extension will also add value if your lease has dropped below desirable amount of years which is typically around the 40 year mark. It’s in the leaseholders best interest to negotiate.

Get in touch with us today if you’re a leaseholder wishing to extent your lease on your property.