Extend your lease with certainty.
A shortening lease quietly erodes the value of your home. We exist to give leaseholders clarity and confidence — so you act at the right time, on the right route, for the right premium.
We believe everyone deserves clarity and confidence when navigating the ever-changing world of lease extensions — which is why our team guides you safely through every step, so you feel supported, informed and secure from start to finish.
Is extending your lease worthwhile?
For most leaseholders, yes — a longer lease protects your value, your saleability and your ability to remortgage. Here is why, and what to weigh up before you start.
As your lease gets shorter, the value of your flat normally falls.
A longer lease improves market appeal when you come to sell.
80 years is the magic number — below it the cost to extend usually jumps, and delaying costs more.
Extending can reduce your ground rent to zero.
Many banks will only lend on leases above a certain length.
The longer you wait, the more you may have to pay.
What about the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 — and what’s still to come?
The Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024, but it is not yet operational law. Before it bites, Government must make Commencement Orders and set the rates used in the valuation calculations through secondary legislation — which could happen quickly or take years. Beyond the Act itself, further reform has been proposed but not enacted: a cap on existing ground rents (with £250 a year among the figures floated in consultation), a ban on the sale of new leasehold houses, and a longer-term shift towards commonhold as the default form of ownership, intended eventually to replace leasehold for flats altogether. Much of this remains proposal or consultation rather than law. Our advice is grounded in the law as it operates today, while always setting out how these changes — if and when they arrive — could affect your decision.
What happens when my lease drops below 80 years?
Once your unexpired term falls below 80 years an extra cost — marriage value — becomes payable, and the premium to extend usually jumps sharply.
Marriage value is the increase in your flat’s value created by extending the lease. Under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is currently shared 50/50 with the freeholder once the lease falls below 80 years. A lease of 80 years and one day avoids it entirely; at 80 years or below, it applies.
What reform changes
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will abolish marriage value, removing the sharp 80-year cliff edge that can add thousands to a premium overnight. The same reforms are expected to standardise the rates used in the calculation (the deferment and capitalisation rates), cap the ground rent treated as payable for valuation purposes, and remove the general requirement for the leaseholder to pay the freeholder’s costs — each of which should make premiums lower and more predictable. None of this is in force yet: the valuation provisions need secondary legislation, with late 2026 the earliest realistic date. Until then the current basis — marriage value and all — still applies, so for a lease near the 80-year line, extending now can still save thousands.
Should I wait for leasehold reform before extending?
It depends entirely on your lease — there is no single right answer, and for many leaseholders waiting is the wrong call.
You may benefit from waiting if…
- Your lease is short (below 80 years) — abolishing marriage value helps short leases most.
- You pay a high or escalating ground rent — the planned 0.1% cap reduces its weight in the calculation.
Waiting may cost you more if…
- Your lease is long (well above 80 years) — there is little marriage value to save.
- Your ground rent is low — the reformed basis could leave you no better off, or even higher.
Where reform stands today (June 2026)
Parts of the Act are already live — for example, the two-year ownership requirement was removed on 31 January 2025 — but the provisions that change how premiums are calculated are not yet switched on, and still depend on secondary legislation and a Government consultation on the rates to be used. A group of freeholders challenged the reforms by judicial review; the High Court dismissed that challenge in October 2025, though further appeals can’t be ruled out. Realistically, late 2026 is the earliest the valuation changes could take effect, and 2027–2028 is widely expected. While the timetable drifts, your lease keeps shortening — and could cross the 80-year line, triggering marriage value, before reform ever lands. We can model your premium on both the current and the proposed reformed bases, so your decision rests on your own numbers rather than the headlines.
Voluntary or statutory — which is right for you?
We advise both leaseholders and freeholders, so we set the routes out even-handedly. For most leaseholders the statutory route offers the most certainty: it is a legal right the freeholder cannot refuse, with a fixed outcome and a protected timetable. A voluntary extension suits specific situations — where a different term is wanted, or a full statutory premium isn’t affordable.
Voluntary lease extension
An informal arrangement agreed directly between leaseholder and freeholder, outside the statutory process. Flexible, but without the legal protections the statutory route guarantees — and because no statutory notice is served, neither side can ultimately be compelled to agree terms.
- Agree any length of term, not a fixed 90 years
- No statutory notice to pay for
- Can be more affordable if a shorter extension suits your budget
- No guarantee the extension completes
- No statutory deadlines — either side can delay
- Premium isn’t set by the Act’s formula, so the freeholder can ask for what they like
- Ground rent may continue rather than reducing
Statutory lease extension
A leaseholder’s legal right under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. Once a qualifying notice is served, the freeholder must extend — they cannot refuse. It can cost a little more upfront but gives a clear, enforceable outcome.
- The freeholder cannot refuse
- A fixed 90-year extension, ground rent reduced to a peppercorn (effectively zero)
- A protected, deadline-driven timetable
- A binding independent determination as a fallback if terms can’t be agreed
- The leaseholder must take the full 90 years and be able to fund the premium
A note on shorter leases
Where a lease has under 80 years remaining, the right route is less obvious. Because there is no certainty yet that the abolition of marriage value will take effect — or exactly when — the flexibility of a voluntary agreement can sometimes be the safer position while the law remains unresolved, particularly for a leaseholder who may prefer to wait and see. Equally, for others the cost and risk of marriage value under the current law make acting now the better call. It genuinely depends on the lease, the ground rent and the leaseholder’s plans, which is why we model the options and explain the trade-offs before recommending a route, rather than applying a rule of thumb.
Lease length matters.
Extending improves market value and removes your ground rent — but the premium rises as the term shortens, and accelerates once you cross 80 years.
| Years remaining | Premium to extend |
|---|---|
| 95 | £6,878 |
| 90 | £8,341 |
| 85 | £10,216 |
| 80 + 1 day | £12,618 |
| 80 | £23,429 |
| 75 | £32,014 |
| 70 | £40,631 |
| 65 | £50,639 |
| 60 | £61,393 |
| 55 | £72,613 |
| 50 | £86,142 |
The 80-year jump, in pounds
On the same flat, the premium nearly doubles the moment the lease ticks from 80 years and one day (£12,618) to 80 years (£23,429) — the point at which marriage value starts to apply.
The statutory process, and what to expect.
We act for leaseholders serving notice and for freeholders responding to one — the statutory timetable is the same either way. To qualify, the lease must originally have been granted for a term exceeding 21 years. The two-year ownership rule was abolished on 31 January 2025, so a leaseholder qualifies as soon as they become the registered owner.
Section 42 notice
The leaseholder’s solicitor serves notice proposing terms, with the suggested premium informed by a Chartered Surveyor’s valuation. The term increases by 90 years and ground rent reduces to zero. The landlord has a minimum of two months to reply.
Section 45 counter-notice
The landlord serves a counter-notice accepting or proposing terms, informed by their own surveyor’s valuation. The leaseholder pays a reasonable valuation fee, and the landlord’s solicitor can request a 10% deposit based on the Section 42 figure.
Negotiation & Tribunal reference
Negotiations follow, each side paying its own costs. Between two and six months of the Section 45 notice, either side can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a binding judgement. Nearly all cases settle by agreement.
Agreement or determination
Once terms are agreed, solicitors draw up the new extended lease; the leaseholder pays the landlord’s reasonable costs as well as their own. If the Tribunal determines the terms, it directs the lease to be extended, with costs as on agreement.
Aspects of the valuation.
The premium is built from a handful of moving parts — and the assumptions and yields we negotiate on each can change the figure materially.
Loss of the ground rent
The freeholder is compensated for the ground rent they give up, capitalised to a value today. The statutory route reduces ground rent to nil; the voluntary route offers flexibility but carries risk. The yields we negotiate affect the amount payable — e.g. on a 75-year lease at £300pa rising over the term, paying ahead can save considerably (do nothing: ~£62,100 over the term; statutory: ~£8,572 with rent reduced to nil).
Loss of reversion
The freeholder also waits longer to recover the property — under a statutory extension, a further 90 years. The reversion reflects what the market would pay now for a valuable asset received at a future date. On a £350,000 long-lease value (75-year lease), the reversion might be ~£9,013 — but waiting five years, or a 0.5% reduction in yield, pushes it toward £11,503–£12,893.
Marriage value & relativity
Below 80 years, the uplift from short to long lease is shared 50/50. With little short-lease transactional evidence, graphs of relativity are used to estimate the relationship — and different graphs give different premiums. Part of our expertise is finding market evidence, choosing the right graph for the area and property, and arguing what adjustments are warranted.
What the numbers can swing to
On a £350,000 long-leasehold value with no ground rent: at 80 years and one day, marriage value is £0; at 80 years it could be as low as ~£7,940 or as high as ~£13,419, depending purely on graph selection. The choice — and the negotiation around it — is where experience pays for itself.
So we have the General Theory of Relativity, the Special Theory of Relativity and Relativity in leasehold valuations. By comparison the first two are easier to understand. It should not be so.— Ian Newberry, Law Gazette
What’s in a Websters lease extension report?
More than a single number. Our report gives a clear recommendation, the evidence behind it, and the range that can be defended — so our client never negotiates blind.
Three figures, not one
Whether we’re acting for the leaseholder or the freeholder, we principally advise three figures — so our client knows not just the likely settlement figure, but the bracket that can be justified if the other side pushes.
Together these bracket the negotiating position — useful whether terms are being agreed directly or a case is heading towards the Tribunal.
A hypothetical long-lease value
We set out what your flat would be worth if it already had a long lease — the anchor figure the whole calculation works back from.
A full breakdown of the premium
We show exactly how we reach the figure: how much buys out the ground rent, how much compensates the landlord for waiting longer to get the property back (the reversion), and marriage value where it applies.
A legal update
A plain-English summary of where leasehold reform stands today, so the advice sits in its proper current context.
How the premium could change
We advise how your premium could move if the law changes — so you can weigh acting now against waiting, on your own numbers rather than the headlines.
The First-tier Tribunal.
There is a right to a binding third-party determination by the First-tier Tribunal. In practice, applications are rare, and full hearings rarer still — the system is designed to bring both sides to a compromise long before then.
As part of the process the two surveyors must exchange calculations and, nearer the hearing, a Statement of Agreed Facts and disputed matters. Once an application is made, the surveyors on both sides owe a duty of care to the Tribunal, so can no longer take negotiating positions. We only recommend going to the Tribunal when we believe it is the right thing to do — weighing the cost implications and the likelihood of success.
Experience that counts when it matters most.
Richard Stacey has represented leaseholders before the First-tier Tribunal on a number of occasions, with significant success — including in difficult absentee-freeholder cases, where the premium is determined by the Tribunal rather than agreed with a landlord. When a case does need to be argued, you want someone who has done it, and won.
Absentee landlords & administrative restoration.
A missing, bankrupt or dissolved freeholder doesn’t stop you extending — there is a route through every one of these situations, and we can provide the expert evidence each requires.
Untraceable landlord
If the landlord can’t be located after reasonable efforts, the premium can be set by applying to the County Court for a vesting order. We provide the Expert Witness report advising the First-tier Tribunal on a suitable premium.
Bankrupt landlord
Where the freeholder is bankrupt, the claim is dealt with through the appropriate insolvency channel — we advise on the premium and the evidence needed to progress it.
Company in receivership
Where the landlord’s company is in receivership, the extension is handled with the appointed office-holder, supported by our valuation.
Landlord’s company struck off
Assets are likely to have become bona vacantia — ownerless and vested in the Crown. In our experience the Treasury Solicitor, acting for the Crown, may agree to extend the lease or sell the freehold by negotiation.
You own the struck-off company
If you own the company that has been struck off, it can be brought back through a process called administrative restoration, after which the extension can proceed normally.
We provide the expert report
Across all of these, the common need is credible, Tribunal-ready evidence of the right premium — which is exactly the work Richard has a strong track record in.
Other factors we handle.
Discounted improvements
Statute requires that tenant’s improvements are disregarded when determining elements of Market Value. There is often a negotiation over the extent of what is to be disregarded — and getting it right reduces the premium.
Tribunal decisions review
We review relevant First-tier and Upper Tribunal decisions so the assumptions behind your valuation are grounded in how comparable cases have actually been determined.
Review of the lease
Ground rent clauses affect the premium payable. Unconsented alterations can be used as leverage in negotiation, with the documentation often cleared up afterwards.
Impact of fees
The leaseholder is responsible for the landlord’s reasonable valuation (not negotiation) and legal fees to effect the transaction. Both sides weigh the impact of fees as negotiation draws to a close.
Choosing a solicitor.
We regularly recommend, and work alongside, a number of very good solicitors who are highly experienced in this specialist area. Lease extension is technical, adversarial work — and who you have in your corner fighting for you makes a difference. It’s well worth pairing a good surveyor with a good solicitor; ask us and we’ll happily make an introduction.
Lease extension valuations.
Central London and higher-value properties can cost more, as can cases where the premium is split between more than one party (for example where there are intermediate leasehold interests). Fees vary with circumstances — contact us for a bespoke quote.
Lease extension FAQs
How much does a lease extension valuation cost?
Can the valuation be done without inspecting my flat?
What condition will you value my property in?
Does an agreed sale price affect the premium?
Why is my premium different from a neighbour’s in the same block?
Do I need a surveyor to extend my lease?
Areas we cover.
We act on lease extensions across nearly all of London — north, south, east and west — together with Hertfordshire, Essex, Surrey and Buckinghamshire. Wherever your flat is, a specialist valuer is rarely far away.
We also work on behalf of councils and housing associations.
Alongside individual leaseholders and private freeholders, we are regularly instructed by a number of councils and housing associations on leasehold reform matters. See how we help public-sector clients →
Tell us about your lease.
Share a few details and we’ll come back with a clear, bespoke quote — in plain English, because you shouldn’t need to be a surveyor to follow our advice. Prefer to talk? Call 020 8017 1943.