Leasehold Enfranchisement

Home / Our Legal Services / Leasehold Enfranchisement

Landlord and Tenant Law in respect of Residential Property and Commercial Property is conducted within a complex framework of rules setting down law and procedure. Our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers have an impressive track record in dealing with a broad range of Residential and Commercial Property cases.

Our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barrister advise both landlords and tenants in relation to agreements for lease (including pre-lets), leases, re-gearing of leases, lease renewals, assignments, authorised guarantee agreements, licences, rent deposits and surrenders.

Our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers can provide you with immediate advice upon a full range of property matters and represent you in Court at short notice if required.

Property ownership is split between freehold and leasehold owners. With a leasehold property, you only own it for a set period (as set out in the lease). Leasehold enfranchisement is the process you go through to either extend your lease, or purchase a share of the freehold (collective enfranchisement).

On the other hand, freehold owners own the property outright and do not have a time limit on how long they can live in it for. The only time a freehold property is transferred is if the owner decides to sell it.

Extending your lease

You do have the right to extend your lease under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act [1993]. In brief, the Act provides the leaseholder with a right to extend the lease term by a further 90 years and extinguishes the ground rent.

To start the lease extension process, you need to serve the leaseholder’s notice to the landlord in writing. It could be possible to negotiate the extension with the landlord directly to save time and money.

Who is qualified to apply

To be a Qualifying leaseholder you must own a ‘long lease’, and have been the registered owner at the Land Registry for at least the past two years and not be a business or commercial tenant. You do not need to have lived in the property for this period, merely owned the lease for two years or more. A ‘long lease’, by definition, is a lease of a term of years absolute in excess of 21 years when originally granted. Typically these are leases of flats or maisonettes for terms of 99 years or more. Long leases like this are capital assets and will be sold for a price, known as a premium, when they are originally granted or later assigned. A rent will be reserved by the lease simply to acknowledge the relationship of landlord and tenant, but it will be nominal. This “ground rent” may only be, say, £100 per year, or it may even be “a peppercorn”.

Why Instruct OneLaw Chambers for your Landlord and Tenant Case?

At OneLaw Chambers, our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers regularly assist with many contentious and non-contentious landlord and tenant cases. We have assisted and represented many clients from all over the world achieving successful outcomes for them.

OneLaw Chambers has defended the interests of successful individuals, businesses and brands for many years, pursuing matters swiftly and robustly where necessary. With a dedicated team of Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers, OneLaw has an established property practice acting in complex residential and commercial property transactions.

Our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers fiercely and tenaciously represent you in putting forward the strongest possible case, ensuring that you are always satisfied with the manner in which we represent you and that a successful outcome is achieved in your case without significant cost and expense to you.

We are committed to ensuring that our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers prepare every landlord and tenant case with utmost quality and skill so that successful outcome is achieved every time. Our Landlord and Tenant Solicitors and Barristers operate in a friendly and cooperative manner to provide our clients with the best client care and service during the entire landlord and tenant case process.