Should I extend my lease?
How much it costs, how to do it and where to find help
Homeowners can face bills of £1,000s or even £10,000s to extend their lease. While the Government is trying to make the process of extending a lease both cheaper and easier, reform is still a work in progress. This guide explains why and when leases need extending, step-by-step how it's currently done, plus how much it costs.
Thanks to Linz Darlington of Homehold lease extensions for his help with this guide.
Important. Reform of lease extensions is underway
Extending a short lease can be a complicated, stressful and expensive process – potentially costing leasehold homeowners £1,000s, or the in the worst case £10,000s.
But, after years of pressure, the Government is making it cheaper and easier to extend a lease and buy a freehold. It's hoped leasehold homeowners will save £1,000s as a result, particularly those with leases under 80 years in length and those who pay expensive ground rent.
In May 2024, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act (LFRA) became law in, a major milestone. But it won't actually benefit homeowners until extra legislation is laid.
And this is unlikely to happen for a while, because the current government says the LFRA has serious "flaws" and does not go far enough. It's unclear whether this means the LFRA will be amended or replaced by something new entirely.
Either way, it's unlikely homeowners will benefit from leasehold changes until at least 2026. Plus we don't know yet how much cheaper extending a lease will actually become.
The leasehold changes – what we know so far
Here's how the process of extending a lease is expected to change:
Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease by 990 years. Currently, you can only extend the lease on a flat by 90 years, on a house by 50 years (and only once).
Extending a lease will become cheaper (but we don't know by how much). Some costs incurred when extending a lease or purchasing a freehold – such as marriage value – will be capped or abolished, so the price of extending a lease will be reduced.
While we can't say for certain how much cheaper extending a lease and buying a freehold will become, it's expected to be by a significant amount, potentially by £1,000s.
Many of these changes won't take effect until at least 2026
Realistically, it's going to be a while before the main changes to leasehold take effect – likely 2026 at the very earliest. Still, some changes have already come into force:
You no longer have to wait two years to extend a lease. Previously leaseholders needed to have owned their property for two years before they could extend the lease.
Ground rent on new leases is now banned. This ban came into force in 2022 as part of a separate Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act. The act prevents ground rent on new leases (particularly beneficial to buyers of new-build homes) and stops ground rent being added to existing leases via informal lease extensions.
So, the question for leaseholders who need to extend their lease is:
Should you extend the lease NOW or WAIT?
The question is not easy to answer. It'll depend on your situation – whether you're looking to sell your home, and how long is left on your lease. We discuss the considerations later on.
Why do leases need extending?
There are over four million leasehold properties in England and Wales, the vast majority of them flats, apartments, studios and maisonettes. Owning a leasehold home gives you the right to live there for a defined period, which can be years, decades or even centuries.
A leasehold property with a good-length lease (100+ years) can add thousands to its value. But the shorter a lease (particularly under 90 years), the lower the asking price can be. And where a lease is considered really short, £1,000s or £10,000s can be knocked off the value.
Where a lease is under 80 years it's considered dangerous territory. A lease of this length can make a property difficult to sell, remortgage or get a mortgage on.
So it's for these reasons that extending a lease can become necessary.
We want to sear a point on to your brain...
There is a magic number of years when leases become MUCH pricier to extend, which is:
It's in the interest of a freeholder to let your lease drop below 80 years (even by just a day). At this point, a freeholder will earn more cash from a lease extension, as you will have to pay them 50% of the property's 'marriage value' on top of the usual lease extension price.
In rough terms, marriage value is equal to the increase in the value of a property once its lease has been extended. So if your property increased by £20,000 in value after a lease extension – and your lease was less than 80 years in length – your freeholder would be due about £10,000 of the marriage value (on top of the usual lease extension price).
For leaseholders and homebuyers, alarm bells should sound if a lease is nearing 80 years.
Traffic light guide for lease lengths:
Our traffic light guide indicates when you should think about extending your lease and whether it's worth waiting until the reform to leasehold takes effect before extending:
🔴 Less than 80 years – you're in the danger zone. You urgently need to think about your lease if it's near to 80 years. Once a lease drops under 80 years, 'marriage value' kicks in.
If your lease is under 70 years, at best mortgages will be more expensive for you, and at worst you might struggle to get one.
Properties under 60 years in length are virtually un-mortgageable and unsellable. Here, you'll need to talk to a specialist lease extension valuer and get excellent legal advice.
Should I wait for the reform to leasehold to take effect?
✅ Waiting may mean you won't pay 'marriage value'. If marriage value is scrapped, this should make extending a lease far cheaper (though we don't know by how much).
❌ If your lease is really short you'll struggle to sell. So if you're desperate to move then you may not have the luxury of waiting for leasehold reform to take effect.
❌ If your lease is really short you might struggle to remortgage. So you may become stuck on your lender's expensive standard variable rate, making waiting more costly.
🟠 Between 80 and 89 years – it's time to consider your options. You should really start thinking about extending a lease once it gets to 83ish years (even sooner if you're able to).
If a lease has 81 or 82 years left, the cost of extending can still increase by £100s or even £1,000s as the 80-year mark is so close (extending takes time, so don't leave it too late).
Should I wait for the reform to leasehold to take effect?
❌ Not extending now means your home might sell for less. Which could be an issue if you need to move in the near future.
✅ Not moving? There's more scope to wait. If you don't need to impress any potential buyers then there's less urgency to extend your lease.
✅ Those paying an expensive ground rent will benefit from leasehold reform. The proposed changes will make extending cheaper for most leaseholders, particularly those who pay a ground rent more expensive than 0.1% of their property's value.
🟢 90+ years – no need to worry (yet). If a lease has more than 90 years remaining, the value added to a property of extending the lease may only be a smidgeon more than the cost to extend in the first place – see potential added values in our table.
Then again, who knows what can sway people to pay more for one property over another?
Should I wait for the reform to leasehold to take effect?
✅Extending your lease is less necessary. You may feel it's simply not worth extending a lease that's already got 100+ years. Even properties with leases of 95 or 90ish years are unlikely to see their value drop by that much if you wait a few years to extend.
❌ Some homeowners could LOSE OUT from leasehold reform. It's perfectly possible that not all leaseholders will benefit from leasehold reform – some may even lose out.
Who can extend their lease?
Under the current system, the vast majority of leaseholders have the legal right to extend their lease.
It used to be the case you needed to have owned your home for at least two years before you could extend the lease. This changed in January 2025, meaning leaseholders can now start the process whenever they want (after your ownership has been registered at the Land Registry).
There are some leaseholders who don't have the legal right to extend a lease, including if:
- You bought your home through Shared Ownership and haven't increased your share of ownership in the property to 100%.
- Your freeholder is the Crown or National Trust.
- The lease on your property when originally granted was for 21 years or fewer.
If none of the above apply to you, you should have the legal right to extend.
How long can I extend the lease on my FLAT by?
Under the current system, flat-owners who've a right to extend are legally entitled to get 90 years added to their lease at a fair market price. In addition:
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There is no restriction on how many times the lease of a flat can be extended.
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Extending will have the benefit of reducing any ground rent to zero.
How long can I extend the lease on my HOUSE by?
You can usually only extend the lease on a house by 50 years. The freeholder could grant more than 50 years if they want, but it's up to them.
For this reason, most owners of leasehold houses tend to buy their freehold instead.
It doesn't help that the law around leasehold houses is much trickier than with flats. Fortunately, most houses are sold as freehold, meaning leasehold houses are uncommon.
For info on buying the freehold of a leasehold house, see the Leasehold Advisory Service.
Want to ditch your freeholder?
Often a building's flat-owners are legally entitled to buy the freehold and take over the building's management between them – an arrangement known as 'share of freehold'.
It's usually then easy and cheap to extend your lease the same time, and you can normally do so up to 999 years. Though taking over a building's management is a lot of responsibility.
As a rule of thumb, the cost of a share of freehold for one flat (excluding legal fees) is similar to extending a lease by 90 years. Even if you're unable to buy the freehold, you may still have a legal right to apply to manage your building (known as 'right to manage').
You'll need at least half of the flat-owners in the building to take part if you want to buy the freehold. For more information on how the process works, see our Buy a freehold guide.
How much will it cost to extend my lease?
Under the current system, the price to extend a lease depends on several variables, including the flat's value, lease length, ground rent, as well as your negotiation skills.
Bear in mind leasehold law is very complex, so costs can vary dramatically. Our example tables below may help.
If other residents in your building have extended their leases before, ask them how much it cost – though take this with a pinch of salt, as prices really do vary.
Other costs to factor in (on top of the extension price)
On top of the cost of the lease extension itself, you pay a few other fees:
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Your valuation, negotiation and legal fees. You'll need to pay a valuer to estimate the price of your lease extension and negotiate this with your freeholder. You'll also need to pay a lawyer to review your updated lease and register it at the Land Registry. You can use a separate valuer and lawyer, or use a company that does it all under one roof.
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Your freeholder's valuation and legal fees. You'll need to pay the freeholder's costs and valuation fees. Ask your solicitor to check you're not being overbilled for these.
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Stamp Duty. While Stamp Duty applies to lease extensions, it's unlikely you'll pay it. That's because if the property is your main home, you'll be charged 0% Stamp Duty on the first £125,000 of the cost of the extension. So, for example, if the cost of extending your lease was £10,000, you'd pay nothing in Stamp Duty.
If you own more than one residential property, Stamp Duty is charged at a rate of 5% – though the cost to extend your lease must be more than £40,000 for this 5% rate to apply. If the cost is above £125,000, the rate of Stamp Duty will be higher than 5%.
If you don't pay Stamp Duty, budget for the above to cost around £4,000-£5,000 in total.
Importantly, this doesn't include the freeholder's costs for negotiating the price or for dealing with court or First-Tier Tribunal applications in case you end up having to take it that far.
Typical TOTAL costs to extend a lease
The tables below show how much it might roughly cost in total to extend the lease of a flat:
LEASE LENGTH | EXTENSION COST | PROFESSIONAL FEES (2) | TOTAL | POTENTIAL ADDED VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
90 years | £4,500 | £4,000 | £8,500 | £12,500 |
85 years | £5,500 | £4,000 | £9,500 | £16,500 |
79 years | £13,000 | £4,000 | £17,000 | £19,500 |
70 years | £19,500 | £4,000 | £23,500 | £25,000 |
60 years | £28,000 | £4,000 | £32,000 | £33,000 |
(1) Estimates provided by Homehold. Based on a flat worth £200,000 once the lease is extended, with £100 ground rent rising by £100 every 33 years. These are estimates and can vary wildly – they are not a substitute for valuation advice.
(2) Includes both your and the freeholder's valuation, negotiation and legal fees. Excludes any Stamp Duty cost.
LEASE LENGTH | EXTENSION COST | PROFESSIONAL FEES (2) | TOTAL | POTENTIAL ADDED VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
90 years | £8,300 | £4,000 | £12,300 | £31,000 |
85 years | £10,500 | £4,000 | £14,500 | £36,500 |
79 years | £30,500 | £4,000 | £34,500 | £42,500 |
70 years | £46,000 | £4,000 | £50,000 | £58,000 |
60 years | £67,500 | £4,000 | £71,500 | £78,000 |
(1) Estimates provided by Homehold. Based on a flat worth £500,000 once the lease is extended, with £100 ground rent rising by £100 every 33 years. These are estimates and can vary wildly – they are not a substitute for valuation advice.
(2) Includes both your and the freeholder's valuation, negotiation and legal fees. Excludes any Stamp Duty cost.
See how extending becomes much more expensive to do once a lease drops below 80 years in length (even by just one day) For example, the tables show that the difference between extending an 85-year lease and a 79-year lease can be in excess of £8,000.
To explore the costs further, the Leasehold Advisory Service has a handy calculator.
Warning. Beware of 'informal deals'
Freeholders may suggest extending your lease informally, saying it's cheaper and quicker.
This is because informal deals allow them to increase your lease by just a small number of years, say, back up to 99 or 125 years. But this means you'd have to extend again in future. Informal deals are also an opportunity for freeholders to introduce new charges to your lease – possibly fees to remortgage, let or sell your property, or maybe even to keep a pet.
Freeholders may start by demanding a fee for a quote – usually between £100 and £1,000. They may not be open to negotiating the fee, and you'll likely be asked to pay it up front. You'll also be required to cover at least part of the freeholder's legal fees (plus your own).
If the terms of an informal lease extension are too onerous and you decide to pull out, you could find you've spent a lot of money for nothing in return. And at the very worst, if you go ahead, an informal deal can make your property unsellable.
So be very careful when it comes to informal lease extensions (formal extensions are best).
How to pay for a lease extension
Avoid taking out credit cards or loans to pay for a lease extension.
You may be able to borrow more on your mortgage to pay for it, but it might be better to wait until your current deal (for example, if you're in the middle of a five-year fix) to end first so you can more easily review your entire borrowing and avoid any early repayment charges.
If you can't wait for your current deal to end, you could ask for a further advance from your lender, but this extra borrowing will likely be on a different rate from your main mortgage.
How to extend a lease: step-by-step help
The lease extension process can go very slowly, so start early if time is pressing. Note that the clock stops ticking once you serve notice to extend your lease, so if you serve it at 80 years, the lease won't tick down to 79 years.
Below we explain the steps to take to extend a lease.
Important. The words 'freeholder' and 'landlord' are sometimes used interchangeably, but we've chosen to use the word 'freeholder' in this guide to avoid confusion.
Step 1: Find a solicitor
The lease extension process is long and complex, so it's well worth having professional support throughout the process. A good place to start is the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners, which lists solicitors specialising in the field.
There can be huge cost differences between different conveyancers, so ensure you test the market. The less the freeholder tries to drag it out, the cheaper your legal costs.
And remember that these professionals needn't be based nearby. If you live in an expensive city such as London, out-of-town professionals could be much cheaper. Ask them how much experience they have working in leasehold and whether their fee is fixed or an estimate.
Alternatively, there are companies that can manage the entire extension process (including the legal side) from start to finish – like Homehold, which has very good reviews.
Step 2: Value the lease
Professional valuation advice is crucial. A valuer will indicate what you should pay for the lease extension and build up evidence with which to negotiate with your freeholder.
You should use the same valuer to negotiate with your freeholder as well – they'll have collected the evidence so will be able to negotiate the most effectively. Lease extension valuations typically cost about £400 to £900 and are usually done remotely.
The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners is a good place to find a valuer, or for an integrated service that includes both a solicitor and valuer then use Homehold.
Step 3: Negotiate the price
Negotiations will start by a formal notice being served with your opening offer of what you want to pay for the lease extension. The freeholder will then ask for a deposit – this will be 10% of the lease extension offer stated in the notice or £250, whichever is greater.
At this stage, the freeholder may accept your offer. If not, they'll come back with a counter offer, and your solicitor will hand back to your valuer to negotiate further with the freeholder.
Step 4: If you can't agree, you can apply to a tribunal
If you and the freeholder can't agree on the price, you can apply to the First-Tier Tribunal to decide. Your legal and valuation fees will be much higher if you go to the First-Tier Tribunal, but so will the freeholder's costs – meaning it's unusual to go this far.
You'll need to wait about four months for a hearing (usually your valuer makes your case). After that, the tribunal writes to you to say how much you'll pay for the extension.
You can find a list of past tribunal decisions concerning lease extensions on Gov.uk. You may also find some useful tips and hints on our Extend Your Lease forum discussion.
Quick questions:
As long as the property is registered, for a small fee you can access the title summary from the Land Registry and inspect the entry relating to the freehold.
This should give you the details you need to track down the freeholder. If not, you can try your luck via rights to information under landlord and tenant legislation.
Where you're unable to locate the freeholder, your solicitor can apply to the county court for an order that means you can extend the lease. You'll need to prove you did your best to try to locate the freeholder. Once you've done this, you'll be able to get the lease extension price fixed at a First-Tier Tribunal.
The shorter the lease, the cheaper the property. Some properties with super-short, 20-40 year leases sell at bargain basement prices.
Extending a short lease is pricey – likely £10,000s – but sometimes the combined cost of a cheap property and a lease extension can add up to less than you could sell the property for once its lease is extended. You may pay less Stamp Duty too.
Who can do this?
Though potentially lucrative, the technique is tricky. You'll need to be a cash buyer looking to invest, as it's unlikely you'll get a mortgage on a short-lease property.
This is a complex way to make cash from property. Many such investors are ex-solicitors and accountants – you can get burned if you don't know what you're doing.
How it works
After finding a property with a short lease, you'll need to seek expert valuation advice on how much it will cost to extend (leasehold calculators won't work below 60 years).
Approach leases with less than 70 years left with caution. Worst-case scenario is you're left with a property that you can't afford to extend the lease on. And as the lease shortens, the property's appeal to potential buyers reduces even further...
What if I can't find the freeholder?
Is it possible to make a profit on a flat with a short lease?
Further help and advice
The Leasehold Advisory Service has a wealth of free advice on leasehold, service charges, lease extensions, buying a freehold, right to manage and applying to tribunals. You can also get advice in person or arrange a 15-minute telephone appointment.
You can also find useful information on Gov.uk.
Looking for more property help?
We've got lots of other helpful guides and tools:
First-time buyers' guide. Free PDF to get on the first rung.
Remortgage guide. Free PDF with lots of remortgaging tips.
Cheap mortgage finding. How to find the top deal for you.
Mortgage Best Buys. Find your top mortgage deals.
Shared ownership. An alternative way to buy a home.
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