How does the government’s leasehold reform announcement affect me as a leaseholder?

On 07 January 2021 the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced proposals that mean leaseholders would be able to extend their lease by 990 years instead of the current 90 years allowed by the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, remove the ground rent and for those that have lease lengths below 80, removal of marriage value which can make premiums very costly.

Currently this announcement is just a press release that may not be passed as law for some time. Therefore, the question in most leaseholder’s minds is whether they should extend their lease now under the current legislation or whether they should hold off and wait for the new 990 year extension and removal of the expensive marriage value?

In our opinion it is better to extend the lease now rather than wait as it could be another 2-4 years before the legislation is passed and by that time the premium will be more expensive than what it would be today, given the increase in property value over that time. So unless you have a super low lease term which would be mostly made up of marriage value then there is no better time than today to extend your Lease.

For further advice and assistance with extending your lease or perhaps exploring the route of purchasing your freehold, please contact the Leasehold Service Team at Anthony Gold on 020 7940 4000 or lam@anthonygold.co.uk.

* Disclaimer: The information on the Anthony Gold website is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be treated as such. It is provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied.*