Post edited 6:50 am – July 3, 2009 by blackhorseroad

Vicky Powell

posted 2/18/07 5:32 PM      

Recently I asked FHM for a quote to renew my lease. Currently it's 77 years and I was quoted the grand price of £18,967. Surely this has got to be some sort of record. Last year when I asked them I was quoted £12,000. I notice the legal costs have also risen from £381.88 to £434.75.I suspect this year's whopping price has been decided on purely because I was a bit of apain and rang them four times for a quote since it just wouldn't turn up.I also sked them for a quote for buying the freehold, for which they want almost £39, 000.Given the length of my lease compared to a lot of those being extendd, surely my £19,000 must be the highest to date?They're making it up as they go along!!!

Mark posted 3/6/07 9:30 PM      

Hi Vicky. My 'new' quote was for £20,250 with £434.75 legal fees (lease 66 years). I was quoted £15,250 in Sept '06. The reason I was given for the increase was due to the Sportelli case. Absolutely no way am I proceeding at this price – a £5000 increase in about 6 months! Have you tried to negotiate your price down. Kind regards, Mark

Jemima posted 4/4/07 2:33 PM      

Don't waste time trying to negotiate with them – they will ignore you while your valuable lease gets even shorter. If you are serious, get yourself a surveyor and solicitor immediately as they will have to reply to them. It took me 18 months to buy my freehold but I'm so glad I did! (Final price £11000 each)

Mark posted 4/4/07 8:58 PM      

£11000 each for the freehold sounds reasonsable. How long ago did you buy the freehold? It makes my £15k lease extension quote sound ridiculous. What was the unexpired term on your lease beforehand? Could you recommend a surveyor with local area knowledge and experience dealing with FM. Many thanks in advance Mark.

Jemima posted 4/30/07 1:26 PM      

The final papers only just came through – started the process off over a year ago so the prices will have gone up again. Unfortunately the surveyor I used no longer offers this service because freehold managers are such nightmares. The solicitor wasn't anything special – they don't do much anyway. Sorry I can't be of more help but best of luck.

Jon posted 5/24/07 4:21 PM    

I bought the freefold of ground and first floors (2 1 Bed maisonettes) together with the other leaseholder downstairs. We paid £8,000 alltogether for leases which had 68 and 78 years unexpired. We paid legal fees on top but these did not amount to much. The price you pay depends largely on the amount of time unexpied on the leases , the shorter the lease the higher the price. It may be worth appointing a surveyor, the LEASE website has a list of approved surveyors. In any event there is a need to negotiate HARD. The initial price quoted by the freeholder is a try-on and they should have room to negotiate downwards.

jeffrey Lee posted 7/5/07 9:19 PM      

I am glad that I visited the forum, as I was quoted £13,725 6 month ago, with another 50 years on top of my current 66 year lease. I refused. I went back to FHM this month, I am quoted £24,500! for the same term and £50,000 for freehold (two bed first floor ex warner), I have never see anything so ridiculous before, as Lease holder advisory told us somthing between 9K-12K. I am going to service notice on them, anyone can recommend a good solicitor? Thanks!

ian Cassidy posted 8/2/07 4:32 PM    

i am afraid you should have taken the offer of 13k.i have just renewed my lease for a simular amount. there has been a LTV decition which went in favor of freeholders “sportelli case”. this means there is no point serving notice on them any more.the freeholders know what they can get from you.pay 25k now as you flat will be worth 25 k more… otherwise don't and it will be worth 25k less. just a preference really.

Jeremy posted 8/20/07 7:03 PM    

I spoke to Helen at Housing & Property Law Partnership (huosingandproperty.co.uk) tel: 02075539000. She was very helpful and has a decent relationship with Freehold Managers. I'm going to instruct her to handle the negotiation of my lease extension for me.

Guy posted 1/7/08 5:32 PM      

Tenants of long leases have a statutory right to extend(additional 90 years at no ground rent) under the Leasehold Reform Act 1993. The Leasehold Vaulation Tribunal has power to determine the compensation to the landlord – their decisions are available online. Have a look at the Warner properties to get a realistic idea of how much it is likely to cost http://www.rpts.gov.uk/index.htm

victor posted 1/14/08 10:44 PM    

I'm in the same boat. I have 77 years left on my lease of my 2-bed ex-Warner maisonette. I’m trying to find out the best (cheapest and hassle-free) way of extending it. I asked FHM for a quote about 18 months ago, before I'd owned for 2 years, and they quoted me around 13k. Sounds like it's going to be a nightmare moving forwards. Any more advice / contacts would be welcomed.

PC posted 3/20/08 12:59 AM      

I've just been quoted nearly £19k to extend our 78 year lease. Embarking on the process of challenging it. Would be really useful to know what people have managed to negotiate them down to recently. And does anyone have any estimates from valuers/surveyors to extend leases on warner flats? (We are getting our own report done, too)

Mark posted 3/20/08 6:53 PM      

I extended my lease via the Leasehold Reforn Act from 65 years to 155 years with a zero ground rent (i.e. an extra 90 years). The premium I paid was £15,000+legal fees back in Aug '07. If you extend outside the Act, be careful with the terms they offer – especially regarding ground rent. They will also offer you less for your money by offering to extend the lease 'to 150 years from the original date the lease commenced from'.

Simon posted 4/5/08 10:13 AM    

I have just been quotes £16,400 to extend from a 64 year lease to a 125 (plus legal costs). This is with the Circleanglia freehold company (there will certainly be a difference between the two freeholders). To me this seems fairly reasonable – any other views?

Mark posted 4/5/08 5:43 PM      

June. I used Fellowes Solicitors to deal with the transaction. I did not emply a Valuer, but negotiated directly with the Freeholder's Valuer. My Solicitor advised me that I was paying a 'fair' price for the extension – and all the better with a zero ground rent. Hope all goes well for you

Tanja posted 4/29/08 11:57 AM      

We are in the process of extending our lease. We have 71 years left on our 2 bed Warner flat. We have been provisionally quoted just above £10,000 by the freeholder's surveyor – he came to measure the property and agreed to send us his calculations. Our own surveyer quoted a similar price. We are now waiting for Circle Anglia's final bill. Fingers crossed,

Simon posted 5/1/08 7:41 AM    

Is your quote to extend to 125 years? I am interested in why it is lower than my quote from CircleAnglia? Any further information that you got from the surveyor would be useful. I only have the offer from Circle Anglia.

Tanja posted 5/6/08 2:15 PM      

We are extending from 72 years to 162 (90 years plus the outstanding term of the lease). Our solicitor contacted Circle Anglia, who sent a surveyor (Lamberts Chartered Surveyors) to take measurements. On his visit he offered to send us the calculation within a week.We have since received the official bill from Circle Anglia and it is exactly the same figure + costs of approx £800.

JP posted 7/7/08 4:16 PM      

Hi there, I am selling my flat and have 77 years left on the lease. An estate agent said that it would cost 25k to renew it to 150 years. Is this the case as I was stunned when he said it, have people had similar experiences. I have fired off a letter to FHM managers and am awaiting their reply. I wonder if I could get away with selling the flat at a 77 year lease. Has anyone done this? Cheers for any insights. JP

WL posted 7/8/08 11:25 AM      

JP, I'm in the same boat and the agent recommended I shouldn’t renew if planning to sell. £25k sounds a lot since I got a quote for £15k a year ago, that is a rip off. Please let us know what their response is.

JP posted 7/8/08 11:58 AM      

Hi WL, Thanks for the reply. My EA (JW Meade)said that a lease below 80 years is not good for selling. My neighbour is selling his with a 67 year lease and was quoted 25K for a 150 year lease. With prices already deflated, his profit will be significantly diminished. I know the Achilles heal of these flats is the lease situation but it seems unfair that I should be down 25K (or 15K even). Will let you know how I get on. On a different note, have people on here ever sold a flat/house privately? I am looking into it. A new lease might cost 15-25K, the EA will want 1.25%, the HIP will cost £300 and the solicitor will want his portion too.

JP posted 7/30/08 7:00 PM      

Hi WL, Heard from the Freeholders and they have quoted me roughly 20K to extend my lease from 77 to 150yrs. To be honest, looking at the responses posted here, I am thinking its not too bad and it is similar to other quotes. I am not tempted to haggle as I am sure they will wop on another 5K for their trouble. Hope this info helps you somehow. All the best.

Lucy posted 11/30/08 4:05 PM      

hi JP – I was just wondering how you got on with your lease extension? I noticed you posted at the end of July so I hope you've resolved it now.Did you just pay FHM their requested price? If so, how did this affect your ground rent? Or alternatively, did you haggle with them?Thanks in advance for your reply.

jp posted 12/3/08 10:07 AM      

Hi Lucy, Basically, they offered me an extension to 150 years (from 77) and £250 per annum ground rent (laughable) for approximately £19,000 (daylight robbery). I countered with a very reasonable £12,000 and heard nothing. I am glad they did not take this up in fact as the price of my flat has plummeted and I would be lumbered with a large bill as i would have had to remortgage. I have spoken to solicitors who deal exclusively with leases and they said 19K is excessive and that Freehold Managers are crooks (my phrase). My advice would be to hold on and get a solicitor who can take negotiations to tribunal as that way you will get a fair deal. Freehold Managers are not decent people. This will take time (6-12 months) but seeing as most people are “bedding down” against the credit crunch, this is no bad thing….but you may end up paying their costs which is a bitter pill. I rue the day I bought a Warner and having to deal with Freehold Managers. But good luck.

Withheld posted 12/3/08 6:51 PM    

Are you in a postion to buy the freehold (along with your neighbours). We are buying our freehold with our neighbours for approx £18000 – the cost to be shared between us. Going to the Tribunal could cost you up to £5000

Lucy posted 1/9/09 4:40 PM    

Thanks JP and Witheld for your advice above. I really need to move and with the recent price drops the lease extension price is putting me in negative equity so I'm in a pickle! Witheld – can you please tell me how long it's taken you to buy the freehold and also if that figure includes legal fees? Do you know why it's so much less to buy the freehold than to extend the lease? And is that with FHM? I've heard that Finalbrief generally refuse to sell the freeholds (Finalbrief are FHM's client). It's all such a nightmare!

Withheld posted 1/9/09 6:52 PM    

Hi Lucy. I suppose its taken nearly a year! I think it took so long because we tried to haggle the price and had no response from the other side (Finalbrief) for months. The price didn't include legal fees – you have to pay both sides. Also they didn't exactly go for the cheapest surveyor. I would have to dig out all our paperwork to give you an exact figure (we payed in stages) but approx £2000. But consider it worth it to be shot of them.

Ann posted 2/19/09 8:20 PM    

Hi there, I think buying the freehold is a great idea, my neighbour had already extended her lease so it wasn't an option for me.I would strongly recommend getting a valuation of your lease done and writing proposing the lower end of the range to the freeholder formally. Asking them for a quote is playing to their strength and strong arming tactics. Pay £350 for a valuation upfront and you have the upper hand as you know the real value and they know you know! Also know what you are entitled too under the law if you aren't using a solicitor (leasehold advisory service site is great)90 years extension ontop of your existing lease, no ground rent etc. If you write sending them your offer and give them the name and contacts for your valuer you can apparently do it yourself. I'm using a solicitor as I can't bear the thought of dealing with them myself.Best of luck

Lucy posted 3/2/09 12:55 AM    

hi, thanks very much for everyone's posts. I am into negative equity now on my flat/mortgage now due to the house market drop, so paying more to extend the lease (or buy the freehold) is just too much for me! Oh what a nightmare!New question: has anyone heard of FHM now charging less for lease extensions, considering that house prices are greatly reduced these days? Technically, I do believe that how much you pay to extend a lease is linked to how much a flat is worth.