Lease Extensions For a Flat

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Does anyone have any experience in extending the lease on a flat? My girlfriend is looking to sell her flat but there is only 60 years left on the lease. We have been told that mortgage companies will not lend money of flats with such short leases...

Does anyone know the approximate timescales and costs involved?

[bga]

lots of info in this thread: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=204128&f=141&h=0&hw=lease

[exboxster]

When I was selling my flat last year there were only 68 years left on the lease and this was causing a problem with the buyers mortgage co. , which I could understand. The buyers wanted to know how much it would cost to extend the lease, so I had to try and track down the freeholder (which was tricky and time consuming). Basically the freeholder grabbed a figure out of thin air and said that's what it would cost. I had to discount the flat by this amount , which was a bit of pi55er- the cost of extending is open to negotiation and there are all kinds of annuity tables and forward value calculations to help in this.