Canterbury & Kent

Leasehold

RICS leasehold specialists in Canterbury and Kent: lease extension valuations, freehold purchase, collective enfranchisement and absentee freeholder cases.

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Leasehold is where the largest avoidable losses in residential property happen. A lease that
looked fine at purchase becomes an expensive problem as the unexpired term falls, and the cost of
fixing it rises every year — sharply once the term drops below eighty years.

Why the eighty-year threshold matters

Once an unexpired lease term falls below eighty years, marriage value becomes payable on a
statutory lease extension, and the premium typically jumps. Leases below sixty years become
difficult to mortgage, which shrinks your pool of buyers and depresses the price you can achieve.
If your lease is approaching eighty years, the single most valuable thing you can do is get a
valuation now rather than next year.

What our leasehold team does

• Lease extension valuations. We calculate the premium, model the marriage value,
  and give you a negotiating range rather than a single number.
• Freehold purchase and collective enfranchisement. Valuation and strategy for
  individual houses and for groups of flat owners acting together.
• Negotiation with the freeholder. We deal with the landlord’s surveyor directly
  and settle the great majority of cases without a tribunal hearing.
• Absentee and missing freeholders. Valuation evidence to support a vesting order
  application where the landlord cannot be traced.
• Tribunal work. Expert evidence for First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
  proceedings where terms cannot be agreed.

How the process runs

We inspect and value, you serve the statutory notice through your solicitor, the freeholder
responds with a counter-notice, and we negotiate. Most statutory lease extensions settle within
three to six months. We will tell you at the outset whether a statutory claim or an informal deal
with your freeholder is likely to serve you better — the informal route is sometimes cheaper and
sometimes a trap, and which it is depends on the terms offered.

Areas we cover

Canterbury, Kent, London and the Home Counties. Send us a copy of your lease and the address, and
we will give you an indicative premium range before you commit to anything.