Wandsworth Borough Council Lease Extensions
If you have a flat where the Wandsworth Borough Council is the freeholder, we can assist you with obtaining an extension of your lease.
Wandsworth Borough Council, like the majority of Local Authorities, only grant lease extensions via the formal statutory route. This is confirmed on the Wandsworth Borough Council website.
In order to progress with a Statutory Lease Extension, we can lead you through the process by undertaking the necessary Valuation and negotiation work. We can, if required also introduce you to a specialist legal advisor who will be able to serve the necessary formal Section 42 Notice and deal with the other legal work including the registration of the lease extension documentation with the HMUK Land Registry.
Martin Geoghegan MRICS based in our Putney office specialises in assisting leaseholders with lease extensions where the freeholder is one of the London Borough Councils. Each year, Martin successfully deals with a large number of cases where Wandsworth London Borough Council are the freeholder. The Borough of Wandsworth includes Wandsworth, Putney, Southfields, Earlsfield, Battersea, Tooting, Roehampton and Balham.
Martin has extensive knowledge of individual blocks and estates within Wandsworth including the William Willison Estate, The Fitzhugh Estate, The Ashburton Estate, The Winstanley and York Road Estate, the Patmore Estate and many more and this local knowledge can often reduce our valuation costs.
The process of extending your Wandsworth Borough Council lease begins with us undertaking a lease extension valuation to determine the correct premium payable to the Council.
Once in receipt of our advice, your legal adviser serves a Section 42 Notice on the Council to formally claim your statutory lease extension. This grants an additional 90 years on top of your existing lease term and reduces the ground rent to a peppercorn (nil) per annum. The vast majority of Wandsworth Council leases already have a peppercorn ground rent under the terms of their original lease. The ground rent will therefore continue at this level.
As landlord, Wandsworth Borough Council will first review the validity of the Section 42 Notice. Within two months, they will then serve a Section 45 Counter-Notice, confirming your right to extend the lease but typically proposing a higher premium.
Upon receipt of the counter-notice, we will contact Wandsworth Council’s valuer and negotiate on your behalf to secure the best possible premium for your lease extension. Once terms are agreed, your legal adviser will complete the legal formalities, including drafting the new lease and registering it with HM Land Registry. The entire process usually takes four to six months.
If you are considering extending your Wandsworth Council lease, please call or email us for further information and an initial no obligation consultation.