Before you start

Once you have started the process, you will be asked to provide information and meet deadlines. If you are unprepared, your application to extend the lease could be unsuccessful.

1. Check you qualify

Confirm your lease is a long lease and you meet all current conditions of the Act. You usually qualify if you have a residential lease originally granted for more than 21 years.

To do this, you will need to identify the competent landlord whose interest is long enough to grant your lease extension (see step 4).

2. Instruct professional advisers

We recommend that you appoint both a valuer and a solicitor experienced in lease extensions.

Their roles are:

• a valuer (valuation surveyor) to estimate a best- and worst-case range for the premium. They can advise on your opening offer, respond to the landlord’s valuation, and negotiate. They may also act as expert at a tribunal if needed
• a solicitor to prepare and serve notices, respond to information requests, handle conveyancing, and manage deadlines

Find a valuation surveyor at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' website.

Find a solicitor at the Law Society's website.

3. Assess the premium (price) and budget for costs

Your surveyor will estimate a realistic price range (known as the premium) for the new lease, based on valuation rules set out in the Act. The valuation is not exact, but it gives you a best-and worst-case range to guide your offer and negotiations.

The premium reflects:

• the reduction in the value of your landlord’s interest in the property
• the landlord’s share of marriage value, if your lease has fewer than 80 years remaining
• any compensation due to the landlord for other losses

Marriage value only applies if your lease has less than 80 years left on the valuation date. Above 80 years, it is treated as zero.

Your total cost will include:

• the premium for the new lease (the price you pay the landlord)
• your own solicitor’s and surveyor’s reasonable fees
• the landlord’s reasonable legal and valuation costs (but not their costs of tribunal or court proceedings)
• any tribunal or court fees if applicable

You become liable for the landlord’s reasonable legal and valuation costs from the date they receive your Section 42 notice.

These costs include:

• reasonable costs the landlord incurs in checking that you qualify for a new lease
• reasonable costs of valuing your flat to work out the premium or any other amounts payable under the Act
• reasonable legal costs connected with granting the new lease

Use the lease extension calculator for a general estimate and read our valuation guide for an explanation of how the premium is worked out and what factors affect it.

Please note that we do not provide valuation advice.

4. Gather the information you need

You (or your solicitor) will need:

• the name and address of the competent landlord and any intermediate landlords
• details of any head leases standing in between you and the freeholder
• a copy of your lease and Land Registry title entries showing you own the flat

Finding the competent landlord

You must identify the competent landlord. This is the landlord whose interest is long enough to grant a further 90 years beyond the time left on your lease. This is often the freeholder, but there may be an intermediate landlord.

Intermediate landlord

In some buildings there is an intermediate landlord (also called a head lessor) between you and the freeholder.

For example, the freeholder may have granted a long lease to a head lessor, who then granted your lease to you.

In these cases, the competent landlord is the one whose own leasehold interest is long enough to grant you an extra 90 years. A landlord can only grant what they themselves hold. This means that if the intermediate landlord does not have at least 90 years remaining on their own lease, they cannot be the competent landlord for your claim. In that situation, your Section 42 notice must be served on the freeholder, with copies sent to any intermediate landlords.

How to find the competent landlord

You can find the competent landlord by using one or more of the following:

• you can request your landlord’s name and address; they must respond within 21 days. Failure to do so is a criminal offence. You can download a template letter requesting disclosure of landlord’s identity under Section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
• Land Registry: inspect and get official copies of the freehold and relevant leasehold titles (a small fee applies)
• information notices under Section 41 of the 1993 Act: you can serve notices on the immediate landlord, the freeholder, or anyone else with an interest asking for details (names, addresses, lease lengths, property extent). They must reply within 28 days. Serving a section 41 notice does not start the lease extension claim and does not make you liable for the landlord’s costs

Make sure you can pay any professional fees as they become due.

If you withdraw after serving your Section 42 notice, you must still pay the landlord’s reasonable legal and surveyor’s costs up to the withdrawal, as well as your own.