Am I eligible?
You must have owned the property for at least two years before you can extend your lease. After two years you can ask for an extension to add a further 90 years on to the lease.
How much will it cost?
Costs for lease extensions depends on the property value, the length of the lease, the ground rent payable and how much the property will be worth after the lease extension.
You will also need to pay for your own solicitor and the council’s legal and valuation costs.
What is the process?
If you are a leaseholder of a council owned property and wish to extend your lease, you are required to serve a Section 42 Notice on the council. Once this Notice has been served you are committing to paying the council’s fees as well as your own costs. You will still have to pay these fees even if you later decide not to go ahead with applying for a lease extension.
It is important that the Section 42 Notice contains no inaccuracies as an incorrect Notice can be rejected as invalid. We recommend that you instruct a solicitor to serve the Section 42 Notice on your behalf.
The Notice must be signed by the leaseholder or on the leaseholder’s behalf, and served by post to Legal Services, St Peter’s Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 1RG and marked for the attention of the Head of Legal Services.
Upon receipt of a valid Section 42 notice, the council will require access to the property to obtain a valuation. This will enable us to serve our counter notice, detailing which proposals are agreed, which are not agreed and any counter proposals.
We would also request a deposit payment after receipt of the Section 42 Notice. The deposit payable is £250 or 10% of the proposed premium, whichever is greatest.
Further advice
The Leasehold Advisory Service offers advice and guidance throughout the process. Or you can email our Housing Enabling team at HousingEnablingTeam.PropertyEnquiries@wolverhampton.gov.uk