Leasehold Property Conveyancing Solicitors

What Is Leasehold Property?

In England and Wales, property ownership takes two principal forms: freehold and leasehold. When you buy a leasehold property, you purchase the right to occupy the property for the duration of a long lease — typically 99, 125, or 999 years — while the freeholder (or landlord) retains ownership of the building and land.

Leasehold ownership is the most common form of flat ownership in the UK. It comes with specific legal rights and obligations — including the payment of ground rent and service charges, compliance with lease covenants, and the requirement to obtain landlord's consent for certain alterations.

Leasehold Conveyancing: What's Different?

Leasehold conveyancing is more complex than freehold conveyancing because of the additional legal layer created by the lease itself. Your solicitor must:

• Review and report on the full terms of the lease — including ground rent provisions, service charge obligations, repair and maintenance responsibilities, and any restrictions on use or alterations
• Obtain management information from the freeholder or managing agent (including the last three years' service charge accounts, buildings insurance details, and any planned major works)
• Advise on the remaining lease length and its implications for mortgage lending and future saleability
• Check whether any consent is required from the freeholder for the transaction (a licence to assign)
• Review any existing breach of covenant and advise on the risk

Why Lease Length Matters

The remaining length of a lease is critically important when buying a leasehold property:

• Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining are considered short and can make it difficult to obtain a mortgage
• Once a lease falls below 80 years, the cost of extending it increases significantly
• Many high street lenders will not lend on properties with fewer than 70 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
• Properties with very short leases can be difficult to sell in the future

If the lease on a property you are buying is approaching 80 years, you should consider negotiating a lease extension simultaneously with your purchase, or factor the future cost of extension into your offer price.

Service Charges and Ground Rent

As a leaseholder, you will typically be required to pay:

• Service charges: Your proportionate share of the cost of maintaining and managing the building, including cleaning, insurance, major works, and managing agent fees
• Ground rent: Under reforms introduced by the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, ground rent on new leases must be set at a peppercorn (effectively zero). However, existing leases may still contain escalating ground rent provisions that require careful scrutiny

Our solicitors scrutinise all service charge accounts and advise you on whether historic charges appear reasonable and whether any major works are planned that might result in a significant special levy.

Leasehold FAQs

Related Services

Our panel solicitors also assist leaseholders with:

• Lease Extension — statutory and informal lease extensions
• Property Disputes — service charge disputes, breach of covenant, and leasehold enfranchisement
• Buying a Leasehold Property — full purchase conveyancing
• Selling a Leasehold Property — sale conveyancing including management pack