The statutory lease extension gives a qualifying flat owner 90 extra years at a peppercorn ground rent, whether the freeholder likes it or not — and since January 2025 there is no ownership waiting period before claiming. The machinery is the section 42 notice, and the machinery has teeth: miss the tribunal deadline after a counter-notice and the claim is deemed withdrawn, with a year's bar on starting again. This guide runs the process, the deadlines, the costs and the marriage value question as the law actually stands.
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The Statutory Lease Extension: What the Freeholder Cannot Refuse
Serve a valid section 42 notice and the freeholder must grant a new lease: your remaining term plus 90 years, at a peppercorn rent, with only the price and terms open to argument — and a tribunal to settle those. Everything else in this guide is about protecting that right through the procedure that delivers it.
What the Statutory Route Delivers
Rights Under the 1993 Act
The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 gives qualifying leaseholders of flats the individual right to a new lease — the current term plus 90 years, ground rent extinguished to a peppercorn, on terms otherwise mirroring the old lease. The 2024 reform Act promises a 990-year standard term, but that provision awaits commencement: claims made today complete on the 90-year, peppercorn basis, and they are worth making today for the reasons the marriage value section explains.
Who Qualifies Now
Eligibility After the Reforms
What Changed in January 2025
You need a long lease — originally granted for more than 21 years — of a flat. That is nearly the whole test now: the two-year ownership requirement was abolished on 31 January 2025, so a buyer can serve notice the day after completion, and buyers mid-purchase can require the seller to serve and assign a notice to lock in a valuation date. Business leases are excluded; living there is not required.
Serving the Section 42 Notice
The notice is the claim. It identifies the flat and the lease, proposes a premium — realistic, not token, or the notice is vulnerable — and names a response date at least two months out. Service registers a valuation date and freezes the arithmetic; from that moment the freeholder's route to more money is negotiation and tribunal, not delay. The freeholder may require a deposit of £250 or 10% of the proposed premium, whichever is greater.
Getting the Notice Right
- The flat, the lease and every intermediate landlord, correctly identified.
- A genuine proposed premium, supported by a professional valuation.
- The proposed terms of the new lease.
- A counter-notice date at least two months after service.
- Precision throughout — defective notices are the freeholder's cheapest defence, and a withdrawn or invalid claim carries a twelve-month bar on serving again.
Marriage Value and the 80-Year Line
How Marriage Value Is Calculated
Once the unexpired term falls below 80 years, the premium adds marriage value: half the uplift the extension creates in the property's value, payable to the freeholder — routinely £20,000 to £50,000-plus in high-value areas. The 2024 Act abolishes it on paper; the freeholders' High Court challenge failed in October 2025; but commencement still needs a programme of secondary legislation with no date set. Claims today are valued under the current rules — a lease at 81 years is a deadline, not a curiosity.
What It All Costs
Fees on Top of the Premium
Where the Money Goes
Extension Cost Lines
| Component | Typical Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Premium | £5,000 – £100,000+ | Driven by term, value and ground rent; marriage value below 80 years |
| Your legal fees | £2,000 – £8,000 | Notice, negotiation, new lease, registration |
| Your valuation | £1,500 – £3,500 | The number the whole negotiation stands on |
| Freeholder's reasonable costs | £1,500 – £5,000 | Payable by the leaseholder under the current regime |
The 2024 Act's costs provisions — each side bearing its own — are among the reforms still awaiting commencement, so today's budget includes the freeholder's reasonable legal and valuation costs. The premium itself is the variable worth professional attention: a £1,500 valuation routinely saves multiples of itself at negotiation.
Timeline: Notice to New Lease
Deadlines That Kill Claims
The freeholder's counter-notice is due by the date in your notice — at least two months. After a counter-notice admitting the claim, you have between two and six months to apply to the tribunal if terms are not agreed: apply too early and the application is premature, too late and the claim is deemed withdrawn, costs payable and a year's wait before serving again. Diarise both ends of that window on the day the counter-notice arrives.
Stage by Stage
Preparation — valuation and notice drafting — takes four to eight weeks done properly. Service starts the two-month counter-notice clock; negotiation typically runs through the following months with the tribunal window as backstop; completion of the new lease and registration follows agreement. Six to twelve months end to end is the honest expectation, which is why leases approaching the 80-year line need the process started at 82, not 80 and a half.
Statutory or Informal?
The Comparison That Matters
An informal deal with the freeholder can be quicker and occasionally cheaper — and delivers only what the freeholder agrees: shorter added terms, retained or escalating ground rent, and no tribunal if talks stall. The statutory route guarantees the 90 years and the peppercorn. The professional pattern is to negotiate informally with a section 42 notice drafted and ready — the freeholder's arithmetic improves remarkably when compulsion is visible. Our statutory versus voluntary comparison runs the trade-offs in full.
Questions about the statutory process
What does a statutory lease extension give me?
Your existing term plus 90 years, ground rent reduced to a peppercorn, on a new lease the freeholder cannot refuse — with the tribunal setting the premium if negotiation fails. The 990-year term in the 2024 Act is not yet in force.
Do I still have to own the flat for two years first?
No — abolished 31 January 2025. You can claim from the day you complete, and a buyer can require the seller to serve a notice and assign it, preserving an earlier valuation date through the purchase.
What is a section 42 notice?
The formal claim that starts the statutory process: it identifies the lease, proposes a genuine premium and gives the freeholder at least two months to respond by counter-notice. Service fixes the valuation date and, done precisely, removes the freeholder's power to simply say no.
Is marriage value still payable?
Yes, on leases under 80 years — half the uplift, often tens of thousands. The abolition sits in the 2024 Act uncommenced, the court challenge failed in October 2025, and no start date exists. Extend before 80, or price the cliff into everything.
How long does the statutory process take?
Six to twelve months from instruction to registered new lease: weeks of preparation, a two-month counter-notice period, then negotiation inside the two-to-six-month tribunal window. Contested valuations at tribunal extend it.
What happens if I miss the tribunal deadline?
The claim is deemed withdrawn: you pay the freeholder's costs to date and cannot serve a fresh notice for twelve months — during which the lease shortens and the premium grows. The deadline is the process's one unforgiving moment; diarise it twice.
Tell us the unexpired term, the ground rent and your timescale. We will value the claim, draft the section 42 notice and run the deadlines so the statutory right does what it promises.
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