Extending Leases: Avoiding the Elephant Traps

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Contents

The ability of flat owners to ‘extend’ their leases under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 is a very valuable right, made trickier in its exercise by some of the ‘traps’ for the unwary to be found in the Act. If the Act is not followed precisely, the tenant can be banned for 12 months from making a fresh application to extend. This video explores some of the more common and most topical problem areas offering practical tips to avoid them, and will include:

• Locating and working with the timetable
• Drafting & serving the tenant’s notice: problem areas, how to avoid them & what to do it goes wrong
• Assigning the benefit of a notice to ‘extend’: Villarosa v Ryan
• Changing the lease terms: can it be done? Rossman v Crown Estate
• Costs, premiums and other sums payable

Learning Objectives

As a result of watching this video, delegates will:

• Understand the statutory timetable – and the penalties for breach – imposed on both tenants and landlords under the Leasehold Reform, Housing & Urban Development Act 1993
• Be aware of the problems caused by the lack of prescribed forms and service method – and how to avoid them
• Understand when, and to what extent, new lease terms maybe imposed
• Realise the need for the appointment of a valuation surveyor and have a general understanding of the current ‘topical’ valuation and costs issues

Speaker

SARAH THOMPSON-COPSEY

Sarah Thompson-Copsey is a former property litigation partner at the City law firm now known as Dentons, handling all types of commercial property problems, but with an emphasis on avoiding & resolving commercial landlord and tenant disputes. Sarah now works as a freelance lecturer, trainer and author and lectures & writes regularly on commercial property topics, as well as providing independent auditing and consulting services for law firms.

Sarah is co-author of Tenants’ Pre-emption Rights: A landlord’s guide to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (Jordans) and Mixed Use and Residential Tenants’ Rights: The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 and Leasehold Enfranchisement, (Elsevier 2009). She is also on the property consultation board of Practical Law Company and a site editor for the Property Law website at www.propertylawuk.net.