Where the freehold is not owned by Notting Hill

Our leasehold extension policy for Do It Yourself shared ownership (DIYSO) and Section 106 properties.

If your property was purchased under the 'Do It Yourself Shared Ownership' scheme or if there is a section 106 agreement, Notting Hill may not be your freeholder.

If Notting Hill Housing is not your freeholder we cannot extend your lease, but we can help you with this.

Your legal rights

The law does give Notting Hill Housing a legal right to extend our head lease.

You will need to contact your freeholder or their managing agents to find out if they have a process for lease extension.

DIYSO properties

With DIYSO properties, Notting Hill Housing will have a head lease and you will have shared ownership under lease. For this reason, your freeholder might only deal with Notting Hill when discussing the lease extension.

If this is the case, please contact our Legal Administration Officer on 0208 357 5162 or legaladmin@nhhg.org.uk. They will assist you with these negotiations.

The freeholder or their managing agents will extend Notting Hill's head lease and we will give you a new extended under lease. We will not make any additional charge for extending the under lease beyond the legal fees associated with this.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are a shared owner with a community leasehold or fair rent style lease, carrying out a lease extension will increase the amount of rent you pay.

Please call us on 0208 357 5162 if you would like to discuss this increase.

Lease extension expenses

You will need to pay all the expenses associated with the lease extension. These include:

  • the full premium required by your freeholder plus any legal and valuation fees
  • your solicitors fees
  • Notting Hill's solicitors' fees and administration charges.

Staircasing

If you wish to recoup the full benefit of extending your lease on reselling, you will need to buy more shares to staircase up to 100% prior to or simultaneous to sale.

You will automatically have consent to do this if you have carried out a lease extension.

Staircasing valuation

When the valuation for final staircasing is carried out, the property will be valued with the longer lease. The price of the premium paid for the lease extension (by you) will be deducted from the price of the remaining shares that you are purchasing.

Eg. If you spend £30,000 on the lease extension premium and the flat is valued at £300,000 at the time when you are purchasing the remaining 50%, your share will cost £150,000 minus £30,000. This means that your share would be £120,000.

You cannot claim the amount that you spent on the surveyor, administration fee, or solicitors as these are costs that you would incur with any lease extension.

More information

You can find more information about lease extensions on the Leasehold Advisory Service website. You can also get this information from Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T.

We recommend that you get independent advice before asking us to go ahead with the valuation.

If you are not sure if Notting Hill Housing is your freeholder, or have any questions, contact 0208 357 5162 or legaladmin@nhhg.org.uk.