Lease extension and freehold purchase solicitors in Croydon
Croydon has more tall residential buildings than any London borough outside the centre, which makes building safety the issue that shapes most leasehold work here — and it interacts directly with any lease extension or freehold claim.
Building safety, and why it does not stop a lease extension
It is the question we are asked most often in this borough, and the short answer is that it does not.
A statutory lease extension is a right. It does not depend on the building being free of defects, on remediation being complete, or on the landlord’s co-operation. A landlord cannot refuse a claim because the building has a cladding issue. The premium is assessed on the flat’s value in its actual condition, which in some cases works in the leaseholder’s favour rather than against.
But the two interact, and the interaction needs handling. A lender may decline to lend on the flat regardless of the lease, which affects a sale rather than the claim. Where remediation costs are in issue, whether your lease is a qualifying lease for the statutory protections matters enormously — and that status turns on facts as at 14 February 2022, including whether the flat was your only or main home and how many properties you owned.
The certificates are the practical trap. Where a landlord becomes aware that a leaseholder intends to sell, it may have only days to require a leaseholder deed of certificate, and a limited period to provide its own landlord’s certificate. A landlord that fails to provide one when required may lose the ability to recover remediation costs from leaseholders at all. On a sale, these are the questions the LPE1 now asks and the ones that hold transactions up.
The part the valuer does not do
A lease extension has two halves. One is the premium — a valuation exercise, and the reason to instruct a specialist surveyor. The other is the document you are handed at the end, and it is where a leaseholder is most exposed and least likely to be looking.
On a statutory claim under the 1993 Act the new lease must be granted on the same terms as the existing lease, save for the additional 90 years, the peppercorn rent, and a narrow set of modifications the Act permits — broadly to reflect changes to the property since the original grant, to deal with an interest the landlord no longer holds, or to remedy a genuine defect.
That is a protection, and it is only worth what the solicitor reading the draft makes of it. Landlords’ solicitors will frequently send a draft that is not a copy of your lease at all, and unless somebody compares the two line by line, the changes complete with the extension and bind you for the next century and a half. We check the draft against your existing lease clause by clause, and we resist anything the legislation does not permit.
What we look for in a landlord’s draft
Changes that alter what you pay. Service charge apportionment quietly replaced with “a fair proportion as determined by the landlord”. Widened recovery provisions for management costs, professional fees and reserve funds. New administration charges. Insurance commission made recoverable. Repairing obligations shifted from landlord to leaseholder.
Changes that alter what you may do. A qualified alterations covenant turned absolute, removing the statutory protection that consent may not be unreasonably withheld. New restrictions on subletting or short-term letting. Rights newly reserved to the landlord to build on the roof or run services through your flat. Wider forfeiture provisions, or indemnity covenants the original lease never contained.
None of this is hypothetical, and very little of it is announced. It arrives as a clean engrossment described as being “in the same form as the existing lease”, and it is found only by comparison. Some modifications are legitimate — our job is to distinguish those from the ones that simply improve the landlord’s position, and to say so in writing before anything is agreed.
Landlords and housing associations in Croydon
The London Borough of Croydon is freeholder of a substantial Right to Buy stock across Thornton Heath, Norbury and the outer estates.
Housing associations with significant holdings include Clarion Housing Group, Southern Housing (formerly Optivo), Metropolitan Thames Valley and Hyde Housing.
Investor freeholders hold ground rent portfolios across the town-centre towers and the suburban blocks, and developer-linked management companies run many of the newer schemes. On a tall building, identifying the accountable person under the building safety regime is a separate question from identifying the freeholder — and the answers are not always the same.
Areas we cover
Who does what
The valuation
The premium is a question of valuation evidence rather than legal argument, and it needs a surveyor who acts on enfranchisement claims regularly. A specialist valuer appraises the flat, advises on the figure to propose and the range within which to settle, negotiates with the landlord’s surveyor and gives expert evidence at the Tribunal if it comes to that. We work closely with Blakes Chartered Surveyors, and you are free to instruct any valuer you wish.
The legal work
Establishing entitlement, identifying every landlord who must be served, drafting and serving a notice that will withstand scrutiny, running the statutory timetable — and negotiating the terms of the new lease itself. The two roles are not sequential: the figure in your section 42 notice is a joint decision, which is why we involve a valuer from the first conversation rather than after the notice has been drafted.
Or have both handled together
Packaged fixed fees combining the legal work, the valuation and the negotiation are available through extension.lease, run jointly by Arcadia Law and Blakes Chartered Surveyors — often the simplest and most cost-effective route for a single flat.
Estimate your premium
Our lease extension calculator gives an indicative premium range from three figures: the unexpired term, the ground rent payable and the value of your flat. It is a starting point for a conversation rather than a valuation, but it will tell you the order of magnitude before you commit to anything.
If your flat has fewer than 90 years remaining, or a ground rent that rises at intervals of less than twenty years, it is worth running the numbers now rather than at the point you decide to sell.
Fees
Fixed fees wherever possible, agreed before we start. The figures below are starting points for straightforward matters; we will give you a tailored quote once we have seen the lease.
Group and block discounts are available where several leaseholders in the same building instruct together, priced as one exercise rather than a claim per flat. Freehold purchases are priced per participating flat from £1,250 + VAT. On a statutory claim you are also responsible for the landlord’s reasonable legal and valuation costs, which can be challenged — the costs of the negotiation itself and of any Tribunal proceedings are not recoverable from you.
Our other work for Croydon clients
Lease extensions and freehold purchases are the bulk of what we do, but not all of it. Residential conveyancing — sale and purchase of houses and flats, freehold and leasehold — sits naturally alongside a lease extension where a sale is in prospect. Landlords and management companies — service charges, section 20 consultation, arrears, consents, company filings and the transactional work every sale generates. And the documents: deeds of variation, licences to alter, lease and title reviews, and independent legal advice for guarantors and directors.
Why instruct Arcadia Law
We read the lease you are being given, not just the one you have — every draft is compared clause by clause against the existing lease, and anything the legislation does not permit is resisted. Specialists, not generalists, and members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners. We act across all thirty-two London boroughs and know how the local authority legal departments and the larger investor freeholders operate. We act for landlords as well as leaseholders, which is why we know where a landlord’s position will and will not hold — conflicts are checked before we take instructions. Tribunal and court where it is warranted, weighed against the costs, the risk and the time, which for many claims points the other way.
Common questions
Does a building safety issue stop me extending my lease?
No. A statutory lease extension is a right and does not depend on the building being free of defects or on remediation being complete. A landlord cannot refuse the claim on that basis. It may affect a sale, because a lender may decline — but that is a different question from the claim.
What is a leaseholder deed of certificate and do I need one to sell?
It is the document that establishes whether your lease qualifies for the statutory protections against remediation costs. Where a landlord becomes aware you intend to sell it may require one within days, and the LPE1 enquiries form now asks whether it has been served. In practice, on a taller building, a sale is difficult without the position being clear.
Is my flat a qualifying lease?
It turns on the position as at 14 February 2022 — broadly whether the flat was your only or principal home, or whether you owned no more than three UK dwellings in total. The status is worth establishing early, because it determines who bears remediation costs.
Will the premium be lower because of a cladding issue?
Possibly. The premium is assessed on the flat’s value in its actual condition, and a valuer will take the building’s position into account. It is one of the few situations where a defect works in the leaseholder’s favour on price.
Tell us about your Croydon flat
The address, the unexpired term and the ground rent if you know them, and who your freeholder is. If you have received an offer from your landlord, send that too. We will tell you where you stand, what a claim is likely to cost, whether the statutory or voluntary route suits you better — and, if an offer has been made, what is actually in it. The first conversation is at no cost.