Rampok CPM Nine

A lease extension contract is a formal agreement and as such it is of great importance that you talk to your solicitor about the whole process as well as the paperwork.  The whole method in which extending a lease is dictated by the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. This can from time to time mean that the negotiations which are entered into between yourself and the landlord are lengthy and complex. In cases such as these the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal may need to get involved. It is extremely important that you as the leaseholder know your rights and what exactly is set out in the terms of the lease.

A leaseholder generally holds a property on lease which will run from 99, 125 or 999 years until it eventually runs out. A leaseholder is also sometimes called a tenant but this must not be confused with short term tenancy which is completely different.  You need to have the paperwork checked over to see which extras, deposits and even penalty fees are involved in the lease agreement. Take for instance the scenario that the property becomes wilfully damaged. You as the leaseholder will be liable to pay to correct this damage in the terms of the lease generally. This is straightforward and you need to check that everything else in the lease is above board too. You must speak to your solicitor who will able to guide you and give you lots of help and advice on any problems which may arise.

Extending a lease is an excellent idea for people who enjoy the property which they currently lease and who like the area they are living in. It is a great way of securing your future without having to physically purchase a house or flat. Many people nowadays don't want to own property and prefer living from month to month with less responsibility hanging over them. Lease holding is a fabulous idea for them. It must also be noted that the individual wishing to extend the lease may well have already spent a substantial amount of money and time on getting the property "just so" and as such may mot wish to leave.

All lease extensions have to be negotiated and this is where your solicitor comes in. They will loo over the paperwork, iron out anything you don't understand and will also negotiate on your behalf if need be. Always remember never to sign any contracts or paperwork of this magnitude without consulting with a lawyer.

While many retirees wish to have an easy life after their retirement, they may find that their pension may not be sufficient to last them through their twilight years. The cost of living may be increasing as the years go by which can impact the golden years of retirees adversely. Hence, it is a great challenge to plan on how to stretch the pension. This is a global phenomenon.

There is a great need for pensions and investment consultants who can assist the retirees in their golden years' lifestyle. There must be an investment into the right opportunities that would generate good income which can sustain the current cost of living.

Many retirees are simple employees who are dedicated to their jobs on a 9 to 5 basis without a clue on their retirement plans. They know that there is a sum of money awaiting them at the end of their working lifetime from the company or government but a hectic work schedule and demands of the current job may not offer sufficient time for them to evaluate the possible avenues which can generate good returns during their retirement.

Sometimes it might be too late for the retirements to start looking for investment avenues with their pension funds as income generating opportunities may not knock at the right times. Some retirees are not alert or knowledgeable of these income-generating avenues to seize them when they come by. Hence, many miss the investment boat easily and end up struggling to make ends meet by being a scrooge on their pension.

There are many good financial avenues to generate decent returns on a pension investment regardless of the quantum of finances. One of the attractive passive income investment opportunities is property investment. This can refer to local, foreign or overseas properties to be invested into. If the property market is in the boom, one would make a sound return on their pension investments.

Many smart working consumers do make it a point to have some savings while they are working. This savings plan is usually in their individual account where an amount albeit small is deposited into a personal account for the rainy day. It could be that these working individuals do not enjoy the benefits of a pension fund which allows them to venture into future investment upon retirement.

It is necessary and wise of the working individual to think of long term investment plans through pension funds or lack of it through the formal means. This is where a diligent amount of savings every month over the years until retirement can accumulate to quite a fair sum for an opportune investment.

There are a variety of retirement plans from which an individual account can be activated upon retirement. This can be deemed the pension investment plan for the smart individual who has to plan the retirement proactively. There are many benefits to such an approach which is an investment in itself.

The individual would enjoy the steady growth of the funds over time with the accrued annual interest from the bank. At the end of the work life, the consumer should have a fair sum to invest into other better gains investments such as property, life insurance or business ventures. This amount would be available to trigger off an investment capital on a particular venture for the individual. It is thus crucial for the currently working individuals to consider activating their retirement plan while they are still working; rather than wait until they are officially disengaged from the workforce in society.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing in this instance as a lease extension, the act gives lessees (that is people that own leases) the right to surrender their existing lease and acquire a new lease on their property.

In basic terms, leaseholders qualify for the right to extend their lease if they have held the lease for at least the last two years and the lease when it was originally granted was for a length in excess of 21 years. As with all things legal there are exceptions and you need to take legal advice.

If the leaseholder qualifies for the right to extend the lease then by law the lease is "extended" for an additional 90 years on top of the lease length that exists at the time of the "extension", but with all other lease terms remaining the same.

Of course the freeholder is entitled to be compensated for "extending" the lease. The compensation is a calculation based on the capital value of the flat (houses are discussed later) with its current lease arrangement, the existing ground rent payable, the remaining period of time on the existing lease, and potentially the value of the property with the lease extension in place.

If the existing lease has more than 80 years to run then this compensation is likely to be relatively nominal, relative to the capital value of the flat. If the existing lease has less than 80 years to run then the freeholder is entitled to share in the marriage value. The marriage value is the difference between the existing value and the revised value when the lease extension has been put in place and is fixed at an equal share between freeholder and leaseholder, i.e. 50% to each party. All that needs to be done is for the parties to agree the amount of the marriage value and then a portion it accordingly. There is no marriage value payable if the lease has over 80 years left to run.

The rules are similar but slightly different if the property in question is a house rather than a flat. The "extension" to the lease is 50 years rather than 90 years and there is the potential to negotiate different terms for the new lease.