How much do solicitors charge to extend a lease?

Solicitors legal fees range from £700 to £3000 INC VAT, depending on the solicitor and the specifics of your transaction. We explain all of the lease extension costs in detail. Our fixed fees start at £720 INC VAT, which includes the help of your very own SAM Conveyancing executive who will guide you through the process and liaise with the solicitor, to keep you up to date in plain English, at no extra cost to you. !form{586-popup Get a Tailored Quote}form! Fixed Fee | Rated Excellent on Trustpilot | No Sale No Fee Trustpilot

Can you do a lease extension without a solicitor?

You can't do a lease extension without a solicitor. You will have to use a solicitor or licensed conveyancer for at least part of the lease extension, whether formal or informal. We advise against trying to complete the other parts of the extension without a solicitor, as the risk of delaying your extension by a year outweighs the potential savings on solicitor's fees.

Do you need a solicitor to extend your lease

Whether it is serving the section 42 notice or reviewing the deed of variation to extend your lease, we have every service you need.

Give us a call today on 0333 344 3234 or click to find out more below. We're never beaten on service and price.

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Do you need a solicitor to extend your lease?

by:

Andrew Boast

Last Updated: 29/05/2024

Read by:

258

5 min read

Key Takeaways

You must use a solicitor (or licensed conveyancer) for certain parts of the formal or informal lease extension process
If you don't meet the criteria for formal extension, you rely on your freeholder, or landlord, agreeing to an informal extension
When a lease reduces to 80 years or less the value of the property will decrease and the extension premium will become more expensive

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The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 was passed on the 24th May 2024, but is not fully enforced yet and the date for this is not yet clear. We will update our content as and when the finalised legislation is published.

Certain legal aspects of a lease extension requires a solicitor. However, there are stages that you can complete yourself if you are confident to do so. The challenge with handling part of the process without the help of a solicitor is that without the professional expertise required for complex transactions such as this, you are likely to make a mistake, such as serving an incorrectly drafted Section 42 Notice. If your notice is incorrect, it will be rejected and you will have to wait 12 months before you can try again.

Do I need a solicitor for an informal lease extension?

Even if you choose to do an informal lease extension rather than using the formal process, a solicitor, or licensed conveyancer must handle the deed of variation and your payment.

What do I need to do to extend my lease?

While the answer to: Do you need a solicitor to extend your lease? is simply yes, there are certain parts of the process you could do yourself, although we don't recommend taking this risk.

Check if you qualify for formal lease extension

You can check if you meet the eligibility criteria for a formal extension yourself, if not you can ask the freeholder if they'd be willing to extend informally.

Instruct your solicitor

Choose a lease extension specialist with good reviews and compare quotes to get a good price.

Fixed Fee | No Sale No Fee | Lease Extension Specialists

Get a lease extension valuation

Getting an independent valuation is a good way to determine a fair price for the premium. You'll need a current market valuation from a RICS surveyor. If you don't use a RICS member, you may end up paying more that the property is worth and the landlord could dispute your valuation and make you pay for another one.

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RICS Surveyors | Fixed Fees | Same week availability | Access arranged

Negotiate your premium

This can be done yourself, but it will be easier with a solicitor which will often achieve a better result.

(If you can't agree on premium) Apply to Tribunal

If you are unable to compromise on a fair price for the extension, you can apply to tribunal to determine the premium.

Pay the premium

Your solicitor will handle the payment into your landlords account.

What could you do?

What does your solicitor need to do?

Lease Extension Valuation. The valuation can be sourced for free, using online lease extension calculators or from a RICS Surveyor. Read more - How do you value the lease extension premium?
Section 42 Notice. You can draft your own Section 42 Notice, however, if you make an error in the drafting, you risk having to wait another 12 months. Read more - How do you draft a Section 42 Notice?
Premium Negotiations. You can negotiate the premium value with the freeholder if they dispute your premium in their Section 45 Counter-Notice. Read more - How do you negotiate with your freeholder?

Lease Extension Valuation. The valuation can be sourced for free, using online lease extension calculators or from a RICS Surveyor. Read more - How do you value the lease extension premium?
Section 42 Notice. Most solicitors will draft the section 42 notice for you.
Deed of Variation. You'll need a solicitor to review the deed of variation to ensure it includes the correct clauses. The solicitor will also need to provide an undertaking for the freeholder's costs that you are liable for. Read more - What are the reasonable costs of the freeholder?
Completion. You can't pay the premium directly, so you have to pay it to your solicitor who will send it on to the freeholder's solicitor on the day of completion.

Can you use any old solicitor?

Lease extension work requires an understanding of the process and time frames. You should look to work with a lease extension solicitor who specialises in this area. We hand-select our panel solicitors for their expertise and quality service.

Free Initial Leasehold Advice

Arrange a free consultation with one of our experienced conveyancing executives on:

Lease extension.
Purchasing the leasehold, freehold or share of freehold.
Selling a leasehold property with a short lease.
Extending the lease at the same time as you sell.

We specialise in lease extensions and have RICS valuers for the premium/negotiation and solicitors for the section 42 notice and formal or informal extension. Request a tailored quote for:

RICS Lease Extension Valuation or L2 Homebuyers Survey.
Serving of the section 42 notice or section 13 notice on the freeholder.
Negotiation with the freeholder (with the support of your RICS valuer).
Completion of the legal work, including deed of variation.
Application to Tribunal to determine the premium.
Vesting order for absent landlords.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Written by: Andrew Boast

Andrew Boast FMAAT is a qualified accountant, conveyancing specialist and author with over 25 years of experience in the UK property sector. Since beginning his career in 2000 within established SRA and CLC-regulated conveyancing solicitor firms, Andrew has overseen the legal journeys of more than 75,000 clients.

He is the author of the property guide 'How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone' and a frequent contributor to mainstream UK media on legislative updates, property law, first-time buyer guides, conveyancing best practices, and stamp duty changes. Andrew specialises in resolving complex title issues, property conflict disputes, and property tax options, streamlining the enquiry process to reduce transaction times and maintaining a client-friendly focus.

Reviewed by: Caragh Bailey

Caragh Bailey is a Lead Property Content Specialist at SAM Conveyancing, having joined the firm in 2020. With a portfolio of over 150 technical conveyancing, house survey and mortgage guides, she has become a primary authority on the end-to-end sale and purchase process.

Caragh specialises in complex legal workflows, including Help to Buy redemptions, equity transfers, shared ownership structures, trust deeds for tax planning, and joint ownership disputes. Her expertise extends to leasehold reform and RICS home surveys, where she provides clear, factual guidance on independent legal advice for specialist mortgage products and intricate ownership structures.

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