Your lease. On your terms.

Break conditions and repair clauses decide more money than the rent ever does. We read them the way a landlord's surveyor will — before you're bound by them.

Extending the lease on a flat? The law here is mid-reform — we'll give you the current position and the timing that works in your favour.

Tell us what you're trying to do and attach the lease if you have it. You'll have your position and a quote the same working day.

Lease services we cover

The small print of a lease decides more money than the rent. We read it the way the other side's surveyor will — before you commit.

Selling your lease or taking one over — landlord's consent, the licence to assign and a guarantee that doesn't follow you for years.

End of term? We run the renewal — protected or not — and negotiate the new terms while you keep trading.

Longer terms for business premises — and statutory extensions for leasehold flats, where the maths of the premium matters as much as the law.

Leaving early — negotiated surrenders, break options exercised correctly and dilapidations kept realistic.

Alterations, change of use, subletting — the landlord consents that keep your plans lawful and your lease intact.

Review clauses operated and challenged properly — because the drafting, not the market, often decides the rent.

The 80-year cliff

Most leasehold flat owners have a statutory right to extend: the ground rent drops to a peppercorn (nothing), and the freeholder is paid a premium set by a statutory valuation. The two-year ownership wait has been abolished, so you can start the day you complete your purchase.

The cliff sits at 80 years. Once a lease falls below it, "marriage value" enters the current valuation and the premium jumps — then keeps climbing as the term shrinks. Mortgage lenders get cautious at the same point, which is exactly when buyers start negotiating your price down.

Buying a short-lease flat? The extension strategy belongs inside the purchase — see our residential conveyancing team on what to check before you offer.

The renewal clock

If your tenancy is protected by the 1954 Act, the endgame runs on formal notices — served six to twelve months before the date they name. Get them right and you negotiate a renewal from strength; get them wrong and you can hand the landlord the timetable, or the premises.

A landlord can only refuse renewal on set statutory grounds — redevelopment and own-occupation being the big two — and on some of them must pay you compensation to leave. Meanwhile the rent for any renewal is negotiated against the market, not simply rolled over.

Contracted out? Then there's no automatic right to stay — and the conversation needs to start even earlier. We'll tell you which lease you're holding within a day of reading it.

Leasehold law is being rewritten. Timing is now part of the advice.

The 2024 reforms promise 990-year extensions and a new valuation scheme that abolishes marriage value — but they're coming into force in stages, and until the valuation provisions commence, the current rules set the premium. For some owners waiting could save real money; for others — selling, remortgaging or already under 80 years — waiting is the expensive option. We'll give you the up-to-date position and the timing that favours you, not the freeholder.

Senior eyes on the small print

Property and litigation experience together — useful, because lease deals are negotiations with a court option attached.

Partners, solicitors and paralegals who keep your file moving while you get on with life.

Across Trustpilot, Google and ReviewSolicitors — clients who came to us with matters just like yours, and would come back.

Almost always — check the alienation clause. Where the lease says consent can't be unreasonably withheld, the landlord must act reasonably and within a reasonable time. We package the application with everything they're entitled to see, which removes most excuses for delay.

When you assign a lease, the landlord will usually ask you to guarantee your buyer's performance under an AGA. Its scope is negotiable — our job is to keep it as tight and short-lived as the law allows, so the lease doesn't follow you around.

Many business tenancies carry statutory renewal rights unless the lease was contracted out — and the difference transforms your negotiating position. It's the first thing we check, before any conversation with the landlord.

Sooner rather than later — premiums rise as the term shrinks, and leasehold law is in the middle of significant reform. We'll set out the current position, the realistic cost and whether timing the application differently could save you money.

They're the landlord's end-of-lease repair claim, and they're routinely overstated. With survey evidence and the right legal limits applied, schedules usually settle for far less than first demanded — the key is engaging early rather than at the door.

The premium is set by a statutory valuation driven by the flat's value, the years remaining and the ground rent — plus professional fees on both sides, since under the current rules you usually contribute to the freeholder's reasonable costs. Below 80 years, marriage value pushes the premium up sharply. We'll scope the realistic total, including a surveyor's valuation, before any notice is served.

No — the old two-year ownership rule has been abolished, so you can claim a statutory extension from the day you complete. Better still, if the lease is already short, plan the extension as part of the purchase: it strengthens your mortgage options and your negotiating position on price.

Only on the statutory grounds if your tenancy is protected — most commonly that they intend to redevelop or occupy the premises themselves — and several grounds oblige them to pay you compensation for leaving. If your lease was contracted out of the 1954 Act there's no automatic renewal right at all, which is why we check that first and start the conversation early.