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  • Finally made a start on the lease extension front. It's not urgent yet - 87 years remaining - but sooner rather than later makes sense. Solicitor I spoke to suggested the informal approach as a starting point, so I'm going with that. I have a feeling this will be a PITA whichever way it's done.

    Having had no contact with the freeholder (or any idea who they are) I phoned the company who invoice me for the ground rent (suspect they're acting on behalf of the freeholder) and asked to speak to someone about a lease extension. Got told I need to obtain a quote, by writing to them with details of the number of bedrooms and current market value.

    That seems straightforward enough, but how do I determine market value at this stage? Finger in the air/zoopla, ask an estate agent, or get a surveyor? The latter seems OTT for getting an initial quote, but if chances are I'll need one at some point should I just get it out of the way?

    I could phone back and ask, but don't want to let on that their dealing with someone completely clueless just yet. Read a few pages back that @stevo_com has recently been through this, any help would be much appreciated.

  • Check land registry for similar properties in your area. It will have the price they sold for.

  • Zoopla is as good a guess as any for this kind of thing but that they have no idea what the property or what it's worth themselves when they are acting on behalf of the landlord, doesn't fill me with much confidence.

    Have you tried any of the online calculators for the lease extension premium? I found them to be pretty accurate compared to what I ended up paying.

    When I first spoke to our freeholders solicitor, I made it clear that I was confident in what the premium should be and a piss take offer would force me to go statutory, which would be painful for them.

    If I were you, I would apply in writing with the value you get from zoopla (just don't mention where you got it) the number of bedrooms and something at the lower end of whatever the calculator spits out and say you will be expecting a quote close to that with favourable terms.

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