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My old flat was with a share of the freehold and I extended it whilst living there. Fees weren't outrageous, maybe £500 a flat or something. (EDIT: £350+VAT per flat)
From what I remember mortgage lenders did care, you might have a share of the freehold but there's no guarantee that all freeholders are going to agree to an extension and that share of the freehold is usually of the whole property, not just your flat. (Although 91 years wouldn't be an issue.)
I was in a share of freehold flat for ten years (two flats in a house, me and the other flat owned the freehold). Had no problems and meant that I could do a loft conversion with minimal issues. A few extra forms to be completed on sale and purchase and responsible for the buildings insurance but that was about it.
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(in fact more generally has anyone bought or sold a leasehold flat with ownership of the freehold attached. How did it work out?)
Current place is share of freehold, but the lease the flat came with was already 900+ years so no need to extend it. Overall it works well. The main burden on the freeholders is annual buildings insurance and ensuring you have a suitable fund for general maintenance works as (at least in our case) we've had to all contribute to some repointing and some other general bits. (The roof was done 10+ years ago and will last for ages as it was done really well.)
I can't imagine the solicitors fees should be heavy at all to extend an existing lease(s) if you own a share of the freehold. Worth getting a quotes to extend one, also all 3 leases, to 999 years and then no-one has to think about it ever again.
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The third leaseholder is saying it's completely pointless and a waste of (fairly hefty) solicitor fees as future mortgage lenders won't care about a short lease length if the freehold is also included. Thoughts?
I think this depends how the freehold is distributed among the other flats. I'd have thought that if the freehold is owned a third each then two freeholders could potentially outvote teh other one and decide to charge a premium for lease extension. If the freehold is held in trust this view may be more understandable as a trust is unlikely to be a dick for no reason, but I don't think it's reasonable to say that mortgage companies won't care about a short/expired lease. Is it worth having a chat to Lease about it? It feels complex enough that that would be justified.
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@grams
Anyone know anything about whether you should extend leases when you buy a share of the freehold?
One of the leaseholders wants to extend theirs from 91 to 999 years, and has been told by a solicitor we should have done this on day 1 for tax reasons. The third leaseholder is saying it's completely pointless and a waste of (fairly hefty) solicitor fees as future mortgage lenders won't care about a short lease length if the freehold is also included. Thoughts?
(in fact more generally has anyone bought or sold a leasehold flat with ownership of the freehold attached. How did it work out?)