73 years left on lease

[jack99]

I am in the process of buying a flat with 73 years remaining on the lease (99 originally). I have never bought a leashold property before and was wondering ears if 73 years is a long enough period to have left on a lease and if I could have problems when I come to sell the flat. Also has anyone ever extended a lease on a property and if so was it expensive and difficult to do.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[gonzo00]

you have the right to buy out your ground thus making your property freehold..check it out with your solicitor..as far as i belive,the cost will be nine times the annual ground rent plus legal fees etc. then you would have no worries about the lease..and i belive that the owner cannot refuse to sell it to you!!! :0)

[jack99]

I will have a word with my solicitor on Monday. Thanks for that gonzo00

[Hymie]

Obviously not all property will be sold with a 99 year lease � my understanding is that this only begins to become a problem once you are selling with less than 20 years � where the purchaser might be looking at the cost of re-newing the lease, or at least taking a hit on the sale price due to the lease shortness, at the time they come to resell. I don�t believe that it is any big deal to re-new a lease, other than money.

Although I have never owned a flat, a far more important consideration is the annual fee, payable to the company/individual owning the freehold for the land. I know many people living in flats who resent paying extortionate fees to management companies for very little.

I would find out how much this is, if you don�t know already � it is rather like council tax, you have no control over the annual increases.