Buying the Freehold/Extending or Varying your lease
Buying the freehold
Leaseholders of flats may have the right to buy the freehold of the building as a group in
certain situations. The group of leaseholders can then decide for themselves how to manage their
building. This is known as enfranchisement.
The Communities of Local Government has produced a booklet called "
Your right to buy the freehold of your building or renew the lease" that
provides further information:
Extending the lease
You have the right to renew your lease at any point for a period of 90 years. The extension
would be costed at the market value. Further information is available from
The Communities of Local Governments booklet "
Your right to buy the freehold of your building or renew the lease"
Varying the lease
It is possible for certain conditions of the lease to be changed if all the leaseholders in
the building agree. This is called varying the lease. For example one of the reasons for doing this
would be to change the responsibility for repairing or renewing windows from the council to the
leaseholder. This would allow individual leaseholders to repair or renew their own windows.
All leases will need to be varied in the same way and at the same time. Such action will incur legal and administration fees which are payable by each leaseholder within the building.
If you have questions or require further information about any of the above, please contact the
Leasehold Team. Formal applications to proceed with any of the above need to be made in writing.
Leasehold Team
Ealing Homes
Westgate House
Westgate
Ealing
W5 1YY
Tel: 020 8825 9506
Fax: 020 8825 7663
Email:
homeownership@ealinghomes.net
