How do I extend the lease on my flat or house?

Why the length of your lease matters

When you own a leasehold home, you only own it for a set number of years. When the lease runs out, the home goes back to the landlord (the freeholder). A shorter lease can make your home harder to sell or borrow against.

You can ask your landlord to extend your lease at any time. The cost goes up a lot once your lease has 80 years or fewer left, so it is usually better to act early.

How much longer your lease can be

A "peppercorn" rent is a legal way of saying there is no ground rent to pay.

Example: your flat lease has 75 years left. A legal (statutory) extension adds 90 years, so your new lease runs for about 165 years, with no ground rent.

Who can claim

For a flat, you usually need to:

• own a "long lease", which means a lease first granted for more than 21 years
• be the leaseholder of the flat

Since 31 January 2025, you no longer need to have owned the flat for 2 years before you can claim. This was changed by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. That Act makes other changes too, but many of them are not in force yet.

Two ways to extend

1. Agree a deal with your landlord. This is often called an informal or voluntary extension. Read the terms closely. By law, the ground rent for the rest of your original lease cannot go up, and the extra years must be at a peppercorn rent.
2. Use your legal right (a statutory extension). This follows a formal legal process. The law sets the extra years and the peppercorn rent, and there are rules for working out the price you pay (called the premium).

The Leasehold Advisory Service gives free advice and has a calculator to estimate the cost of extending a flat lease.

If you cannot agree

You can apply to a tribunal to settle disputes about lease extensions, including the price. In England this is the housing tribunal. In Wales it is the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. Mediation is often quicker and cheaper, so it is worth trying first.

If your lease is about to run out

You are not automatically made to leave when a lease ends, but you lose some rights and protections. Get advice urgently if your lease is close to ending.

If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland

These rules are for England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own property laws, so check with a solicitor there.

Related guides

• What is leasehold ground rent and do I have to pay it?
• What is shared ownership and how does it work?
• How do I get my title deeds from the Land Registry?
• How much Stamp Duty will I pay?

Where this comes from

• Extending, changing or ending a lease (GOV.UK)
• Leasehold disputes (GOV.UK)
• Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, section 27 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022: guidance (GOV.UK)
• Section 56: length and rent of the new lease (legislation.gov.uk)
• Section 7: meaning of long lease (legislation.gov.uk)