Latest blog posts

Back in the middle of 2017, Taylor Wimpey amongst a few others, received blanket bad press for their involvement in the selling of leasehold houses, which included very aggressive ground rents. Headlines such as “£9,000 per year Ground Rent” and “Newlyweds unable to sell home due to legal catch that sees ground rent DOUBLE every decade” ... Read more >>

The Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act, 1993, establishes the valuation basis and legal framework for leaseholders to extend their lease (as well as enfranchise). The most common way to enact the Act, is to serve a Section 42 notice with the help of a specialist solicitor, but this does come with a raft of stipulations and costs, and is a ... Read more >>

The increasingly dire chances for first time buyers to get on the property ladder in London are well documented in the press. Those that hoped the Brexit vote or even the triggering of article 50 would soften prices have not yet seen their hopes realised as the average asking price in London reached £636,777 in April 2017. Properties purchased by ... Read more >>

We have recently added a tool to our website that allows you to get an idea as to the cost of your lease extension. Around half of the phone calls we receive on this subject involve the client asking for such, so it made sense for this information to be available to the public to use. There are four inputs to the Leasehold Calculator: the ... Read more >>

With London being London, seemingly any space that can be developed is being developed. The more typical schemes are loft conversions, rear extensions and everyone’s favorite, the basement dig. Another which has become increasingly popular is the extension of one’s demise into vault spaces, which are typically located beneath ... Read more >>

The leasehold valuation team here at Peter Barry recently attended the annual Leasehold Advisory conference that brings together tenants, managing agents, solicitors, valuers and all other people/bodies that have a interest in the current leasehold sector. The conference was celebrating its 15th year and whilst a lot has changed since 2002, many ... Read more >>

There is a lot in the news of late about the UK’s broken housing market. Spiraling house prices, unaffordable rents, poorly managed buildings, high service charges, ever rising ground rents and costly lease extensions increasingly favouring freeholders. The Government recently revealed its Housing White Paper which outlined how they intend to ... Read more >>

We are regularly instructed to prepare valuations on leasehold flats located above commercial premises. The shortage of properties at the lower end of the housing market makes the purchase of this type of property increasingly popular. However, the presence of the commercial element below makes the task of providing an accurate valuation more ... Read more >>

One of the valuation issues that is unique to the freehold enfranchisement process is the potential for the existence of compensation for development value. In smaller blocks and period conversions development value will often arise from the potential to convert the roof space as an extension of the upper flat, to develop the basement as an ... Read more >>

With space in London at a premium and house prices seemingly always rising, extending your property is seen as an attractive alternative to moving. Whilst there are always numerous costs and factors to consider when planning such work, owners of leasehold flats have an even more burdensome task in comparison to their freehold/house owning ... Read more >>