We Buy Short Lease Flats

Why Short Leases Are Hard to Sell

Mortgage lenders take lease length seriously. Most mainstream lenders want 80 to 90 years left when the mortgage starts, and below about 70 years many of them will not lend at all. A few, such as Nationwide, go lower, but only with strict rules on how many years must be left when the mortgage ends. Our guide to how mortgage lenders treat lease length sets out where individual lenders draw the line. For you as a seller, the result is a much smaller pool of buyers, weighted heavily towards those paying cash.

Even cash buyers may hesitate over a short lease. The reason is simple: unlike most property, a short lease loses value as time passes. Each year that comes off the lease makes the flat less attractive compared with an identical flat on a long lease, and the effect becomes more serious as the term gets shorter. A buyer is therefore taking on not just the flat, but the future cost and difficulty of extending the lease or selling the flat on.

The smaller pool of buyers means short lease flats can sit on the market for months without a real offer. The offers that do arrive often come from buyers who use the lease length as a bargaining point to negotiate the price down later in the sale.

Even a buyer who means well can pull out late on. Their lender may turn down the mortgage once the valuer reports on the lease, or their solicitor may advise against going ahead without an extension. So when you sell a short lease flat, it pays to choose your buyer carefully: before you accept an offer, ask the buyer how they are funding the purchase and whether they are relying on a mortgage. Checking your buyer's credibility early can save you months of wasted time later.

We Buy Short Lease Flats: you do not need to extend the lease before selling to a cash buyer

Who we are

Sell Flat UK is a cash buyer, not an estate agent. We buy leasehold flats with our own cash, and short leases are one of the most common types we buy. This page sets out all three ways to sell a short lease flat, with the trade-offs of each, so it is useful whichever route you choose. See the kinds of flats we buy.

Lease length thresholds

Over 80 years: most lenders will lend, though many want 85 or 90 years at the outset
70 to 80 years: lenders turn cautious; marriage value (the extra value an extension unlocks, half of which goes to the freeholder) now applies to an extension
60 to 69 years: most lenders decline; buyer pool much smaller
Below 60 years: mostly cash buyers; an estate agency sale is very difficult

How Lease Length Affects Your Options

The impact is not linear. Each threshold changes the picture significantly.

70 to 80 Years

At this length, an estate agency sale is still realistic, but the choice of mortgage lenders starts to narrow. Some lenders require at least 70 years remaining, while others will consider less depending on the mortgage term and the property. There is also the 80-year threshold to consider: under the current rules, marriage value becomes payable when a statutory lease extension is started with 80 years or less remaining, which can make extending significantly more expensive.

We buy flats at this length with no need to extend the lease before selling.

60 to 69 Years

Once the lease falls below 70 years, getting a mortgage becomes harder. Many mainstream lenders will no longer lend, while others may only accept the flat with a shorter mortgage term or after further checks. That reduces the number of potential buyers and usually increases the discount compared with the same flat on a long lease. Extending costs more too: on a flat worth £400,000 with a long lease, the premium at 70 years is typically around £38,000, against about £9,000 at 82 years.

We regularly buy flats with 60 to 69 years remaining. You can sell with the lease as it is, without arranging an extension first.

Below 60 Years

Below 60 years, mortgage options become much more limited and cash buyers make up a larger part of the potential market. The cost of extending can also be substantial, particularly because marriage value already applies under the current rules. Qualifying flat owners can still use the statutory process to add 90 years to the existing lease and reduce the ground rent to a peppercorn, but extending takes time and involves valuation and legal costs.

We buy very short lease flats for cash and do not require you to extend the lease or resolve the freeholder position before selling.

How We Value a Short Lease Flat

Valuing a short lease flat usually starts with the same question: what would the flat be worth with a long lease? We look at comparable sales nearby, then adjust that figure to reflect the shorter lease. If other short lease flats in the same block have sold recently, those sales can be even more useful because they show what buyers have actually paid.

The exact number of years left

A few years can make a noticeable difference, so we do not work with estimates such as "about 60 years". The lease and title records show the exact expiry date. This matters particularly around 80 years. Under the current rules, marriage value applies if the lease has 80 years or less remaining when a Section 42 notice is served. That is the formal notice that starts a statutory lease extension, and it also fixes the date the extension is valued at.

How much the short lease reduces the value

Surveyors often use a measure called relativity. This compares the value of a short lease with the value of the same flat on a long lease. Different valuation models can produce different answers, which is one reason two surveyors may reach different figures. Evidence from actual sales is generally stronger where good comparable transactions are available.

The ground rent

Lease length is not the only thing that affects the calculation. The amount of ground rent and the way it increases can also affect the cost of extending the lease. An aggressive ground rent clause may also make the flat less attractive to mortgage lenders, even where the remaining lease length would otherwise be acceptable.

The freeholder

Who owns the freehold can affect how straightforward the process is. If the freeholder cannot be found, a statutory lease extension may require a court application for a vesting order, adding time and legal cost. A slow or difficult freeholder can also make negotiations more drawn out, while a responsive one can make the process much easier.

If a Section 42 notice has already been served, the valuation date is fixed and the claim can usually be assigned to the buyer when the flat is sold. That can be useful where the lease is short and the buyer wants to continue the extension immediately after completion.

Everything else still matters

The usual factors affecting any flat still apply: service charges, planned major works, arrears, building safety, condition and management of the block. With a short lease, these problems can have a greater impact because the pool of potential buyers may already be smaller.

What moves the valuation either way

The lease length sets the starting point. These are the things that move it up or down, and why two flats of the same size in the same block can value very differently.

Pulls the valuation down

Each year that comes off the lease, and faster once it is 80 years or below
A ground rent that doubles every ten or fifteen years
A freeholder who cannot be traced, which means a court application before anyone can extend
A Section 20 notice (the formal consultation on major works) that has not yet turned into a bill
Cladding or fire safety work still unresolved
Service charge arrears

Holds the valuation up

A Section 42 notice already served, which fixes the valuation date and can be assigned to your buyer
A ground rent that is fixed, or rises with inflation rather than doubling
A freeholder who answers letters
A reserve fund with money in it

Did you know?

Flats waited 26 years for the right to extend. The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 let leaseholders of houses buy their freehold or add 50 years to the lease. Flat owners had no right to extend until the 1993 Act, which brought in the 90-year extension still used today.
The 99-year lease built London. From the 1700s onwards, the great landowning estates rarely sold land outright. They let builders develop it on long building leases, often 99 years, so the buildings returned to the estate at the end of the term. Many short flat leases today began as 99-year leases granted between the 1960s and the 1980s, which now have roughly 35 to 60 years left. Our guide to selling a flat in London shows what that means for a suburban block with 45 years to run.
At the other extreme, 999 years. Some leases run for 999 years and are treated as freehold in all but name. One granted today would not expire until the 3020s.

Your Three Options With a Short Lease

If you own a short lease flat, you have three main options: sell through an estate agent, sell at auction or sell directly to a cash buyer like us. The right route depends on what matters most to you: achieving the highest possible price, having a fixed timetable or simply selling without dealing with the lease extension first.

Selling through an estate agent

This route usually gives you the best chance of achieving the highest price, but a short lease can make the sale more difficult. As the lease gets shorter, fewer mortgage lenders will accept it and the pool of potential buyers becomes smaller. You may also come under pressure to extend the lease before selling.

A statutory lease extension usually takes 6 to 12 months, or 12 to 18 months if the price or terms have to be decided by the First-tier Tribunal. You will need to pay the extension premium, plus legal and valuation fees for both sides: under the current rules you also cover the freeholder's reasonable costs. Together those fees typically come to £3,000 to £7,500 including VAT. That means spending money and waiting for the extension before you benefit from any increase in the sale price.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is intended to change this. It provides for 990-year statutory extensions and the abolition of marriage value, but those changes are not yet in force. The government is still working through the valuation rules and other legislation needed to introduce them, while a legal challenge by freeholders is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in April 2027. For now, the existing rules still apply, including marriage value for leases with 80 years or less remaining. The statutory rules described on this page apply in England and Wales.

Selling at auction

A traditional unconditional auction can work well for a short lease because many auction buyers are cash investors who are familiar with this type of property. The lease length is visible from the start and buyers can factor it into what they bid.

If the reserve is met, contracts are exchanged when the hammer falls. The buyer will usually pay a 10 percent deposit and completion normally follows within 28 days, although the exact terms depend on the auction contract.

The trade-off is price. An auction may achieve less than a successful estate agency sale, and there can be legal pack, marketing or auction costs to consider even if the property does not sell.

Selling direct to us

A direct sale is the simplest option if you do not want to extend the lease first. We buy with our own cash, so there is no mortgage lender involved and no need to negotiate a lease extension before selling. We assess the short lease from the outset and reflect the likely extension cost in our offer, rather than raising it later in the sale.

The trade-off is that the price will be lower than the price you might achieve through an estate agent. In return, you avoid the time, cost and uncertainty of extending the lease yourself.

We can complete in as little as 3 to 4 weeks after you accept our offer, or later if you need more time. Leasehold paperwork can still affect the timetable, particularly where information has to come from a freeholder or managing agent, but we work with the lease as it stands rather than asking you to sort it out first.

Which route is right for you?

If getting the highest possible price is your priority and you have the time and money to deal with the lease, extending first and then selling through an estate agent may give you the widest buyer pool.

If you want a fixed timetable and a market of buyers who are used to short leases, a traditional auction may suit you better.

If speed and simplicity matter more, or you have already lost a buyer because of the lease, selling directly allows you to sell the flat as it is without extending first.

Speeding up a short lease sale

Pin down the lease length first. The free calculator from the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) reads it from the Land Registry record. It asks for at least 50 years remaining, or 40 in central London, and it stops pricing extensions below 40 years. On a very short lease you will need a valuer instead.
Time the management pack. Order it when a sale is close rather than months ahead. The pack goes out of date and a stale one has to be redone.
Do not let a Section 42 notice lapse. If you have served one, assign it to your buyer with the flat. If it lapses, you lose the position you have already paid for, and no new notice can be served on the flat for 12 months.

We Buy Flats

Short leases, probate sales, ex-council flats and flats that are hard to mortgage. See the flats we buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the shortest lease you will buy?

We have bought flats with fewer than 7 years remaining on the lease. There is no minimum length below which we automatically say no. What matters is the full picture: the flat, the location, the building and the freeholder situation.

Do I need to extend the lease before selling to you?

No. We buy the flat as it stands. The lease length is calculated into our offer, so you do not have to spend time and money extending before you can sell.

How does the short lease affect your offer price?

The shorter the lease, the greater the difference is likely to be between our offer and the value of the same flat with a long lease. We take two main factors into account: the likely cost of extending the lease after we buy, and the smaller pool of buyers for a short lease property.

We carry out as much research as possible before making our offer, so the figure reflects the lease length and any other factors that may affect the value of the flat.

Can I sell if the freeholder is difficult or unresponsive?

A difficult or unresponsive freeholder is one of the issues we come up against regularly, and it does not stop a sale to us. We look at each one case by case, since the effect on the flat depends on the lease, the building and how far the problem goes. It can affect the price, and if it does we will explain why.

What if I have already served a Section 42 notice?

A Section 42 notice formally starts the statutory lease extension process. If you sell before the extension is completed, the benefit of the notice can usually be transferred to the buyer so they can continue the process from where you left off.

The timing is important. The benefit of the notice must be assigned to the buyer at the same time as the flat itself is transferred. If that is not handled correctly, the notice can be treated as withdrawn, so make sure your solicitor knows about it early in the sale.

If you have not already served a notice, speak to a solicitor before doing so. It starts a formal legal process with deadlines and costs, and it will not always be the best option if you are planning to sell.

Since 31 January 2025, you no longer need to have owned the flat for two years before starting a statutory lease extension. A buyer can usually begin their own claim as soon as they become the owner. The exception is where an earlier notice has been withdrawn or treated as withdrawn: no new notice can then be served on the flat for 12 months.