As the freeholder of your property, we can offer you a lease extension of 990 years (including your existing lease term), with your ground rent reduced to a peppercorn rent. To determine the cost of extending your lease, a valuation report will need to be completed by a qualified surveyor who is registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The surveyor will calculate the lease extension premium based on a number of factors specific to your property and lease. As we rely entirely on the surveyor’s assessment, we are unable to provide estimated premium figures. However, if you would like to check your current lease length or obtain a rough indication of the potential premium, you may find the Lease search tool helpful. The calculator available on this website can provide a general estimate, but please note that it is for guidance only and does not represent the final premium payable. You may have heard about the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. Whilst the Act has been passed, some of the proposed changes are not yet in force. This includes the proposed removal of marriage value, an additional cost that can apply when a lease has less than 80 years remaining. Until these changes take effect, the current lease extension process and valuation rules will continue to apply. For more detailed information, please refer to the attached Your Guide to Extending Your Lease. Alternatively, visit our website Extending your lease | L&Q Group , where you can find further guidance, as well as details of our Lease Extension Surveyor Panel, Conveyancing Solicitors Panel, Financial Consultants Panel, and Administration Fees (including Rights and Obligations). We understand that extending your lease can provide valuable long-term benefits, and we’re pleased to offer an informal lease extension process to help make this as straightforward as possible. Informal Lease Extension Please be aware that you will be responsible for the costs associated with extending your lease. In addition to the lease extension premium, these costs include: • Surveyor fee - (for a limited time, McDowalls and Aspins are both offering a discounted fee of £300 to our customers (this is normally £474)* • Your own solicitor’s fees • Our non-refundable administration fee of £290 (inclusive of VAT). • Our legal costs, currently estimated at £660 (inclusive of VAT) plus disbursements. What you need to do next: If you would like to take advantage of the current discounted surveyor fee offered by McDowalls and Aspins Surveyors*, please complete and return the attached Lease Extension Valuation Request Form – LEXTOCTOBERNW2026 , together with an electronic copy of your lease (if available) by 15th November 2026. Once we receive your completed form, we will instruct the surveyor on your behalf. The surveyor will then contact you directly to arrange access and collect payment. To benefit from the discounted valuation fee of £300 inclusive of VAT*, please remember to quote: LEXTOCTOBERNW2026 The surveyor will provide us with a copy of the completed valuation report. Once received, we will collect our administration fee and issue you with a Lease Extension Offer Letter, together with a copy of the valuation report. Please note that the valuation report is valid for six months, and the lease extension will need to be completed within this period. If you decide to proceed after receiving your Lease Extension Offer Letter, you will need to complete and return a Lease Extension Acceptance Form. This form confirms your intention to proceed with the lease extension, your chosen solicitor’s details and how you intend to fund the lease extension premium. Once we receive the completed acceptance form, we will instruct our solicitor to begin the legal process. If you have any questions about this email or the lease extension process, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’ll be happy to help. We look forward to hearing from you. Your guide to extending your lease 1 © L&Q Design Studio 2026. LQ0806 Your guide to extending your lease Eligibility In order to be eligible for a Lease Extension you must be the leaseholder of the flat and the remaining term of your lease must be 21 years or greater. Your lease must have been: ■ Granted under the Social HomeBuy Scheme with 100% ownership or; ■ Granted under the “Right to Buy” or “Right to Acquire rent to mortgage terms” or; ■ You must own 100% of the home through a lease (100% Leaseholder) ■ Be a L&Q Shared Owner If you are interested in extending your lease, this leaflet will help you understand the process in more detail. Introduction If you are a Leaseholder, it is likely that you purchased an apartment/flat from L&Q outright or you are a Shared Owner. Many housing association leases were originally granted with a 99 or 125 years term. This means that the remaining term of your lease may have diminished (shortened) significantly. As the term of the lease has shortened, it means that the value of the lease reduces. There is no exact time that determines when the value of the lease decreases due to the unexpired term, however this is normally when it falls below 80 years. We have found that if the lease term falls below 80 years, this could make it difficult for the Leaseholder if they wish to sell their home or re-mortgage. From our experience, mortgage lenders will not consider a mortgage or re-mortgage application if the lease term is below 80 years as it increases their risk of lending against the home. A Lease Extension is a statutory right for 100% leaseholders provided you meet the eligibility criteria detailed within this guide. Shared Owners are unable to formally apply to extend their lease through this statutory right; however L&Q still offer an informal Lease Extension service. Your guide to extending your lease 2 © L&Q Design Studio 2026. LQ0806 100% Leaseholder Lease Extensions As an outright leaseholder, you have two options to extend your lease: ■ Option 1 – Proceed formally in accordance with the procedure outlined in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993; or ■ Option 2 – Proceed informally, by legal agreement between you and us (but still broadly following the principles of the above Act) If you wish to pursue and extend your lease under option 1, we advise you to seek independent legal advice to confirm whether you do have this right and to obtain advice about the consequences of following this procedure. We are happy for you to follow whichever route you choose, however Option 2 has the following benefits: ■ It is much simpler for both parties and may be cheaper for you (because legal fees may be less than for Option 1) ■ If you are happy to accept the valuation carried out by our panel valuer, you will only need to pay for one valuation. (Under Option 1, you would need to pay for your own valuation and also for L&Q’s independent valuation, to verify your valuer’s findings) ■ We may have more flexibility as to what we can agree to if any of the terms of your existing lease need updating or changing ■ It may be possible for us to be more flexible on the length of the new lease. From 1st September 2021, where feasible, L&Q will offer a lease extension term of up to 990 years. The process for proceeding both formally and informally are explained within this guide. Shared Ownership Lease Extensions As you currently own your lease on a Shared Ownership basis, you are only able to apply for a lease extension informally by legal agreement between you and us. This is because as a Shared Owner, you do not qualify for a new lease as defined in the Leasehold Reform Act 1993. The offer to extend your lease is subject to following our Lease Extension process where all decisions to extend your lease are at L&Q’s discretion. If we approve your application, we would grant you a new Shared Ownership lease for the extended term, using the current version of our standard Shared Ownership lease (incorporating the relevant parts of your existing lease, including your right to staircase, into this). L&Q’s standard lease is based on the Homes England Shared Ownership lease and is used by most other Housing Associations. The terms/clauses of the new lease are likely to be very similar to your existing one but certain legal changes have come into force in recent years which your solicitor will be able to explain in detail. Your guide to extending your lease 3 © L&Q Design Studio 2026. LQ0806 Formally Extending Your Lease (100% Leaseholders only) As detailed above, only outright Leaseholders have the legal right to apply to extend their lease formally. This is in accordance with the procedure outlined in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. We recommend that you seek independent legal advise before proceeding formally to confirm whether you do have this right and to obtain advice about the consequences of following this procedure. The process for applying for a formal lease extension is: 1. You will need to instruct a solicitor and complete a Section 42 Notice to submit to L&Q. Any advice regarding the Notice should be discussed with your solicitor 2. It is likely that you have already had a valuation carried out to propose the value of the lease extension. If you have not done this, prior to sending us the Notice, you will need to instruct an independent surveyor who is qualified by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) 3. We will formally instruct our solicitor who will access the Section 42 Notice. If information on the Notice is missing, they will contact your solicitor and advise that the Notice is invalid 4. If the Notice is valid, your solicitor will ask you to sign an Undertaking to cover your legal fees and L&Q’s legal fees to progress the Lease Extension transaction 5. As a Social Landlord, L&Q are required to obtain the best price possible for the Lease Extension so in addition to your independent valuation, we would also instruct our own independent valuation. You are expected to cover the cost of this valuation 6. Upon receipt of the valuation, L&Q’s solicitor will serve a Counter Notice confirming the valuation in the hope to proceed. If you dispute the valuation, you have the right to ask L&Q’s independent surveyor to negotiate the price. If an agreement cannot be reached, you have the right to refer the dispute to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chambers) (previously the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT)). The Firsttier Tribunal’s (Property Chambers) decision is final and both you and L&Q are unable to challenge this 7. If you decide to proceed with your Lease Extension, L&Q must carry out basic customer due diligence, as part of this process all customers proceeding with a Lease Extension must provide us with ID and address verification; we are unable to complete your Lease Extension until we have satisfied this 8. The solicitors will then progress accordingly and you will be asked to sign a new lease on an extended term 9. Upon completion of the transaction, your solicitor will work with L&Q’s solicitor to surrender your old lease and grant a new one on the new terms 10. Your solicitor will update Land Registry to ensure the term of the new lease is registered. Your guide to extending your lease 4 © L&Q Design Studio 2026. LQ0806 Informally Extending Your Lease Both Shared Owners and Leaseholders are able to extend their lease on an informal basis. The process for applying for an informal lease extension is: 1. You will need to complete and return the Lease Extension valuation request form, along with a copy of your lease We have a panel of surveyors that are registered with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). They all offer preferred rates to L&Q customers 2. If you are happy to use one of our panel surveyors,we are prepared to accept their valuation without obtaining a second valuation (which would be at your cost) for L&Q’s own verification purposes 3. Once your valuation report has been received, we will send you a copy with your lease extension offer letter 4. If you agree with the offer price, you will need to return your lease extension acceptance form, confirming your solicitors details and that you are happy to proceed. If however, you disagree with our offer price, it is likely that you will be unable to go ahead with extending your lease 5. If you decide to proceed with your lease extension, L&Q must carry out basic customer due diligence, as part of this process all customers proceeding with a lease extension must provide us with ID and address verification; we are unable to complete on your lease extension until this has been satisfied 6. Your solicitor will then process your request and liaise directly with our solicitor. As previously mentioned, you are liable for L&Q’s solicitors costs which will be payable directly through your solicitor on completion of the lease extension 7. Upon completion of the transaction, your solicitor will work with L&Q’s solicitor to surrender your old lease and grant a new one on the new terms 8. Your solicitor will update Land Registry to ensure the term of the new lease is registered accordingly. The cost of extending your Lease It is important to consider the costs and responsibilities of extending your lease before making a decision to go ahead. You should get your own independent advice before making any commitments. L&Q estimate that costs should include the following: ■ L&Q’s legal costs – as you wish to extend your lease, you are responsible for paying L&Q’s legal costs and disbursements ■ Your legal costs – you will require a solicitor to act on your behalf to progress the lease extension ■ Survey / valuation fee – we have a panel of surveyors who charge L&Q customers a preferred fee For Formal Lease Extensions, you may need to pay for 2 valuations ■ L&Q’s Admin fee which covers the cost of processing your extension request ■ Your rent and service account must be up to date before completion of your Lease Extension. 5 © L&Q Design Studio 2026. LQ0806 Frequently asked Questions As a Shared Owner, why can I not extend my lease formally? As a Shared Owner, you do not qualify for a new lease as defined in the Leasehold Reform Act 1993. This is a Government policy decision that we are unable to change. We do however offer Shared Owners the option to extend their lease informally however all decisions to extend your lease are at L&Q’s discretion. How long will the lease be extended for? For formal lease extensions, it is likely that your lease will be extended for 90 years for flats and 50 years for houses; this is an additional 90/50 years on top of the current term. 90/50 years are the statutory amounts; however there are occasions where the term can be less. For informal transactions, L&Q will offer a new term of up to 990 years. This will be dependent on whether L&Q own the freehold of your home or have a Head Lease. If L&Q have a Head Lease it means that someone else is the freeholder and we have to follow the terms of our Head Lease. Your lease cannot be extended longer than the term of our Head Lease, and generally for an informal transaction, the new term will be 3 days less than our own head lease term. A ground rent may also continue to be payable where L&Q are not the freeholder. Can you provide solicitor and surveyor details to help with my lease extension? Yes! In order to try and keep the lease extension affordable for you, we have a panel of solicitors and surveyors who are knowledgeable in this area. They all offer preferred rates to L&Q customers and are aware of the process and level of service we expect to provide to all customers. What happens if I do not agree to some of the terms within the new lease? In order to keep our services consistent, we require the lease to be updated in line with the standard lease agreement to ensure that all customers receive a similar service from us. A number of old leases may have terms that are no longer applicable or relevant and we may look to remove these. In addition to this, there may be some additional terms, particularly for Shared Owners, that we want to introduce. An example of this would be the mortgagee protection clause which protects your mortgage lenders interest should you fail to make repayments and risk losing your home. All high street lenders will no longer lend to a Shared Owner if the lease does not include the Mortgagee Protection Clause. How much will my Lease Extension be? There is a lease extension calculator available on www.lease-advice.org.uk which can provide you with an estimated lease extension premium, however, this should be used as a guide only and it cannot give you the actual costs. Your guide to extending your lease 6 © L&Q Design Studio 2026. LQ0806 Contact us: If you have any questions about extending your lease, please contact the Homeownership team on: 0208 189 7464 (Option 1, Option 3) or email leaseholdnw@lqgroup.org.uk For more general advice on Lease Extensions, you may like to visit www.lease-advice.org.uk L&Q is an exempt charity Your guide to extending your lease