Chesham Lease Extensions

Lease Extensions in Chesham by Woodward Chartered Surveyors.

More Information about Lease Extensions and Valuations by Woodward Chartered Surveyors

If you are a qualifying leaseholder, with property in Chesham, you will have the right to claim an extension of your existing lease of an additional 90 years at a “peppercorn” rent (effectively rent free).

Your statutory right is contained in the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (as amended), and this legislation sets out the procedures which must be followed by a flat tenant to claim this right.

Here we explain briefly the procedures involved in exercising your statutory right to claim a lease extension.

Qualifying requirements

Briefly, in order to compel a landlord to sell a lease extension, the building in question must be:

  1. A residential structure, not a commercial building.
  2. Outside the precinct of a cathedral.
  3. Not owned by a charitable housing trust, National Trust or the Crown.


And the flat tenant must have:

  1. A lease of more than 21 years when granted.
  2. Owned the lease for at least two years at the time of serving notice.
  3. Not be a business or commercial tenant.

 

More about the built environment and social geography of Chesham, from Wikipedia.

Chesham developed as a market town which prospered through its manufacturing industries fuelled by a series of mills which sprung up along the River Chess. Until the 19th century, the town was centred to the south-eastern end of the present High Street. Most of the present-day town centre's development took place during Victorian times. The 'old town', particularly Church and Germain Street, has been well preserved and now designated a conservation area. it includes a number of impressive residential, institutional and commercial buildings that largely survived Victorian 'improvement'. The 12th century St Mary's Church, which underwent refurbishment and redesign by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. 'The Bury', a Queen Anne town house was built in 1712 for William Lowndes Secretary to the Treasury. Chesham had two workhouses, both buildings survived and are located in Germain Street. In June 2009 the Chesham town centre and old town conservation area were placed on the English Heritage Conservation Areas at Risk register which the District Council commented was due to the misinterpretation of its responses to the conservation body's questionnaire. Due to the pattern of the town's expansion, there are several centres of employment which are interspersed with residential housing. Industrial buildings on the north side of the town have been redeveloped into offices in recent years.

Compared to other towns in south Buckinghamshire, there are fewer detached and owner-occupied houses and a higher proportion of social rental accommodation. Expansion in housing has occurred in several phases mainly to the east of the old town where artisan's housing sprung up along Berkhamsted Road and subsequently along the many steep valley sides. Initially this development was as a consequence of the extension of the railway to the town in the 1880s, subsequently the promotion of Metroland during the 1920s and the electrification of the Metropolitan line in the 1960s. Pond Park estate was built in the 1930s. The population grew fast after the Second World War as workers followed employers who moved out from London. The population in 1951 was 11,500 leading to the building of the Chessmount and Hilltop estates by speculative developers in the 1950s and '60s. By 1971 the population had reached 20,000 since when it has only increased slightly. The growing popularity of the Chilterns as a place to live from the latter part of the 20th century onwards led to restrictions on housing and industrial development in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has sustained the demand for further house building in the town. Today an increasing number of those in employment find work outside the town, commuting by car or train as well as an increasing number who are home or office-based using technology to make a living.

What does a Lease Extension Valuation by a Chartered Surveyor, for a property in Chesham include? Find Out More Here.

Contact Woodward Surveyors for more Information on Lease Extensions in Chesham.