What does the lease length actually mean for a flat?
A lease is a wasting asset. Every year the term shortens and, below a certain point, the flat becomes harder to mortgage and worth less. The traditional cliff edge is eighty years, because below it the freeholder was entitled to a share of the increase in value on an extension, known as marriage value, which made extending sharply more expensive. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 provides for marriage value to be abolished and for the two-year ownership requirement to go, but the valuation changes are not in force. Section 37 and Schedule 4, which carry them, still await commencement regulations, and only three commencement instruments have been made, SI 2024/1018, SI 2025/57 and SI 2025/131. Paragraph 4(2A) of Schedule 13 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, which takes marriage value as nil only where the unexpired term exceeds eighty years, is in force unamended. So eighty years is not a rule of thumb, it is the law as it stands, and a leaseholder who waits for the new regime can cross it. Checked 20 September 2026.
The table below sets out, band by band, what the remaining term means for a buyer.
| Years remaining | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Over 125 | No practical concern | Nothing; read the ground rent clause instead |
| 100 to 125 | Comfortable | Note the figure; no action now |
| 85 to 100 | Plan ahead | Extending before eighty is materially cheaper while marriage value still applies (not yet in force as at 19 September 2026; no commencement date announced) |
| 80 to 85 | Act | Start an extension. Below eighty years marriage value enters the premium under paragraph 4(2A) of Schedule 13 to the 1993 Act. Section 37 of and Schedule 4 to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would remove it but are not in force, and the consultation on the valuation rates needed to operate the new method closes on 21 October 2026 (checked 20 September 2026) |
| Under 80 | Extension costs rise and some lenders tighten | Price the extension into the offer or have the seller start one |
| Under 70 | Several mainstream lenders set their minimum here or above, but there is no common figure: each lender answers it in part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook, so check the actual lender | Treat as an extension project, not a straightforward purchase |
Who pays for what in a leasehold flat?
The lease divides the building between you and the freeholder. Inside your own front door is yours: decoration, fittings, internal walls and usually the windows and the services that only serve your flat, though leases differ. The structure, the roof, the foundations, the external walls and the common parts are the freeholder's or the management company's to maintain, insured by them, with the cost recovered from every leaseholder through the service charge.
The ground rent is a separate payment for the land itself, fixed by the lease. Service charges are not capped but must be reasonable and reasonably incurred, and can be challenged under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, at the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England and at a leasehold valuation tribunal in Wales, and that can be done before the cost is incurred as well as after. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 introduces no cap on service charges, and its service charge provisions, sections 53 to 63, are not in force. Checked 20 September 2026. On completion we apportion both between buyer and seller to the day, and agree a retention where the year-end accounts are not yet in.
Is Stamp Duty or Land Transaction Tax different for a leasehold flat?
For an existing lease bought on the open market, the tax is charged on the price in the same way as a freehold: Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Land Transaction Tax in Wales, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority. A new lease granted by a developer or a lease extension can carry an additional charge on the rent element in England, where Stamp Duty Land Tax is charged at 1 per cent on so much of the net present value of the rent as exceeds 125,000 pounds for a residential lease (gov.uk guidance on Stamp Duty Land Tax on leasehold purchases, updated 26 February 2026, checked 20 September 2026). Wales does not charge on residential rent at all: paragraph 27(1) of Schedule 6 to the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 says no tax is chargeable on so much of the consideration as consists of rent on the acquisition of a residential lease, so there is no Welsh calculation to do (checked 20 September 2026). This is one of the places England and Wales genuinely part company. We calculate the figure before exchange and file the return after completion. The Stamp Duty and LTT calculator covers the bands.