If your lease is about to drop below 80 years remaining then it is time to think about extending it or lease 'enfranchisement' as it is also known. This article looks at the benefits of extending your lease.
The papers and forms to sign are piling up on your desk and you start to worry. All the muddling rents you will have to pay on your lease, what do they mean?
Nominal rent, chief rent, ground rent and even peppercorn rent (!). Think about service charges and you start to panic: 'have I been paying all those rents in past years? I thought the nightmare of paying rent disappeared when buying and extending a lease?'
Panic not. Soon you will be able to face that stack of papers, go ahead and extend the lease, with a smile.
So, starting with ground rent. Don't get fooled! Ground rent, nominal rent and peppercorn rent all refer to the same thing: the amount rent you pay for the ground itself upon which your property is situated. As a leaseholder you rent a portion of ground from the freeholder. This is normally around