What Is a Short Lease?

What counts as a short lease?

There is no single legal definition of a "short lease" written into statute. But across the property industry - solicitors, surveyors, mortgage lenders, and buyers - the consensus is clear: a lease with fewer than 80 years remaining is short, and anything below that threshold starts causing real problems.

The 80-year mark is not arbitrary. It is the point at which marriage value becomes payable under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. Once your lease drops below 80 years, extending it becomes significantly more expensive because the freeholder is legally entitled to 50% of the increase in your flat's value that the extension creates. That single rule change at the 80-year line can add tens of thousands of pounds to the cost of extending.

In practice, different thresholds matter for different reasons:

Under 80 years - Marriage value kicks in, making extensions considerably more expensive. A flat worth £400,000 with a long lease might cost £15,000 to extend at 82 years, but £30,000 or more at 78 years. Some mortgage lenders start to decline applications at this point.
Under 70 years - Most mainstream lenders will not offer a mortgage. Halifax, Nationwide, and Barclays all typically require at least 70-80 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term. The pool of potential buyers shrinks dramatically.
Under 60 years - Very few lenders will touch it. Property value can drop by 25-30% or more compared to the freehold equivalent. According to standard relativity tables used by surveyors, a flat at 60 years retains roughly 72% of its long-lease value.
Under 40 years - Essentially unmortgageable. Only cash buyers and specialist investors will consider purchasing. The flat may retain just 50% of its long-lease value, and extension costs can run into six figures in prime London locations.

To understand how these thresholds translate into actual pound figures, see our guide on how a short lease affects your flat's value.

Leasehold ownership - what you actually own

When you buy a leasehold flat, you are not buying bricks and mortar. You are buying the right to occupy the flat for a fixed number of years, as set out in a legal agreement between the leaseholder and the freeholder. The freeholder owns the building and the land it sits on. You own a diminishing asset.

This is a fundamentally different arrangement to buying a freehold house, where you own the property and the land outright, with no time limit. With a lease, the clock is always ticking. When it runs out, the right to live in the flat reverts to the freeholder. In theory, this means you could lose your home entirely, although in practice most leaseholders extend well before that point.

The practical consequences of a shortening lease are hard to ignore:

Selling becomes harder - Buyers' solicitors routinely flag leases below 80 years as a concern. Many conveyancers will advise their clients to walk away or demand a price reduction. Estate agents report that short-lease flats take 30-50% longer to sell than comparable long-lease properties.
Mortgages dry up - Lenders need the lease to outlast the mortgage. A 25-year mortgage on a flat with 70 years left means the lease would be at 45 years when the loan matures - far too low for most lenders' risk appetite. The result is that your buyer pool shrinks to cash purchasers only.
The value drops year on year - A flat worth £350,000 with a long lease might be worth only £245,000 with 60 years remaining. That is over £100,000 of lost value, and every year of inaction makes it worse. For more detail on this, see our value impact guide.
Extension costs accelerate - The shorter the lease, the more expensive it is to extend. A lease extension from 75 years on a £400,000 flat might cost around £25,000-£35,000. Wait five years until it is at 70 years, and that figure could jump to £40,000-£55,000. The maths only gets worse.
Ground rent becomes a larger burden - Many older leases have ground rent review clauses that double the rent every 10, 15, or 25 years. On a short lease, these escalating ground rents compound the problem and further depress the property's value.

How did we get here?

The short lease problem in London has its roots in the post-war building boom. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, local authorities and private developers built thousands of blocks of flats across the capital. These were typically sold on 99-year leases. At the time, 99 years felt like an eternity. Nobody buying a flat in Islington in 1968 was thinking about what would happen in 2048.

But time has a way of catching up. Those 99-year leases from 1968 now have around 42 years remaining. Properties sold in the early 1980s are at roughly 55-60 years. Even leases granted as recently as the early 1990s are now dipping below the 70-year mark.

The right-to-buy scheme, introduced under the Housing Act 1980 and expanded by the Housing Act 1985, created another wave of leasehold properties. Council tenants who bought their flats typically received 125-year leases. But those purchased in the early 1980s now have around 80 years left - right at the threshold where problems begin.

According to the Government's own estimates, there are over 4.98 million leasehold properties in England, and a significant proportion of those in London are now approaching or have passed the critical 80-year mark. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has acknowledged this as a systemic problem, which is partly what drove the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

How to check your remaining lease length

If you are not sure how long is left on your lease, there are several ways to find out:

Check your lease document - The original lease will state the term (for example, "99 years from 29 September 1972"). You can calculate the remaining term from that start date.
Land Registry - You can download the official title register for your flat from HM Land Registry for £7. The register shows the lease term and commencement date. Visit Gov.uk's Land Registry search to get started.
Ask your managing agent or freeholder - They should be able to confirm the remaining term, although response times vary.
Use our calculator - Our lease extension calculator can give you an estimate of what an extension might cost based on your remaining lease length and property value.

What are your options?

If you own a flat with a short lease, you broadly have four choices. Each comes with trade-offs, and the right path depends on your financial position, timeline, and what you want to achieve.

Extend the lease through the statutory route - You can serve a Section 42 notice on your freeholder to formally request a 90-year extension at a peppercorn (zero) ground rent. You will need a specialist solicitor and surveyor, and the process typically takes 6-12 months. The premium depends on the remaining lease length, property value, and ground rent, but for a London flat worth £350,000 with 70 years remaining, expect to pay roughly £25,000-£40,000 in premium plus £3,000-£5,000 in professional fees. Read our lease extension advice for the full breakdown.
Negotiate an informal (voluntary) extension - Some freeholders will agree to extend the lease outside the statutory process. This can be quicker, but it comes with risks. You have less legal protection, the freeholder can set their own terms, and you may not get a peppercorn ground rent. We generally recommend the statutory route unless the freeholder is offering genuinely favourable terms.
Sell on the open market - You can list the flat with an estate agent, but be prepared for a smaller buyer pool, lower offers, and a longer wait. Many agents do not have experience marketing short-lease properties and may struggle to find buyers. You will also face tough questions from buyers' solicitors, which can cause sales to fall through late in the process.
Sell to a specialist buyer - Companies like ours buy short-lease flats for cash, typically completing in 2-4 weeks. The price reflects the short lease, but you get speed, certainty, and none of the costs or delays of a lease extension. We handle the extension ourselves after purchase. Get a free valuation to see what your flat is worth today.

The cost of waiting

One thing we see regularly is flat owners who know they have a short lease problem but put off dealing with it. This is understandable - lease extensions are expensive and the process is stressful. But delay almost always makes things worse.

Here is a rough illustration. Take a flat worth £350,000 on a long lease, currently with 75 years remaining:

Extend now at 75 years - estimated premium of around £20,000-£30,000. The flat retains close to its full value after extension.
Wait 5 years (70 years remaining) - estimated premium rises to £30,000-£45,000. The flat has also lost value during those five years due to the shorter lease.
Wait 10 years (65 years remaining) - estimated premium could be £45,000-£65,000, including marriage value. The flat's unextended value may have dropped by 15-20%.

Every year of delay costs you twice: the extension gets more expensive, and the flat is worth less in the meantime. If you are thinking about what to do, the best time to act is now.

Whether you want to extend, sell on the open market, or sell to us directly, we are happy to talk through your options with no obligation. Get in touch or call us on 020 7183 3022.