Lease extension solicitor fees: what the legal fee covers

What the fee is for

A solicitor conducting a statutory lease extension is doing a defined piece of work: establishing that you qualify, obtaining and reviewing the title, preparing and serving the tenant's notice under section 42 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (legislation.gov.uk), dealing with the landlord's counter notice, settling the terms of the new lease, completing, and registering it. On an informal extension the shape is different: there is no statutory machinery, so the work is negotiation and conveyancing rather than the service of notices.

Fixed fee or hourly rate

Both are common and neither is wrong. A fixed fee gives you certainty and is easier to compare. An hourly rate can be cheaper on a cooperative matter and more expensive on a difficult one. What matters is not the label but the list of things that fall outside it, because that list is where a quoted fee quietly becomes a larger one.

What usually takes a matter outside a fixed fee

• An absent or untraceable landlord. A different procedure is needed, and the work is not the work that was quoted for.
• A tribunal application where the premium or the terms of the new lease cannot be agreed.
• Defects in the title or in the existing lease that have to be resolved before a new lease can be granted.
• A sale running in parallel, where the extension has to be sequenced around a transaction and sometimes assigned to a buyer.
• Intermediate landlords or more than one party whose consent or involvement is required.
• Arrears of ground rent or service charge that the landlord raises before engaging with the claim.

Making two quotes comparable

1. Ask each firm to quote on the same stated facts: property type, remaining term, route, and whether the landlord is cooperative.
2. Ask what is excluded, in a written list, not a conversation.
3. Ask whether the quote includes dealing with the landlord's costs, or whether that is billed separately when it arises.
4. Ask what happens to the fee if the claim is withdrawn part way through.
5. Ask for the disbursements separately, so you are comparing professional fees against professional fees.

The legal fee is not the premium. The premium is the sum paid to the landlord for the new lease, it is a valuation question rather than a legal one, and it is normally the largest figure in the matter. See the full cost breakdown.