Yes, there certainly is. Why not see if you can get the seller to serve a Notice claiming an extended lease, so that you can take the process over when the flat is sold to you?

How do I do this?

Provided that the seller has owned the property for more than 2 years (and has not tried to bring a previous lease extension claim and abandoned it in the last year) the current owner will have the right to an extended lease under the 1993 Act.

You can (as part of the purchase process) take steps to arrange for a lease extension Notice to be served by the seller and then transferred to you so that you can take over the lease extension claim.

The notice needs to be not only properly drafted and served but must also be assigned to you correctly. You should check that your legal advisor is experienced in this sort of work. You will also need specialist valuation advice about the premium to put forward in the notice.

Bear in mind that any valuation report prepared for the seller may not be addressed to you (so you will not be able to rely upon it against the surveyor or valuer unless this person specifically confirms this). In addition, you may simply want your own ‘view’ on the likely price for the lease extension. This information could impact on the price to be paid for the flat if this has not been properly taken into account.

If you do take this step as part of the purchase, you will save on having to wait 2 years to qualify for the lease extension.

The valuation date for the claim will be set as the date on which the Notice is served. If you are of the view that in the relevant market for the flat prices are rising, this may also be a good thing.

Finally, if you do wait the lease will be two years shorter when you make the claim. Particularly, if the lease has less than 80 years to run (or is likely to slip into this category shortly after you buy the flat) taking action now will almost certainly save you from paying a lot more for a lease extension in the future.