You decide to sell your flat.

The photographs look good.

The estate agent is happy with the price.

A buyer appears.

Then their solicitor asks:

“How many years are left on the lease?”

It's an innocent-looking question that can change the conversation rather quickly.

For anyone who owns a leasehold flat in Peterborough, there's one number worth finding before the For Sale board goes up.

80 years.

Why does everybody keep talking about 80 years?

Under the current lease-extension system, 80 years is an important dividing line because of something called marriage value.

Once a qualifying lease reaches 80 years or fewer, marriage value can form part of the calculation used to work out what the leaseholder pays for a formal extension.

That can make extending the lease more expensive.

There isn't a standard Peterborough price.

The calculation can depend on the flat's value, remaining lease, ground rent and the terms of the lease itself.

Two owners living a few doors apart could therefore receive different figures.

Which is why discovering that your lease has 79 years remaining after you've accepted an offer isn't ideal timing.

A short lease doesn't suddenly make your flat worthless

Crossing the 80-year line doesn't mean buyers disappear overnight.

But it can create another calculation for them.

They're no longer simply asking:

“Do I want this flat?”

They're also asking:

“How much will extending the lease cost me?”

And potentially:

“Will my mortgage lender be happy with it?”

Different lenders have their own requirements around lease length, so a shorter lease can reduce the mortgage options available to some buyers.

That can then affect your sale.

A buyer may negotiate harder.

They may ask you to deal with the lease.

Their lender may raise questions.

Or they may decide another flat without the complication is easier.

So what can you actually do about it?

Under the current formal route, a qualifying flat owner can generally extend the lease by 90 years and reduce the ground rent to what is known as a peppercorn effectively no ground rent.

One important change has already happened.

Since 31 January 2025, the previous requirement to own the property for two years before starting a statutory lease-extension claim has been removed.

But extending a lease still isn't simply a matter of filling in a form and waiting for another 90 years to appear.

There can be several costs.

The biggest unknown is normally the premium paid for the extension itself.

Then you can have your own solicitor and valuation costs, plus certain reasonable legal and valuation costs incurred by the freeholder.

If there's a disagreement that needs formal resolution, further costs can arise.

So be wary of seeing an attractive advertised legal fee online and assuming that's what the lease extension will cost.

The solicitor's bill is only one part of it.

What if you're planning to sell?

This is where checking early pays off.

Find the lease and establish exactly how many years remain.

Not roughly.

Not “I think it was a 99-year lease when I bought it”.

The number that matters is how much of that term is left now.

If you're comfortably above 80 years, that doesn't automatically mean you should extend immediately.

It does mean you can ask a specialist valuer or solicitor whether there's any reason to act before the term falls further.

If you're approaching 80 years, the timing deserves closer attention.

If you're already below it, find out what your options and likely costs are before a buyer's solicitor raises the issue for you.

Then you can make an informed decision about whether to extend before selling, reflect the lease in your asking price or explain the position clearly to prospective buyers.

That's considerably better than negotiating while everybody else in the sale waits for an answer.

Haven't the leasehold rules changed?

Some have.

And more changes have been legislated for.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains major reforms, including changes intended to affect lease extensions.

But the source material for this article makes an important distinction: not all of those reforms are yet operational.

So don't make a financial decision today based on what you think the future system will eventually provide.

Check which rules are actually in force when you're ready to act.

Leasehold reform has produced enough headlines to make that distinction particularly important.

One document could save an awkward conversation later

If you own a Peterborough flat and haven't looked at your lease since the day you bought it, dig it out.

Find the original term.

Find the start date.

Work out what's left.

Because “79 years” is much nicer to discover while sitting at your own kitchen table than when your buyer's solicitor has just discovered it for you.

Property Speak — Translated

Leasehold — You own the flat for the remaining period stated in the lease rather than owning the building and land outright indefinitely.

Lease extension — The legal process of adding more years to the remaining lease.

Premium — The amount paid to the freeholder for extending the lease, separate from professional fees.

Marriage value — Under the current rules, an additional element that can enter the lease-extension calculation once a qualifying lease has 80 years or fewer remaining.

Peppercorn ground rent — In practice, zero ground rent.

Freeholder — The person or organisation owning the freehold of the building or land.

Peterborough flat owners: have you ever had the length of a lease affect a sale, purchase or mortgage?

Tell us in the comments especially if the 80-year mark caught you by surprise.