Maksym Andriyenko | London Property Agent

London prices went up. This flat went down. 📉

Here’s the part of buying a London flat that nobody puts on the brochure.

Most London flats are leasehold. You don’t own the flat forever, you own the right to live there for a set number of years. And that number goes down every single year.

What happens as the clock runs:
→ Under 80 years left, lease extension costs jump because “marriage value” kicks in
→ The shorter the lease, the more it costs to extend, often tens of thousands of pounds in prime London
→ Many mortgage lenders won’t lend on short leases, so your future buyers disappear
→ Meanwhile the flat next door with a long lease keeps its value

The twist: the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 was supposed to scrap marriage value. It passed. It still hasn’t been switched on. The High Court dismissed the freeholders’ challenge in 2025, but the Court of Appeal has since given them permission to appeal. There’s no start date.

Waiting for the law to save you is not a strategy.

Before any of my clients offers on a flat, I check the lease length, the extension cost, ground rent and the clauses on pets, works and subletting.

💬 Comment LEASE and I’ll DM you the 5 lease checks I run before every offer.
📤 Send this to someone looking at flats in London.

leasehold London 2026 | lease extension marriage value | buying a flat in London | leasehold reform | London buyer’s agent