Leasehold Flat After Death: Service Charges and Transferring the Lease

Leasehold flats add an extra layer of complexity to estate administration. Unlike freehold property, there is a landlord involved — the freeholder or their managing agent — and ongoing financial obligations that do not pause simply because the leaseholder has died. Executors need to act promptly to notify the right parties and ensure the estate is not left liable for avoidable charges. This page describes England and Wales — see the note at the end for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Service Charges and Ground Rent During Estate Administration

Service charges are payments made by leaseholders to the freeholder or managing agent to cover the costs of maintaining and managing the building — cleaning, insurance, repairs, lifts, and so on. Ground rent is a separate payment to the freeholder for the use of the land (though ground rent on new leases was abolished from June 2022 under the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, older leases may still carry a ground rent obligation).

Both service charges and ground rent (where applicable) continue to accrue during estate administration, regardless of whether the flat is occupied. The estate — not the beneficiary personally — is liable for these costs. The executor is responsible for ensuring they are paid from the estate's funds.

Failure to pay service charges can result in the managing agent taking legal action, and in extreme cases forfeiture of the lease. Forfeiture is heavily restricted: under section 81 of the Housing Act 1996 the charge must first be admitted by the leaseholder or determined by a tribunal or court, and under section 167 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 a landlord cannot forfeit a long lease of a dwelling for unpaid rent, service charges or administration charges unless the unpaid amount exceeds a prescribed sum (which the Act caps at £500) or has been outstanding for more than a prescribed period. Executors should still check the lease and the managing agent’s statements to establish what is due and when.

How to Notify the Freeholder or Managing Agent

As soon as possible after the death, the executor should write to the freeholder or managing agent to notify them. The lease will usually specify the address for service of notices. Typical requirements are:

• A formal letter confirming the date of death
• A certified copy of the death certificate (the freeholder is entitled to see original or certified copy, not merely a photocopy)
• Confirmation of who the executor is (a copy of the Grant of Probate once obtained, or a copy of the will if probate has not yet been granted)
• Details of the executor's contact address for correspondence

The managing agent will then update their records and direct correspondence to the executor. This is also the moment to ask for a statement of account showing any service charge arrears or credits, and the next service charge demand date.

Transferring the Lease: Assent vs. Transfer Deed

Once the estate is ready to be distributed, the leasehold flat needs to be formally transferred. There are two main methods, depending on whether the flat is being passed to a beneficiary or sold:

Assent: This is used when the flat is being transferred to a beneficiary under the will or intestacy rules — for example, passing a flat to the deceased's child. An Assent is a document signed by the executor(s) confirming that the property is being assented to the named beneficiary. It must be registered at HM Land Registry. The beneficiary does not pay any consideration (purchase price), so no Stamp Duty Land Tax is usually payable.

Transfer deed (TR1): This is used when the flat is being sold on the open market or to a known purchaser. A solicitor will prepare the transfer deed as part of the conveyancing process. Stamp Duty Land Tax may be payable by the buyer depending on the purchase price and their circumstances.

In both cases, the executor acts as the seller or assenting party and signs the relevant documents. Leasehold transfers carry extra steps compared with freehold — including serving the notice of assignment on the freeholder after completion — which is why most executors hand them to a conveyancer.

Lease Extension Rights During Estate Administration

Under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, a qualifying leaseholder of a flat has the statutory right to a new lease, 90 years longer than the existing one, at a peppercorn ground rent, on payment of a premium.

So the position is simpler than most guidance still says. A beneficiary who has taken the flat by assent can serve a notice immediately on becoming the leaseholder — there is no two-year wait. Where the estate itself wants to claim before assenting, the right belongs to the qualifying tenant, and the personal representatives hold the lease; the specific personal-representative provision that used to govern this has gone rather than been replaced, so take advice on serving in the estate’s name before doing it. Either way it matters most where the lease has fewer than 80 years to run, because below 80 years the premium rises sharply and lenders become reluctant.

Two things the 2024 Act has not yet changed: the statutory extension is still 90 years, not the 990 years the Act provides for, and the new valuation rules are not in force either. Those provisions require secondary legislation and, on the government’s own account, further primary legislation to fix technical defects in the Act. Do not plan a claim around them until they are commenced.

Many leaseholders and freeholders negotiate an extension informally instead of using the statutory route, which involves a valuation and can end up at the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). An informal deal can be quicker and cheaper, but it is not governed by the statute, so the length, the ground rent and the price are whatever the parties agree. Lease extension valuation is a specialist field, and both routes normally involve a surveyor as well as a solicitor.

Empty Property Insurance for Leasehold Flats

Home insurance policies commonly restrict or void cover once a property has been unoccupied for a continuous period — often somewhere around 30 to 60 days, but the period is set by the policy wording and nothing else, so read the policy rather than assume. A flat being administered as part of an estate is almost always treated as unoccupied for insurance purposes once the deceased has died.

The executor should take the following steps:

• Contact the existing home insurer immediately and notify them of the death and the property's unoccupied status
• Ask whether the existing policy provides cover for unoccupied property and for how long
• If the existing policy does not provide adequate cover, arrange specialist unoccupied or executors' property insurance

Note that the building insurance for a leasehold flat is usually arranged by the freeholder or managing agent as part of the service charge. This insurance covers the building structure. The leaseholder's own insurance covers their contents and liability. Confirm with the managing agent that the building insurance remains in force and will respond appropriately if the flat is unoccupied.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Leasehold flats, service charges under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and statutory lease extension under the 1993 Act are all features of the law of England and Wales.

Scotland does not have leasehold flats in this sense. Flats are owned outright, with common parts and maintenance obligations governed by the title deeds and by the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 and the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003; long leases were largely converted to ownership under the Long Leases (Scotland) Act 2012. There is no lease to extend and no freeholder to serve notice on, so none of the steps above apply.

Northern Ireland does have leasehold, but under its own statutes and with its own land registration system, so do not rely on the English form names or the 1993 Act rights here.