Why is my lease not in my name?

We often get asked this question – why does the lease have someone else’ name on it?

The answer is fairly straightforward; when you purchase a leasehold property, you do not sign a new lease. The procedure is simply that ownership of the property is transferred to the purchaser (in this case you), who becomes obligated by the terms of the original lease as if you were the original tenant.

As the terms of the lease do not change just because the property is sold, there is no reason to draw up a new lease on every sale. It would be a waste of time and your solicitor would obviously charge more for doing so. Instead your solicitor will simply have registered you as the new owner with the Land Registry, and your name will be on the Title Register. But the original lease does not get amended.