This is the fifth edition of a guide I originally published in 1993 under the title "Understanding Leasehold Enfranchisement". I have changed its name partly because the previous name struck me as somewhat uninspiring and partly because I feel, "How to Break Out of an English Residential Lease", is rather more to the point. This guide is designed to help you break out of the servitude of leasehold by buying your freehold. And where this is not legally possible, it will show you how to acquire a lease extension and convert a depreciating asset into a solid investment.In July 2020 the Law Commission published recommendations for a change in the law. Some leaseholders have chosen to postpone making a claim on the assumption that, when this new law comes into force, everything will be cheaper. It won't. Even if all the recommendations are enacted, they will have very little effect on the price that a leaseholder will have to pay to protect their investment. There have been two extraordinarily radical Acts of Parliament in the last 27 years: The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. However, from a valuation point of view, there is almost nothing in either piece of legislation that can be considered radical. They were both primarily concerned with giving people rights, not in re-inventing the valuation wheel. In fact there has not been any radical legislation relating to valuation matters since the Housing Act 1974.However, there have been well over a thousand cases heard by the valuation tribunals There have also been a surprisingly large number of cases referred to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. These cases are the authorities on which the price is determined. As the Chief Editor of The Handbook of Residential Tenancies, published by Sweet & Maxwell, I have personally digested all the significant valuation decisions going back to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 and, where these are still relevant, this guide takes them into account.But I am not an academic. I have written this book from the perspective of a chartered valuation surveyor who has spent the last forty years negotiating claims for clients and saving them considerable amounts of money in the process. This book will clarify the legal rights, explain the valuation issues and give you the knowledge to make decisions. And, as Thomas Jefferson said on more than one occasion, knowledge is power.