Buying Your Freehold – How It Works
Before you decide to purchase the freehold of your building by collective enfranchisement you really need to consider your reasoning for doing so. Leasehold enfranchisement can be quite costly and will be time consuming as there can be quite a few parties involved in the process. There are other things you can do to gain control in the running of your block as well as ridding yourself of a poor management company
Qualifying Tenants
If you live in a large block of say 20 flats then you will need to get agreement from the qualifying majority of tenants in order to proceed. The find out if you are a qualifying tenant and to make sure that your building qualifies for enfranchisement please visit the leasehold Advice Centre. They have a lot of literature on this subject.
How to proceed
Assuming that you qualify you will need to have a valuation carried out on the building that the freeholder agrees with. If the freeholder does not agree then you will have to apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal for a hearing to decide what the enfranchisement price should be. Once this has been settled you will be required to form a company who’s shares will be owned by the leaseholders. This new company will eventually become the new owner of the block once the solicitors have completed the paperwork.
Consider The Right To Manage Option
As we have already stated this can be a costly exercise and consideration should be given to the alternatives to collective enfranchisement. In many cases it is much cheaper to extend a lease than to go down the enfranchisement route. It is also possible to take iver the management of your building by setting up an RTM. For more information on this please look at our Right To Manage section.