Leasehold Property law. Personally delivered.
Leasehold Property law. Personally delivered.
Buying your building’s freehold together — for leaseholder groups and for the landlords who receive the claim. We handle qualification, valuation strategy, the statutory timetable and the Tribunal, across London and nationwide.
ALEP member · Regulated by the SRA · Acting for leaseholders and landlords · London and nationwide
Collective enfranchisement is the statutory right of the leaseholders of a qualifying block of flats to buy the freehold of their building together, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.
Where the building and the group qualify, the landlord cannot refuse. What is negotiated is the price and the terms of acquisition, and if they cannot be agreed the First-tier Tribunal determines them. The freehold is transferred to a nominee purchaser — usually a company formed by the participating leaseholders.
You appoint the managing agent, or manage it yourselves. You set the service charge budget, decide when works are done and who does them, and stop paying for decisions taken by somebody with no stake in the building.
Once the freehold is yours, the company can grant each participating leaseholder a new lease of 999 years at a peppercorn rent — a better outcome than any statutory lease extension delivers. It is a separate exercise rather than something the purchase does by itself, but a straightforward one, because the company granting the lease is the one you now control.
No more waiting weeks for a licence to alter, a deed of covenant or a certificate of compliance from a landlord you have never met.
A share of the freehold and a very long lease at a peppercorn rent is worth materially more than a shortening lease with a ground rent attached — and it removes the single most common reason a leasehold sale falls through.
Qualification turns on the building as much as on the leaseholders, and the physical tests are the ones that most often decide it.
A self-contained building, or a self-contained part of one. A part qualifies only if it is divided vertically from the rest and could be redeveloped independently, with services that are either separate or capable of being separated. A horizontal division does not qualify — which is why the upper floors of a building cannot enfranchise on their own.
At least two flats, and at least two-thirds of the flats held by qualifying leaseholders. A qualifying leaseholder is one whose lease was originally granted for a term of more than 21 years; the term remaining is irrelevant. Anyone holding three or more flats in the building is not a qualifying leaseholder of any of them.
No more than 25% of the internal floor area in non-residential use, disregarding common parts. This is the test that defeats most mixed-use buildings, and it is measured rather than estimated.
Not an excluded building. Premises with a resident landlord where there are four or fewer units and the building was not purpose-built as flats are outside the scheme, as are certain National Trust and Crown properties and buildings within a cathedral precinct.
The initial notice must be given by qualifying leaseholders of at least half the flats in the building. They select themselves: there is no obligation on anybody to join, and non-participants keep their leases exactly as they are.
In a two-flat building, both leaseholders must participate. The Act requires the initial notice to be given by at least two qualifying leaseholders, so in a building of two flats there is no majority to fall back on — a single reluctant neighbour is fatal to the claim. A great many of the claims we are asked about are two-flat conversions, and this is the first thing we check.
Participation is recorded in a participation agreement signed before the notice is served. It sets out who is in, how the price and costs are divided, what happens if somebody withdraws or sells, and how the company will be run. In our experience the absence of one, rather than any failure of the building to qualify, is what causes claims to collapse.
A collective claim takes priority over an individual one. Once an initial notice is in play, any claim by a leaseholder for a statutory lease extension is suspended until the collective claim is concluded — and it makes no difference which notice was served first.
That is usually convenient rather than a problem. A participant who ends up with a share of the freehold will take a 999-year lease at a peppercorn from their own company instead, which is a better outcome than any statutory extension delivers.
But it creates a risk for anyone whose lease is near the eighty-year threshold. If the collective claim runs for eighteen months and then fails — the group loses its majority, the price cannot be agreed, a deadline is missed — that leaseholder may find their lease has crossed eighty years in the meantime and marriage value has become payable on any individual claim they then bring.
Where that risk is real we serve a section 42 notice for the individual first. The valuation date is fixed by that notice, so marriage value is assessed as at that date and cannot creep in while the collective claim runs. The lease extension claim then sits suspended in the background as insurance, and is withdrawn if the freehold purchase completes. It is not free — serving the notice makes that leaseholder responsible for the landlord’s reasonable costs of the individual claim — so whether the protection is worth the cost is a judgement on the figures, and one we will give you plainly.
There is no calculator that can price a collective enfranchisement precisely — too much depends on the particular building: the number of flats, the spread of lease lengths, the ground rents, who is participating, whether there is commercial space and whether the building has development potential. The price itself is assessed under Schedule 6 to the 1993 Act, and has three components.
The value of the freeholder’s interest. The ground rents they will no longer receive, capitalised at an appropriate yield, plus the value of their right to recover the flats at the end of the leases, deferred back to today.
Marriage value. The increase in the combined value of the freehold and the participating leases when they are merged. It is shared equally with the landlord, and disregarded altogether where a participating lease has more than 80 years unexpired. It applies only to participating flats — non-participants attract hope value instead.
Compensation. Any other loss the landlord suffers, including a reduction in the value of adjoining property they retain, and the loss of development value — the roof space, the airspace, an undeveloped basement or a plot within the curtilage.
Calculated under Schedule 6 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993
Add a row for each participating flat — only flats whose leaseholders are joining the claim count. The initial notice fixes the valuation date for the whole building.
| Flat | Value (long lease) | Unexpired term | Ground rent £pa |
|---|
Indicative price range
—
Relativity is derived from a graduated relativity curve applying conventional assumptions and is calculated separately for each flat from its unexpired term. This is a simplified, non-binding estimate for guidance only — it does not account for onerous or unusual ground rent terms, development or hope value, non-participating flats, or comparable evidence specific to your building. For a figure you can rely on in a claim, get a formal valuation from an RICS Registered Valuer, such as our colleagues at Blakes Chartered Surveyors.
The total premium, and the range within which the claim should settle — the figure that goes into the initial notice is a tactical decision, not a wish.
The apportionment between flats. Rarely equal, because lease lengths, floor areas and values differ, and getting it wrong is what causes a group to fall apart — this belongs in the participation agreement from the outset.
Participants and non-participants. Marriage value arises only on participating flats; for non-participants the price instead reflects the value of the reversion plus hope value — the prospect that they extend individually in future.
Development value. Roof space, airspace and undeveloped land can add very substantially to a premium, and a landlord who has spotted the potential will price it.
Establishes entitlement, tests the physical tests that decide whether the building genuinely qualifies, and identifies every landlord who must be served.
Drafts and serves a notice that will withstand scrutiny, runs the statutory timetable, and negotiates the terms of acquisition — including any leaseback the landlord requires.
Forms or advises on the nominee purchaser company and the participation agreement, and completes and registers the transfer once terms are agreed.
Neither discipline can carry the claim alone. The premium is a question of valuation evidence; qualification, notices and the terms of acquisition are questions of law — which is why we involve a valuer from the first conversation rather than after the notice has been drafted.
We work closely with Blakes Chartered Surveyors, RICS registered valuers specialising in leasehold enfranchisement, and packaged fixed fees combining legal work, valuation and negotiation are available through extension.lease for straightforward buildings. You are free to instruct any valuer you wish, and we are glad to work alongside one you already know.
Leasebacks. Where the landlord is a local authority or housing association letting flats on secure tenancies, a leaseback — a lease granted back to them, usually for 999 years at a peppercorn — is mandatory. Beyond that a landlord may require one over any unit not let to a qualifying leaseholder, such as commercial space or a caretaker’s flat. It reduces the premium, because the nominee purchaser is not then acquiring the full value of that unit, and can turn an unaffordable claim into an affordable one.
Mixed-use buildings. A parade of shops with flats above, or an office at ground level, still qualifies provided the non-residential floor area does not exceed 25% of the whole, disregarding common parts — measured rather than estimated. The commercial units form part of the premium and can dominate it, so whether the group wants to own them, or would rather see them subject to a leaseback, is worth deciding early.
The freehold has to be transferred to a nominee purchaser, and the choice of vehicle matters more than it first appears.
A company is the usual answer, and for most buildings the right one. Membership follows the flats, so a share transfers on each sale and a departing leaseholder does not remain an owner of the building. Liability is limited, the company continues indefinitely, and the arrangement is one every conveyancer recognises.
Individuals can hold the freehold directly, but no more than four people can be registered as proprietors, they hold it on trust for the participants, and every future sale requires a transfer of the legal title. In a two or three flat building held by owner-occupiers with no intention of moving, it can be simpler and cheaper. In most other cases it creates a problem for somebody in ten years’ time.
This decision should be taken before the initial notice is served, because the nominee purchaser has to be named in it.
Nine to twelve months from service of the initial notice is typical. Organising the group beforehand can add several months and is the least predictable stage, and a reference to the First-tier Tribunal adds four to six months.
We establish whether the building and the group qualify, obtain the titles and identify every landlord who must be served. A valuer appraises the premium, the apportionment between flats and any development value, so that the group is deciding on figures rather than hopes.
Canvassing, a written explanation to every leaseholder, the participation agreement, funds on account and the nominee purchaser company. Nothing is served until this is signed and funded.
The section 13 notice is served on the freeholder and any intermediate landlord, naming the participants and the nominee purchaser and proposing the price. The notice fixes the valuation date. A defective notice can invalidate the whole claim.
The landlord admits or disputes the claim, responds to the proposed price and the terms of acquisition, and may elect to require a leaseback of units not let to qualifying leaseholders. The landlord may also require access to the building for their own valuation.
Valuers negotiate the price; solicitors negotiate the terms of acquisition and the form of transfer. Most claims settle here.
Either party may apply to the First-tier Tribunal. The application must be made no earlier than two months and no later than six months after the counter-notice — miss that window and the claim is deemed withdrawn, the landlord’s costs become payable and no fresh claim can be brought for twelve months.
The transfer is completed and registered, and the company becomes the landlord of every flat. New 999-year leases, insurance, the managing agent and the company’s own filing obligations follow.
Not every purchase has to be a statutory claim. Where a building does not qualify, or a landlord is willing to sell, the freehold can be bought by negotiation. It can be quicker and cheaper, and the terms are whatever the two sides agree rather than whatever the Act prescribes.
There is no timetable, no price control and no Tribunal, so a voluntary negotiation depends entirely on the landlord’s willingness to see it through. We benchmark any offer against what a statutory claim would cost before advising a group to accept it.
One trap worth knowing about. A private sale of the freehold to some of the leaseholders is a relevant disposal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. That means the landlord may first have to serve section 5 offer notices on all the qualifying leaseholders in the building, offering the freehold to them collectively at the same price — and if the requisite majority accept, the landlord must sell to them instead. A voluntary deal negotiated quietly with three of eight flats can be derailed by the very legislation that was meant to protect them. It needs handling in the right order.
A significant part of our practice is on the other side. We advise freeholders, investor landlords, housing associations, family trusts and estates who have received a section 13 notice — from testing its validity and the group’s qualification, through the counter-notice, the leaseback election, negotiation and the Tribunal, to completion.
That work informs the advice we give leaseholders. When we tell a group what a landlord is likely to concede, and where a landlord’s valuation will not withstand scrutiny, it is because we have argued the same points from the other side.
Different freeholders behave in different ways, and knowing which you are dealing with shapes the strategy from day one — a large estate with a published policy is a different proposition from an absent investor, a company in administration or a resident landlord occupying a flat in the building. We have advised on matters involving all 32 London borough councils, major housing associations and London’s major landlords and freeholders.
We check for conflicts before we take instructions, and we will not allow one to arise. Where we already act for the other side of a matter, or for a landlord whose interests would conflict with yours, we will say so at the outset and, where we can, point you to another specialist firm.
We are based in Raynes Park in south-west London and act across the capital — including Wimbledon, Merton, Kingston, Richmond, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Camden, Islington, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Croydon — as well as nationwide.
Leasehold enfranchisement is a specialism rather than a local practice. The statutory framework is the same everywhere and almost all of it is conducted in correspondence, so we act regularly for groups well outside London.
We also act for owners living overseas — regularly in the United States, Spain, Hong Kong, Dubai and Switzerland, and further afield. Our digital onboarding and anti-money laundering processes are built for it, so an overseas participant can be identified, engaged and kept fully informed without attending in person. The engrossment of a new lease has to be signed by hand, so that document will need to reach you and come back to us.
A first meeting is usually by email, telephone or in person at our offices. Video is available where it suits you, and is often the easiest option where participants are in different countries, but it is not something we insist on.
We work to fixed fees wherever possible, agreed before we start. A collective enfranchisement is priced per participating flat, and the rate falls as the number of flats rises — the work does not scale in proportion to the size of the building. We will confirm a fixed fee once we know the number of participants and have seen a lease.
Discounts for group instructions. A collective enfranchisement is a group instruction by definition, and it is priced as one exercise rather than as a claim per flat. Tell us how many flats are involved and we will price it accordingly.
The new 999-year leases are a separate exercise. Buying the freehold does not alter your existing leases; they continue on the same terms until new ones are granted. Doing so afterwards is quick and efficient because the company granting them is the one you control, and it is drafted once and used for every flat.
The premium itself is separate from fees and is the largest cost by some distance. Only a valuer can tell you what it is likely to be.
The landlord’s costs. Under section 33 of the 1993 Act the participants are responsible for the landlord’s reasonable legal and valuation costs of the claim. Those costs can be challenged, and the costs of the negotiation itself and of any Tribunal proceedings are not recoverable from you.
Stamp duty land tax is payable on the freehold purchase in the ordinary way where the price exceeds the relevant threshold, and is calculated on the whole premium rather than per flat. It should be built into the budget from the outset.
Packaged fees combining the legal work, the valuation and the negotiation are available through extension.lease for straightforward buildings.
Collective enfranchisement is the most technically demanding work in residential leasehold. Qualification, notices and the statutory timetable are unforgiving, and a procedural error can cost a group a year and the landlord’s costs. We are members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners.
Between them our solicitors have handled more than twenty thousand informal and statutory lease extensions and freehold purchases. We have almost certainly dealt with your building’s situation before — your type of landlord, your lease lengths, your mix of participants — and can tell you early what is routine and what is not.
Canvassing letters, participation agreements, apportionment, funds on account and the nominee company, handled alongside the legal work. In our experience that is where most claims are won or lost.
Every matter is supervised by a senior solicitor, with routine procedural work handled by our paralegal team so that costs stay proportionate.
Applications to the county court under section 25 where no counter-notice arrives, and vesting orders where a landlord cannot be found. A claim that requires proceedings does not have to be passed to another firm.
We are experienced in lodging applications to the First-tier Tribunal and the county court where that achieves the best outcome for a group — weighed against the costs, the risk and the time involved, which for many claims points the other way. In the most contentious matters our solicitors collaborate with leading counsel for advocacy.
There are four elements: the premium payable to the freeholder, your legal fees, your valuer's fee, and the landlord's reasonable costs under section 33. Stamp duty land tax may also be payable on the premium. The premium is by far the largest and depends on the lease lengths, ground rents, flat values, participation and any development value — only a valuation will tell you.
Under Schedule 6 to the 1993 Act. The landlord is compensated for the ground rents they lose and for the deferred value of recovering the flats, plus half the marriage value on participating flats with less than 80 years unexpired, plus compensation for any other loss including development value. Non-participating flats attract hope value rather than marriage value.
Qualifying leaseholders of at least half the flats in the building. In a two-flat building both must participate, because the Act requires the initial notice to be given by at least two qualifying leaseholders.
In a building of three or more flats you only need half, so one refusal is rarely fatal. Non-participants keep their leases unchanged, and the price includes the value of the reversion to those leases plus hope value. In a two-flat building a refusal does end the claim, and the alternative is an individual lease extension.
The claim carries on. Under section 14 of the 1993 Act the benefit of participation passes with the lease, so the buyer steps into the seller's position — but they must notify the nominee purchaser within 14 days of completion, and they are entitled to decline to take part. If they decline, the remaining participants fund that share between them, which is why the participation agreement should oblige a selling leaseholder to use best endeavours to obtain the buyer's direct covenant to take on their obligations and join the company. Qualification is tested at the date the initial notice was served, so a later drop-out does not invalidate the claim. Tell us as soon as a sale is in prospect.
Possibly, and it is worth asking early. A collective claim takes priority: once an initial notice is served, any individual lease extension claim is suspended until the collective claim is concluded, whichever notice came first. If the freehold purchase completes you will not need the extension, because your own company can grant you a 999-year lease. The risk is that the collective claim fails after your lease has dropped below eighty years, at which point marriage value becomes payable on an individual claim. Serving a section 42 notice first fixes the valuation date and protects you against that. It does make you liable for the landlord's reasonable costs of the individual claim, so it is a judgement on your figures rather than an automatic step.
Yes, provided the non-residential internal floor area does not exceed 25% of the whole, disregarding common parts. That limit is measured rather than estimated, and buildings that look as though they fail sometimes do not.
Not for freehold purchases. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would raise it to 50%, and that change commenced for right to manage claims in March 2025. It has not commenced for collective enfranchisement and no date has been given, so 25% remains the limit today.
A lease granted back to the outgoing freeholder, usually 999 years at a peppercorn, over units not let to qualifying leaseholders — commercial space, or flats let on short tenancies. The landlord may require it, and because the group is then not acquiring the full value of those units, the premium falls.
A company is usually better: membership follows the flats, a share transfers on each sale and liability is limited. No more than four individuals can be registered as proprietors, and every future sale needs a transfer of the legal title. The decision must be made before the initial notice is served, because the nominee purchaser is named in it.
Nine to twelve months from service of the initial notice is typical. Organising the group beforehand can add several months, and a claim that goes to the First-tier Tribunal adds four to six months.
The initial notice that begins the claim. It names the participating leaseholders and the nominee purchaser, proposes the price and sets out the premises being acquired. It also fixes the valuation date, and a defect in it can invalidate the whole claim.
You can apply to the county court under section 25 for an order that the freehold be transferred on the terms set out in your own notice. It is a strong position, and a landlord who has missed the deadline usually engages quickly once proceedings are threatened.
Yes. Where a freeholder is genuinely untraceable, the nominee purchaser applies to the county court for a vesting order: the court dispenses with the notice, the Tribunal fixes the price, the money is paid into court and a judge signs the transfer.
It depends on the building. Buying the freehold gives control and allows 999-year leases at a peppercorn, but costs more and requires a group. Individual extensions are simpler and give 90 years and no ground rent without needing anybody else. Where a majority is interested, the freehold is usually the better long-term answer.
Yes, and it is often more urgent. Short leases increase the premium because marriage value becomes payable on participating flats below 80 years, so the arithmetic changes as the leases run down. It is a reason to act rather than to wait.
The company becomes the landlord of every flat. It should grant new 999-year leases at a peppercorn promptly, arrange insurance, appoint an agent or manage the building itself, and keep up its Companies House filings.
No. Buying the freehold does not change the existing leases: they continue with the same term and ground rent until new ones are granted. Extending them to 999 years at a peppercorn is a separate process, but a far easier one, because control now rests with the participants — no premium to negotiate and no landlord to persuade. It is usually quick once the transfer has been registered at HM Land Registry, and we can expedite registration where the timetable requires it. Fees start from £950 plus VAT per lease, plus disbursements and a deed of substituted security fee where a flat is mortgaged.
Our client guides cover these subjects in considerably more depth than a web page can, and are free to download once published in our Knowledge Centre.
Client Guide 02Qualification, the premium, the group, the timetable and the complications, in full.
Download this guide (PDF) →
Client Guide 03What follows completion — the company, new leases, insurance, filings and the four-owner alternative.
Download this guide (PDF) →
Client Guide 05The current position on reform, and whether waiting is the right call for your building.
Download this guide (PDF) →The full set of guides, a property and leasehold glossary and our latest insights will be gathered in our Knowledge Centre.
The address, how many flats there are, the name of your current freeholder, and how many leaseholders are interested in joining the process. Those four things alone let us tell you quickly whether a claim is likely to work. The first conversation is at no cost.
