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Tips For The Successful Enfranchisement Of Your Building
The right to enfranchise, as collective enfranchisement is often known, enables the sale of the freehold to a group of leaseholders who represent at least half of the flats in the building, or both flats where there are only two. If you're a tenant looking for a freehold purchase, then follow these tips on how to successfully enfranchise your block:
• It will usually be more cost-efficient for leaseholders to buy the freehold as you can extend to 999 years and also reduce the ground rent significantly.
• Call a meeting to gauge interest from leaseholders and consider making joint applications with other leaseholders to extend the leases to your flats (if there is insufficient interest for the freehold)
• If there are a number of you interested in applying for a freehold, this will help reduce legal and valuation costs (both yours and the freeholders' costs for which you are also responsible) and provide you with greater negotiating power with the premium
• Establish if there are leaseholders in the block prepared to lead the project, as it helps to have someone who can manage the process and has the time, understanding and interest to drive it forward
• Poor service and unreasonable behaviour on the part of the landlord or agent is also grounds for success in an enfranchisement bid
• Obtain specialist advice from experienced enfranchisement solicitors as this is a niche area of law with strict rules on deadlines and interpretation, more information about which can be obtained from the LAS (Leasehold Advisory Service). You should be aware that most solicitors simply don't come across enfranchisement very often, if ever – so it really is important that you pick yourself an expert in this field to assist you with the legal side of enfranchisement
• Instruct a suitably qualified specialist surveyor to advise on payment and to negotiate on your behalf, which will also help you to gauge the cost of the extended lease. Again you need to pick a specialist when choosing a surveyor – most surveyors, like solicitors, don't deal with many enfranchisements.
Wherever you live in England or Wales, if you're thinking of enfranchising your building, call us today
We really are experts in this complex field and will be happy to give you free initial legal advice on the phone – to get you started on the right foot. So for really expert legal advice;
• email us at advice@enfranchisementsolicitors.co.uk or
• phone (01722) 422300 for FREE initial phone advice
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