Freehold Purchase

And

Statutory Deadlines

Freehold purchase, also known as collective enfranchisement, is the legal process by which at least half of the leaseholders in a residential block of flats join together to collectively buy the freehold of their block from the freeholder - and it can seem like a long and never-ending process with lots of forms to fill in and regulations to keep on the right side of.

br />The documentation and regulations can be daunting, but the whole process is kept on track thanks for a number of strict statutory deadlines concerning collective enfranchisement. These deadlines allow potential enfranchisers to buy the freehold on their block of flats within a reasonable timeframe and protect your rights in doing so whilst also giving the freeholder adequate time to deal with his or her side of the process.

The deadlines – they affect both sides

These deadlines must be strictly adhered to by both parties and if you fail to meet them when you are trying to buy freehold, the whole project will either be considered to be abandoned by default or can be declared invalid by the freeholder in the County Court. Similarly, if the freeholder fails to meet deadlines imposed on him or her, it is possible that the freehold purchase can be forced through at the original offer price with the freeholder then having no comeback or chance to negotiate.

If the freeholder does respond to the Enfranchisement Notice and negotiates the price but the two sides cannot agree on a final valuation or asking price for the freehold, the matter should be passed to the First-Tier Tribunal Property Chamber [previously known as the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal or LVT for short]. This can only be done during a strict four-month period which begins two months after the date of the Counter Notice and ends six months after the date of the Counter Notice. Outside of this timeframe, an application to the tribunal cannot be made and your collective enfranchisement effort may simply fail.

Initially, after the Enfranchisement Notice is served the freeholder must respond with a Counter Notice within two months else the initial offer is deemed to have been accepted. Those seeking enfranchisement can then legally purchase the freehold on the block of flats and force through the sale at their original offer price. This is why it is also vital that freeholders adhere to the strict statutory deadlines and serve their responses during this time period in order to avoid great financial loss.

These strict deadlines are there to protect both sides and to ensure that the purchase of freehold can go through as quickly as possible whilst giving everyone adequate time to do what they need to do. You should know all of these statutory deadlines from the start of the process and ensure they’re adhered to else you could run the chance of having your collective enfranchisement effort declared invalid in the County Court or deemed to have been abandoned.

Keeping on the right side of these rules and regulations is much easier if you hire an experienced freehold purchase solicitor to help guide you through the process. There are relatively few solicitors who really understands area of law – so do your research first. But in appointing a specialist solicitor, you’ll ensure that all deadlines are met and all notices and items of paperwork and documentation are served at the correct time and in the correct way. There are a number of ways in which enfranchisement projects can fail due to very small administrative errors and having the right legal advice will ensure that these possibilities are minimized and that the chances of a successful freehold purchase are maximized.