Purchasing Freehold – legal position?

Pic of freeholder key landlord leasehold property118

by Readers Question

12:01 AM, 5th July 2023, 3 years ago 3

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Landlord News Landlords Questions Lettings & Management

Hello, I live in a block of 9 flats and we are interested in buying the Freehold. I understand that if the Freeholder wants to sell the Freehold they will need to offer it to us first before a third party.

Before I moved in, the Freeholder offered the Freehold for purchase to the existing flats but there wasn’t a majority to buy.

The Freeholder then sold to a third party, who then sold on the Freehold without it being offered back to the flat owners.

Is this second sale of the Freehold deemed unlawful and can it be reversed?

It seems a grey area.

The person buying the Freehold then sold it on to a Limited Company which he is a director of.

Please advise!

Thank you,

Jacqueline

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Tags: freeholder issues, how to buy the freehold of a property, leasehold property

Comments

Paul Power

Member Since April 2022 - Comments: 31

8:43 PM, 5th July 2023, About 3 years ago

Copied from elsewhere but seems that its associated or could be argued to be.The timing would be the issue if any
Exempt disposals: The majority of disposals will trigger Right of First Refusal (RFR), but some are exempt, such as:

The grant of a single tenancy –the landlord is free to grant tenancies/leases of individual flats.
Disposal to an associated company, for example where the freehold is transferred to another company which has been associated with the transferring company for at least two years.
A sale by two or more persons of the same family to a different combination of the same family.
Assume you are trying gauge if its worth pursuing a legal path.

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Crossed_Swords

Member Since April 2021 - Comments: 189

9:09 AM, 6th July 2023, About 3 years ago

You need a specialist to advise you but as far as I know it can’t be reversed but they have to sell it to you at the price paid if they didn’t follow proper procedure and you qualify

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Jacqueline Lister

Member Since July 2023 - Comments: 1

2:38 PM, 9th July 2023, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Paul Power at 05/07/2023 – 20:43
Hi
Yes we would like to know if we would have legal recourse to deem the second sale of the Freehold as illegal so that we would be then offered the right to purchase the Freehold for the price it was sold on for. We don’t want to spend money on a legal case if there’s no chance of the second sale being nul and void.

Thanks

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