Can a freeholder backtrack on a signed lease agreement?

I know we will need professional legal help very soon but just in case anyone has come up against this.

We are an RTM (Right to Manage). We used the existing managing agent for the first year (long story), changed agents, and now everything is working well. Our porter has use of a flat owned by the freeholder, with rent and all costs paid via the service charge — this has always been the case.

Freeholder insisted on change of managing agent that the RTM took on the lease of the flat – it has taken 9 months of negotiations to agree.

We had everything all agreed and signed and the Freeholder is now saying that they will only give a 3 year lease not the 5 year we agreed and now threatening legal action if we don’t sign for 3 years. The 5 year was signed, and independently witnessed as they insisted. The solicitor we are using for this (obviously fees increasing) says that it is clearly personal animosity towards us. Until RTM we have not had any contact or need to contact the freeholder as all went via their managing agent.

They’re now threatening “possession and compensation” if we don’t agree to the three years by December 24th (letter received yesterday, December 18th). They are also claiming they “do not accept” that the lease terms were agreed, even though they wrote the lease, sent it to our solicitor, and we signed and returned it.

We haven’t paid rent this year, as it hasn’t been demanded.

They say they do not accept that the terms of the lease have been agreed. They wrote it and sent it to our solicitor, we signed it and returned it.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks,

Elizabeth