Have we lost our right to buy the freehold?

I am a leaseholder in a block of four flats but am selling as I no longer want to be a landlord. The managing agent for the freeholder is awful but the good news is (though a bit late for me) that they want to sell the Freehold. It was offered for the four of us for £24,000 in total which is a good price.

I won’t buy into it as I am selling but it is a good selling point as the ground rent is currently high and the service charges much too high for a very poor service. I didn’t want to get too involved but the others decided (without doing much research) to put in a lower offer, at £12,000. They came back to us saying that they’ve received a higher offer of £32,000 and we need to match it. We have no proof of that of course.

Have we legally lost our right of first refusal by putting in a counter offer? It was a negotiation, not a rejection.

The leaseholders have gone back to them now saying we will accept the original offer and if this is rejected we will start the Right to Manage process, which we should have done years ago.

I had been reluctant to do it as I knew I would be lumbered with doing all the work setting it up and running it as the others have little property knowledge and are rather sluggish in their communication. I also knew I would be selling up within a few years. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Helen