How to sell two flats and the freehold?

It is best to sell the freehold via a company owned by the flat owners, with proper leases. That’s the mortgageable, lender-friendly, solicitor-proof route.
Two flats sharing a freehold without structure creates real risks:

No legal mechanism to force cooperation
One owner could refuse:
Buildings insurance
Roof repairs
Structural works
Mortgage lenders hate:
Informal arrangements
“Goodwill-based” cooperation
No enforceable service charge regime

It’s not the idea of shared freehold that’s the problem, it’s how it’s held.

Reply to the comment left by Neil Patterson at 23/01/2026 – 09:05
I have exactly the same problem. One freehold two converted flats ( converted over 50 years ago) no leases. I have been told they are unsellable as I can’t give myself a lease as the freeholder. I have also been told that to put leases on the flats it would involve building regs etc etc etc. frankly I’m at a loss to know what to do. Is there anyone out there who has the answers?

If the properties are converted akready with their own elec and gas supplies and seoerate council tax rating this should be realativelt straight forward.
You will need a solicitor to draw up the leases and someone to draw up the approved plans for each flat.
I would suggest you create a company as the freeholder and give a share of the freehold vis the company to each flat on sale of the second flat.

If there are no communal areas this makes things much easy as there is no need for FRA & HSA.

Finaly and most important point you will make more money because with a lease buyers can get a mortgage easily which opens you up to the whole market.

Good luck.

Reply to the comment left by Jan Hall at 23/01/2026 – 09:54
“You can’t give yourself a lease because you’re the freeholder”

.A freeholder can and routinely does grant leases to themselves. It happens every day in:
Share-of-freehold blocks
Estate restructures
Refinancing
Probate and trust reorganisations
Legally, you are creating two separate legal estates:
The freehold (land + structure)
The leasehold interests (the flats)
You are allowed to own both. The Land Registry fully recognises this.

Building Regulations relate to physical works, not legal paperwork.
You are not:
Creating new flats
Altering layouts
Adding kitchens or bathrooms
Changing use
You are simply: Recording the existing reality in legal form

If the flats have existed as two self-contained units for 50+ years (as you say), then:

Planning is historic / immune
Building Regs are irrelevant
No retrospective approval is required
Solicitors sometimes confuse “creating a flat” with “documenting a flat”. They are not the same thing.

Right now, you have:
One freehold
Two informal dwellings
No leases
No enforceable repair or insurance obligations
From a lender’s point of view: “Who pays for the roof, and what if the other owner refuses?”

That’s why buyers are being told “cash only”. This is a structure problem, not a property problem.

Step 1: Grant yourself two long leases

999 years (or 125+ if you prefer)
Peppercorn ground rent
Modern clauses:
Repairs
Insurance
Service charge
Mutual enforceability

You now legally have:

Flat A – leasehold
Flat B – leasehold
Freehold (still yours)

Step 2: Put the freehold into a company

Company owns the freehold
Each flat gets one share
Share transfers with flat on sale

This removes:
Cooperation risk
Insurance disputes
Lender anxiety

This is exactly what lenders expect when they hear “share of freehold”.

Step 3: Sell like a normal flat

Each flat is now sold as: Leasehold flat Plus share in freehold company and is:
Mortgageable
Marketable
Normal conveyancing

Set up the freehold company with you being the first member and sole director. (Make sure it’s limited by guarantee, not shares, so no share certificates to bother with.) Transfer the freehold to the freehold company and act as the director of the company to grant leases of the two flats back to you in your personal name. You can then sell the flats separately and the memorandum and articles of the freehold company will enable the new owners of the flats to be registered as members and to vote themselves as the new directors.

There must be dispute resolution methods that can be built into the company’s articles for the situation where there are only two owners and they can’t agree.

The question then is who acts as the company secretary. If there’s no need for managing agents then maybe an accountant could keep the statutory books, do the filings at Companies House and renew the buildings insurance every year.

Sell each Leasehold flat with a 50% share of the Freehold.
You will need to draft, have drafted, 2 Leaseholds with each 999 years and a peppercorn ground rent. The buildings insurance under the Freehold.

The agent needs to be educated, sorry. Complete tosh.
Other option is to offer the property to the Local Authority. Many do have budgets to buy to increase their housing stock.

Reply to the comment left by Mark Weedon at 23/01/2026 – 10:03
Thank you so much …. I think I may have been panicking and you’ve totally put my mind at rest because I need to stop being a landlord…. 50 odd years is long enough. Thanks for excellent advice.

Reply to the comment left by Neil Patterson at 23/01/2026 – 10:07
Thank you so much ….. I think my solicitor is ignorant of this …. I’m going to find another one and stop winding myself up. Thank you.

Reply to the comment left by Jan Hall at 23/01/2026 – 11:13
It’s not legally possible for a person to grant a lease to themselves. But if the company is set up first, it has a separate legal identity.

Reply to the comment left by Kate Gould at 23/01/2026 – 12:19
Oh thank you ….. I will do that first then.