Lease Extensions & Enfranchisement

Our team of specialists is comprised of property litigators and conveyancers who act for both landlords and tenants in relation to all aspects of enfranchisement.

Overview

We advise our clients on how best to navigate the potentially tricky statutory procedures involved when looking to extend a residential long lease or buy the freehold of a building with your fellow leaseholders.

The enfranchisement team at FSP will provide you with full advice about the relevant rights and steps to be followed, initiate the process and deal with all important statutory time limits, including any proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) or County Court. We will take the stress of the process away from you by actively engaging with the other party’s solicitors and managing the procedure to shorten the process as much as possible, while making sure your financial best interests are being considered throughout.

In all matters, we take the time to consider and understand our clients’ individual circumstances and tailor our advice to their needs. We help our clients to consider possibilities that may arise in future, and provide comprehensive advice as early as possible to ensure that all potential risks are foreseen and managed.

Our property litigators handle the statutory procedure elements of enfranchisement matters. Our residential conveyancers deal with the conveyancing aspects once any statutory procedure has been completed and the newly acquired interests are to be formalised.

Featured experience

We are highly experienced in handling lease extensions and collective enfranchisements of flats, both on a voluntary “ex-statute” basis and under the terms of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. Additionally, we have specialist expertise in the enfranchisement of leasehold houses under the terms of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. This is notoriously difficult legislation to navigate but we have been successful in obtaining favourable results for clients both in negotiating the terms of the eventual transfer and applying for them to be determined by Tribunal. We have a proven track record in enabling clients to obtain the best possible terms for their new leases and freehold transfers, ensuring that the statutory timetables are carefully managed and all avenues explored.

We are also experts in handling tenants’ rights to take over the management of their buildings under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, and exercising the right to buy a freehold where the landlord has signalled an intention to sell under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. We advise on the rules and obligations imposed when these statutory procedures are invoked, always with the goal of achieving the best possible outcome for you, the client.

We regularly write articles sharing information and useful summaries of the lease extension and collective enfranchisement processes. Please see the article links below.