Collective Enfranchisement

If you are the owner of a leasehold property in the UK, Chestertons’ specialist leasehold team can advise you on the best way to buy the freehold of the building and guide you through the entire process.

The legal term used when the leaseholders of a block of flats or apartments group together to buy the freehold of their building is ‘Collective enfranchisement’, and Chestertons has been advising clients on this process and acting in claims since the inception of the legislation in 1993.

By working with other leaseholders in your building to buy the freehold provides long term security of tenure for the leaseholders and allows you, as owners, to fully benefit from any future increases in the values.

To qualify for collective enfranchisement

• The building must be independent or capable of being so without any significant elements above or below
• The building must contain two or more flats with at least two-thirds of the flats being held by qualifying tenants;
• A qualifying tenant is one that holds a lease that was originally granted for a term of more than 21 years.

If you are a qualifying leaseholder, you are able to collectively purchase your freehold along with a minimum of 50% of the other leaseholders in the building. Collective enfranchisement, at times, can be a difficult process and therefore specialist professional advice is vital in order to receive the best outcome.

The difficulty of organizing and financing a collective claim means that few qualifying blocks actually taking this course of action, so flats whose lease do have a share of the freehold interest attract a premium price when selling.