Leasehold Enfranchisement

Ecclesiastical client

We were instructed to act for an ecclesiastical client who had received a section 5 notice under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 from the then tenant claiming the right to the freehold. The notice was then purportedly transferred to a buyer. Despite some issues around the transfer, our client agreed to treat the original notice and transfer of its benefit to the buyer as valid. We then entered into convoluted negotiations with the new tenant over the premium and the form of transfer. Our client retained landholdings adjacent to the property and required the ability to “lift and shift” a right of way over part of that land to allow development. The transfer also needed to mirror the provisions of a much earlier transfer of the neighbouring property.

Local authority

We were instructed by a local authority to enfranchise the freehold of a leasehold house. Our client was an undertenant and, at the point of our instruction, there were only two months left to run on the lease term. We proceeded swiftly to engage with our client and review the title. We identified that the freehold of the property was unregistered and were unable to establish who the freeholder was. We were, however, able to identify and engage with the intermediate landlord whose own lease expired days after our client’s lease. As a result of these investigations, and bearing in mind the presence of an intermediate landlord, we served a claim under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 on the intermediate landlord and simultaneously applied to the Court under the missing landlord procedure. The claim under the Act was further complicated by ratable value information not being available; however, we were able to introduce to our client a robust and reliable valuer who will ultimately give evidence to Court on his findings.

Social landlord

We routinely act for a social landlord with a residential portfolio of more than 37,000 properties. Our client wished to embark on a project of offering its shared ownership leaseholders lease extensions notwithstanding that they may not have staircased their lease to 100%. We provided guidance on the process to follow, the correspondence to enter into and ultimately put in place a standard form of lease tailored to our client’s requirements. We then progressed with the project by documenting in excess of 100 voluntary lease extensions.