If your freeholder/landlord decides to sell, they may have to offer the deal to the residential flat owners before proceeding. If they don’t, the flat owners may have the right to force the buyer to transfer it to them. The freeholder could even be found guilty of a criminal offence.
The process is started by the landlord sending a formal offer notice to the flat owners, under section 5 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (called a ‘section 5 Notice’). The residential leaseholders need to act quickly to decide if they want to accept the offer, and then accept the offer within a strict timescale, usually 2 months.
At BLB we have experience of acting for groups of residential leaseholders in this situation, from advising on their options through to accepting the offer and dealing with the legal process of the transfer.