Do leaseholders need to be consulted if a new party buys the freehold?

igotdamaged | 22:28 Tue 20th May 2008 | Property

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We live in a maisonette which is split into two properties, a 2-bedroom upstairs flat where we live and a 1 bedroom downstairs flat.

The freehold of the property is currently owned by a large UK property company (Grainger), but we suspect that the owners of the downstairs flat are trying to buy the freehold from Grainger.

To date, we have received no notification of a proposed sale or new ownership, but legally would they need to inform us before the freehold was sold, or could they do a deal in private and cut us out of the loop?

Renting my House Out

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whiskygalore

If your neighbours are trying to buy the freehold (also known as enfranchisement) inside the terms of the statutory legislation, they would need to serve an initial notice on the freeholder and I think because there are only two flats, they would need to serve this jointly with your consent and signature. Read the advisory notes on enfranchisement rights and procedures on the Leasehold Advisory Service website here: http://www.lease-advice.org/cegsframe.htm You might want to give the LAS a call to check about the two-flat issue mentioned above, not exactly sure I have this correct...