What actually happens, and when.
Buying a freehold under a statutory right is a sequence with a timetable attached to it. Most of it is our work rather than yours. Here is the whole thing, including the parts that are slower than anyone would like.
Seven stages from enquiry to registration
The names of the notices differ depending on whether you are buying the freehold of a house or joining with your neighbours to buy a block. The shape of the process is the same either way.
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Eligibility and the lease
We read the lease and the title, and confirm which statutory right applies to you - the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 for a house, the 1993 Act for a collective purchase of a block of flats - and whether you meet its conditions. If you do not qualify, this is where you find out, at no cost.
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Instruction, fee and identity checks
You open a case for the property, we send an engagement letter setting out the scope and the fixed fee, and you pay £1,495 through Stripe's hosted checkout. Anti-money-laundering rules then require us to verify your identity before we can act - that is done online from your case file.
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Valuation
A surveyor who specialises in enfranchisement values the freehold. This is the number everything afterwards is argued about, so it is worth doing properly: a notice served at a figure nobody can support is an expensive way to start.
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Serving the notice
The claim formally begins when the statutory notice is served on the freeholder. It has to identify the property and the participants correctly and state a realistic price - a notice with a defect in it can be struck down, and on some claims you cannot simply start again straight away.
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The freeholder's reply
The freeholder has a set period - commonly two months - to serve a counter-notice admitting or disputing the claim and putting their own figure on it. Where a freeholder is missing or cannot be traced, there is a route through the court instead, and we will tell you what that adds.
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Negotiation, and the tribunal if it comes to that
Most claims settle by negotiation between the two valuers. If they cannot, either side can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the price, within the window the statute allows. Going to the tribunal is a commercial decision and we will put the numbers in front of you before you make it.
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Transfer, completion and registration
We agree the transfer deed, complete the purchase and register the freehold at HM Land Registry - in your name, or in the name of the company the participating leaseholders own between them. The case closes when the register shows the right thing.
What we need from you
Four things, and the first two are usually sitting in a drawer already.
- A copy of the lease, and any deed of variation.
- Recent ground rent and service charge demands.
- Proof of identity, completed online through your case file.
- On a collective claim, the contact details of the neighbours joining you.
Where the delays come from
Almost never the paperwork
The three things that stretch a case are a freeholder who ignores the notice, a valuation gap too wide to bridge, and - on a collective claim - neighbours who change their minds after the notice is served. We manage the first two. The third is worth settling among yourselves before we start.
The law is mid-change
Parts of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 are already in force and others are waiting on commencement and secondary legislation, including changes to how the price is calculated. We will tell you how the position stands on the day your case starts, and what it means for the timing.
Start with the eligibility check.
It costs nothing, it takes us a lease and a title to do, and it is the only sensible place to begin.