If you are one of the 2.4 million people who own a leasehold flat in England and Wales you may wish to consider buying the freehold of your home, an option which you are now legally entitled to do and which could boost the value of your home.

Leasehold Property
Buying the freehold means that you can jointly with other leaseholders, own the land on which your property was built, plus all the common parts including the structure of the building, the exterior walls, front doors and drains. You can then decide on rules common to the occupants such as a 'no pets' rule. More importantly, you will not have to renew your lease again, which can cost thousands of pounds if it has fallen below 75 years. Mortgage companies are often reluctant to grant mortgages to properties with fewer than 75 years left on the lease, making them hard to sell.

Coles Miller has a specialist department dealing with issues relating to leasehold owned flats. Led by Partner Andrew Howard, it is one of a handful of teams in the Bournemouth and Poole area who specialise in this type of leasehold work. Since the introduction of the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act gave leaseholders the automatic right to buy the freehold, our team has assisted over 3,000 leaseholders in purchasing individual lease extensions or collectively purchasing the freehold.

We provide legal advice to tenants, landlords and managing agents in relation to a number of matters including:-

Buying the freehold
Leasehold flat owners can, subject to certain conditions, compel the freeholder to sell the freehold to them. If 50% or more of the flat owners commit to this process and can negotiate a suitable price with the freeholder they can purchase the freehold through the formation of a company where they are all shareholders. Through this company they will be able to extend the length of the lease to 999 years and make changes to the lease.

Extending the lease
An individual leasehold flat owner can compel the landlord to give him a new lease which adds 90-years to the length of the lease and reduces ground rent to a peppercorn subject to payment of an appropriate purchase price.

Right to manage
Subject to satisfying certain conditions leasehold flat owners can take over the management of their property without paying the landlord compensation and without any fault on the part of the landlord.

Right to first refusal
In certain cases, where a freeholder sells the freehold of a building comprising flats, he must first offer it to the tenants.

The leasehold system
We can advise on the responsibilities of the landlord and tenant under the terms of the lease and appropriate remedies where one party is in breach.

Service charges
Leasehold flat owners are entitled to summaries of the service charges and can inspect accounts and other documents and are entitled to details of the building insurance cover. Where a landlord proposes carrying out works to the property where the cost to the tenant will be more than £250 then the landlord must first conduct a consultation exercise with the tenants. Similarly, a landlord cannot enter into certain agreements or contracts for any service for a period of more than twelve months where the cost to the tenant is more than £100 per year without first carrying out a consultation exercise with the tenants. Tenants can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine their liability to pay service charges and the reasonableness of those service charges.

Right to vary a lease
Where a lease does not make proper provision for certain matters such as repair, maintenance or insurance of the building, a tenant can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to vary the lease if the landlord will not agree.

Enforcement of covenants
Leases can contain obligations on both parties in relation to things such as service charges payable, not to cause a nuisance, and to regulate parking arrangements, etc. These are known as covenants and when these are broken or a dispute arises we can assist in taking action to resolve these disputes or enforcing the covenants.