Offered freehold by landlord.

paddyrg

I would be cautious about letting it go to auction - firstly it'll be available to other professional freeholders (who may, in the absence of management company, decide the roof needs replacing at the cost of £roof+50%, front door needs upgrading at £door+50%, etc., all chargeable to you). Secondly, you'll have a buyer's premium, so that hoped-for £10k bid up might be £15k+15%+VAT.

I'd go in with a straight offer for the lot, clean and fast. If you've ever played Monopoly, you'll know that having a complete set is better than most of one ;-)

penguine

We were offered the chance to buy the freehold of a flat we own a number of years ago. We decided against it as we didn't want the hassle of managing the property but afterwards we realised we should have done it. The ownership of the freehold changed a number of times over the next 10+ years, at one point our freeholder went AWOL and we didn't even know if the buildings insurance was in place, repairs weren't getting done and the electricity in the communal stairwell almost got cut off. In the end we ended up doing so much of the management on a voluntary basis we would have been better off owning the freehold.

As another poster has said you don't need to go in with 50% of the flat owners to buy it. If he's selling he has to offer all the tenants right of first refusal; this is different from the right to buy the freehold.