3 separate flats and a freehold purchase question

mustachio

Live in a house with 3 separate flats and a freehold.

The owner of the freehold (previously owned all 3 flats and a really shady business man known in the local area) has put the free hold on the local housing market.

There appears to be no interest in buying the freehold aside from 2 of the 3 flats. I have indicated an interest in buying jointly with other tenants.

The person on the ground floor has stated he wants to buy the freehold outright (not sharing with other residents of the flat).

My understanding is that he cannot just buy the freehold legally without us signing and agreeing-am I correct?

The reason I ask is because the owner of the freehold and the ground floor flat have suddenly gone very quiet.

I don't want to be in a position where a deal is done without me knowing especially if it is illegal.

G_M

If the freeholder wishes to sell the freehold, he must first offer it to the leaseholders (tenants) at the same price (RFR).

If the landlord sells without providing the Right of First Refusal, the tenants can serve a notice on the new owner demanding details of the transaction, including the price paid; they can then take action to force the new owner to sell to them at the price he paid.

Full details on the leaseadvice website.

http://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/right-of-first-refusal/

http://www.lease-advice.org/topics/?topic=right-of-first-refusal

deFoix

From the guidance:

"Where there are less than 10 qualifying tenants he may serve on all but one of them. This means that, where there are only two qualifying tenants, the landlord could comply by serving the Offer Notice on only one of them."

Sounds like if the ground-floor leasehold doesn't want to play ball he can just go ahead and buy the freehold as long as he and another other leaseholder had notice. I'd really like to know where this rule comes from.

The Landlord could in theory be a crafty blighter and only serve notice on the two other flats.

deFoix

mustachio wrote: »

There appears to be no interest in buying the freehold aside from 2 of the 3 flats.

...so quite a bit of interest then.

mustachio

The Landlord could in theory be a crafty blighter and only serve notice on the two other flats.

The landlord is definitely a crafty blighter.

mustachio

Boler1985 wrote: »

...so quite a bit of interest then.

What I mean is no interest outside of the flat tennants.