RFR Notice 3a question

We have recently purchased the leasehold of a maisonette flat which included freehold of the building (2 flats) and the building is classified as maisonette. Seller was a long term resident landlord but believe masionettes are 'purpose built' so they were not exempt

We are trying to figure out if we need to serve Section 3A notice as we are unsure if it qualifies for RFR!

We do not have the information as to what the prior seller did.

However - if!the requisite majority needs to be more than 50% of the qualifying tenants (and the seller clearly would not accept as they wanted to sell), then the RFR would not have been able to proceed - is that correct?

(Note I am not saying notice should not have been served, I am just trying to figure out if we serve notice 3A or we don't)


Section 5A – where the landlord intends to dispose on the open market!Appendix 3).
Where the landlord intends to dispose on the open market, the notice must include the following:
the terms of the proposed disposal, that is the property and the interest being disposed of (the freehold, a headlease etc), the price and any deposit required;
a statement that the notice constitutes an offer by the landlord to enter into a contract on the terms set out in the notice;
the date by which the offer may be accepted (the initial period) – this must!not be less than two months from the date of the notice; and
a date for the nomination by the tenants of a purchaser (the nominated person), which must not be less than a further two months.
If the qualifying tenants wish to take up the offer,!the requisite majority must write to accept. That majority is more than 50% of the qualifying tenants (counting one vote per flat). Those tenants must serve a notice accepting the landlord’s offer within the period set out in the landlord’s notice (unless he later agrees a longer period).