Leasehold Enfranchisement
The statutory right of leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their property (or, for flats, to collectively purchase the freehold of the building). For houses, the right arises under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. For flats, collective enfranchisement is governed by the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The purchase price is determined by a statutory valuation formula.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
For houses, the right is created directly by statute. Section 1 of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 confers on a qualifying tenant of a leasehold house a right to acquire on fair terms the freehold or an extended lease of the house and premises, subject to conditions such as a minimum length of the original lease and, in some cases, a residence requirement.
Flats are treated differently because a single freehold typically sits under many separate leases. The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 instead gives qualifying tenants a collective right, exercised together rather than individually: a claim to exercise the right to collective enfranchisement with respect to any premises is made by the giving of notice of the claim under this section, with the Act's Schedule 3 setting out restrictions on which tenants can participate and further procedural requirements for the notice itself.
In both regimes, enfranchisement is not simply a right of first refusal — it is a right that the tenant or tenants can force through against an unwilling freeholder, with the price fixed by a statutory valuation formula rather than open negotiation, and disputes over price or terms ultimately resolved by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
Example
The leaseholders of six flats in a converted Victorian house can jointly serve a collective enfranchisement notice on the freeholder under the 1993 Act, forcing a sale of the freehold at a price set by statutory valuation rules even if the freeholder does not wish to sell.
Related terms
Official sources
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