This article covers some case law and legislative developments over the last 12 months relating to enfranchisement

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill received Royal Assent on 8 February 2022. The main elements of it, i.e. the ground rent restrictions themselves, remained to be brought into force by regulations. This has now taken place; The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (The Act) will come into force on 30 June 2022.

The Government has recently reconfirmed its proposal to implement reforms in this regard in the current term of Parliament.

Landlords beware; commercial leaseholders may get round restrictions in their lease to achieve residential use which brings the potential right to forcibly acquire the freehold (enfranchisement).

Does a development constitute a single “building” or a number of separate “buildings” for the purpose of freehold enfranchisement?

There have been a number of decisions around the question of whether flat owners’ rights operate on a block by block basis or in respect of a number of blocks via single claim in connection with collective enfranchisement, the enfranchisement of the freehold to a single house, the right to manage and the right of first refusal.

The right to manage (RTM) enables leaseholders of residential flats to take control of management of their building via an RTM company that they are members of so replacing the landlord or other third party appointed in the lease in this regard.

It may be necessary to uprate the front doors to flats from the access corridors, i.e. as a consequence of a fire risk assessment recommending such work.

Restrictive covenants can stymie development.  The case of Bath Rugby Limited v 77 Great Pulteney Street Limited and Godfrey Douglas White and Others illustrates the point.

In 2018, the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid announced a “crackdown on unfairly sold practices” that would include setting ground rents on new long leases to zero and working with The Law Commission to make the process of purchasing a freehold or extending a lease of a flat “much easier, faster and cheaper”.

The deferment rate is relevant to residential leaseholders whether they are a house owner seeking their freehold, a flat owner seeking a longer lease of their flat or the freehold to their building acting in concert with other flat owners.