Enfranchisement: How Long Does Buying a Freehold Take?

To some extent the timescale for enfranchisement (also referred to as Freehold Purchase) is almost unique to the particular building in question and to some extent the individuals involved. For example, if the freehold is to be bought by 174 leaseholders, then obviously it will take longer to achieve resolution of enfranchisement than if there were only 5 or 6 leaseholders in the building.



The more leaseholders that are present in a building, the greater the risk of their tenancies not complying, some may be abroad, some may be in hospital, away on business and so on which makes the whole process much lengthier.



The problem with enfranchisement is that some work is done before the Initial Notice is given. For example, agreement hs to be reached between tenants, a company formed if that is going to be the way forward, the agreements drawn up (participation agreements), a solicitor has to be appointed to draw up the standard Notice and a surveyor will have to be appointed to ensure that the valuation is correct. This aspect of the procedure can take between 3 to 6 months; then the Initial Notice is served. This is not an overnight course of action; it can drag on!



Other factors to consider are the professionals and individuals involved. Simply enfranchisement is the process of the leaseholders buying the freehold interest. However, some leaseholders may be keener than others to purchase the freehold and it has to be said that some freeholders will be more in favour of leaseholders undertaking freehold purchase than others. Some freeholders view enfranchisement as a severe financial blow to their business and so will seek to maximise the return they achieve for the freehold.



Normally, anyone whom is considering enfranchisement should be thinking about seeing it through for at lease two years. That is two years from the very start of the process (when leaseholders first start talking to each other about undertaking enfranchisement) through to the freehold purchase being completed.



Many cases of enfranchisement are resolved long before two years, but this conservative estimate helps to keep expectations realistic. If you bank on the fact that the enfranchisement process will be completed within a year, then you may well be disappointed. It takes time, but it is worth the time and effort in he long run, simply because of the control that freehold purchase can give to leaseholders.





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Thinking of enfranchisement? Talk first to Bonallack and Bishop - solicitors specialising in freehold purchase. Tim Bishop is senior partner at the firm, responsible for all major strategic decisions. He has grown the firm by 1000% in 13 years and has plans for further expansion.