You received a section 5A notice because your landlord intends to sell the freehold.
The notice, under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, gives you the Right of First Refusal to purchase the freehold at a specified price before it goes on the open market.
Your landlord must give you at least 2 months to respond from the date you received the notice.
Accepting the offer
To take the offer, more than half the qualifying tenants must within 2 months jointly notify the landlord. You qualify as a leaseholder and on most fixed or periodic tenancies, but not if you are on a shorthold, assured, agricultural or employment-dependent tenancy.
As a group, your next step is to nominate a purchaser within a further 2 months. This could be in the form of a company to take over ownership of the freehold.
The landlord should send the purchaser the contract within one month, and the purchaser then has 2 months to sign and return the contract, and pay the deposit. Following that, the landlord has a week to exchange.
Rejecting the offer
You have 2 months to accept the offer. If you do not accept, the landlord can put the freehold on the open market, but may not sell it for less than the price offered to you for the next 12 months.
Asserting your Right of First Refusal can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.
More information you might find useful:
- Am I a qualifying tenant for the purposes of the right of first refusal (RFR) under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987?: FAQ
- Right of First Refusal: advice guide
- Right of First Refusal: fact sheet
- More Frequently Asked Questions on Right of First Refusal
Still not found the answer?
Contact LEASE to have your enquiry dealt with by one of our experienced advisers
