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.
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Yes, if you are a tenant of a flat apart from:
The 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.
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If the freeholder has sold the freehold, than the Right of First Refusal (RFR) may apply.
However, please note that there certain exemptions that can apply which means that the freeholder is not obliged to offer the freehold to the leaseholders first.
Where the freehold has been sold and the Right of First Refusal does apply there may be rights of enforcement against the new purchaser. It may be possible to serve a notice on the new freeholder to force a sale of the freehold.
The 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.
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No, the right of first refusal under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 only applies to buildings containing flats.
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The sale or transfer by the landlord of his interest in the property is called a disposal. The majority of disposals will trigger the RFR, but some are exempt e.g.:
The 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.
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Leaseholders cannot be forced to participate in accepting an offer of Right of First Refusal. A qualifying majority of leaseholders can accept the offer and buy the freehold.
If the majority accept the offer and buy the freehold, they will be able to charge service charges and/ or ground rent to all the leaseholders, including non-participating leaseholders, in accordance with their leases.
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It appears you have been served with a notice under Section5B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. It gives you, collectively with other qualifying tenants, a right to replace the successful bidder at an auction. The notice must be served between four and six months before the date of the auction. If the qualifying tenants wish to accept the offer the requisite majority must do so within the initial period specified in the notice. This is 51% of the flats which are held by qualifying tenants. Those accepting must nominate a purchaser. This could be a company that they form to take over ownership of the freehold.
The 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.
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