subject: Leasehold Enfranchisement: the Initial Notice, What Is It? [print this page] Leasehold Enfranchisement: the Initial Notice, What Is It?
Sounds nail biting doesn't it? Don't get too anxious but it is important that the initial notice is complete. It must be thoroughly checked and re-checked: although errors may, in some cases, be corrected it will incur costs. These can easily be avoided by paying attention to detail.It is good to know that your group of enfranchising tenants can be protected by the right to register the initial notice with the Land Registry. This will protect you from the landlord selling the freehold. So the procedure will continue as though the new owner had originally received the initial notice for the leasehold enfranchisement.The service of the initial notice fixes the valuation date as the same date that the initial notice is served. This is the date on which everything affecting the price of the freehold is set: the remaining years left on the leases, the present values of the flats and their assumed future value. This will give you the peace of mind that your negotiation will be based on the original factors, no matter how long it takes.When reaching this point in leasehold enfranchisement, a solicitor who is highly experienced in exercising the right to franchise will be of great help and should ease the burden considerably.What do you do if, after all reasonable efforts, the landlord cannot be found? Well, there will be no reason to panic; the leasehold enfranchisement process can continue with this issue resolved in other ways:- if the landlord was a company which has ceased to trade, its property may have passed to the Crown through the Treasury Solicitor. Seek them out: they should be prepared to sell the freehold to the enfranchising tenants at open market value. This must be done by negotiation and there is no need to serve the initial notice.- if the landlord is a company in receivership, then the initial notice may be served on the receiver; in the same way, if the owner has declared bankruptcy, you can serve the notice on the bankruptcy trustee.- if you are unable to find the landlord then you cannot serve the initial notice. In this case, the tenants may make application to the County Court for a vesting order.If the Court is happy with the process, the freehold will be sold to the tenants who are entering into a right to enfranchise in the landlord's absence. It may take a turn of events to achieve but that is exactly why you need a solicitor who specialises in leasehold enfranchisement to guide you.
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