Right of Preemption: I Did Not Receive a Section 5 Notice

If your landlord sells freehold to the apartment block you live in, then they should have followed a very strict process. If it was sold on the open market, you and your neighbors on the block should have received a Section 5A notice, if it was sold at auction, this would be a Section 5B notice.

If you find out that you did not, in fact, get this right of first refusal under the Landlords and Tenants Act 1987 (the Act), then you can do something about it. Possibly you have had a demand for land rent but realize that you need to pay someone else. Or you have received a letter saying that the sale has been made.

If you know your new owner and have only found out about it in the last 4 months, you may be able to serve what is known as a Section 11A notice under the Act. This allows you to request more information about the sale that you can confirm. that the transaction was not legal. It is important to understand that this article does not constitute advice and that you should only act after consulting a suitably qualified voting rights attorney.

If it turns out that the previous owner did not send the appropriate notices in accordance with the prescribed timeframes, they may be able to take control of the freehold. Essentially, apartment owners can force the new owner to sell them the freehold for the same price the new owner paid, under exactly the same terms.

Notices in Section 12A, 12B, or 12C may be used to force the transfer. But this must be done within 6 months of learning through Section 11 or Section 3 notices that the sale of the freehold did not comply with the law. The price cannot be renegotiated, although the Lease Assessment Tribunal can be used if the transaction was not clear.

You will need more than half of your qualifying tenants, your apartment-owning neighbors, to serve these notices. This is not always an easy threshold to reach and will require some coordination. Specialized companies provide project management services, as do some lawyers and surveyors. You can find the specialists and intermediaries in the grant of rights as it is called on the website of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners. There is a searchable database so you can find a local professional.

It is a very serious matter for a freehold owner to ignore the right of first refusal or to sell the freehold for a lower price than stated in a relevant notice. In fact, it is a criminal offense and carries a fine, albeit with a small maximum of £5000.