Buying your freehold: how collective enfranchisement works

Last reviewed 16 June 2026 · Written by Max van der Heiden

If you own a flat, you and your fellow leaseholders may have the legal right to club together and buy the freehold of your building. This is called collective enfranchisement. Where your building qualifies and enough leaseholders take part, the freeholder has to sell at a price set by a legal formula. They cannot simply refuse.

Owning the freehold means controlling your own building, ending ground rent, and being able to grant yourselves long, secure leases. It takes cooperation and money up front, but for many blocks it is the single biggest step towards taking charge of their home. This guide explains who qualifies, what it costs, and how it works.

What does buying your freehold mean?

In a normal block of flats, the leaseholders own their flats on long leases while a separate freeholder owns the building and the land. Collective enfranchisement lets the leaseholders buy that freehold for themselves, usually through a company they set up to hold it. Once you own the freehold, you collectively become your own landlord.

The right comes from the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, and the key thing about it is that it is a statutory right rather than a favour. If your building and your group meet the conditions, the freeholder is legally required to sell. For the wider context of how leasehold and freehold differ, see our leasehold explained guide.

Why buy the freehold?

The appeal is control. As freeholders you decide how the building is managed and who manages it, rather than being at the mercy of an absent landlord or an unpopular managing agent. You can grant yourselves brand new long leases, often 999 years, which removes the worry about a shortening lease for good. Ground rent disappears, because you are no longer paying it to anyone. And owning a share of the freehold tends to make a flat easier to sell and more attractive to buyers. If your frustration is mainly with management rather than ownership, it is worth knowing there is a lighter-touch option, Right to Manage, which gives you control without buying anything.

Does your building qualify?

Not every building is eligible. The main conditions are that the building must be self-contained, it must contain at least two flats, and at least two-thirds of the flats must be held by qualifying leaseholders, meaning people who hold their flat on a long lease originally granted for more than 21 years. There is also a limit on commercial space: no more than 25 per cent of the building, leaving aside the common parts, can be in non-residential use such as shops or offices.

Some buildings are excluded, including converted houses where the freeholder lives in one of the flats as their main home, and buildings owned by the Crown, the National Trust and certain other bodies. One helpful change is that there is no longer any requirement to have owned your flat for two years before taking part, and there has been no residence test for some time, so you do not need to live in the flat to join in.

How many leaseholders need to take part?

At least half of the flats in the building must take part in the claim. So in a block of ten flats you need at least five qualifying leaseholders willing to commit. If there are only two flats, both have to participate. This is often the hardest part in practice, because it depends on getting neighbours to agree and to share the cost, so it is worth gauging interest early before spending money on valuations.

Those taking part usually sign a participation agreement, a contract between the participating leaseholders that sets out who pays what, how decisions are made, and what happens if someone drops out. It is dull but important, because it prevents disputes later when real money is involved.

What does it cost?

There are two parts to the cost. The first is the premium, the price you pay the freeholder for the freehold, which is worked out using a formula in the 1993 Act. It reflects the value of the freeholder’s interest, including the loss of future ground rent, and where any of the leases involved have dropped below 80 years it also includes marriage value, which pushes the price up. The second part is professional costs: your own surveyor and solicitor, and historically a contribution to the freeholder’s reasonable costs as well.

Because the premium depends on the specifics of your building and your leases, the essential first step is to get a valuation from a surveyor who specialises in enfranchisement. Going in without one is how groups end up overpaying or arguing among themselves. Treat the valuation as the foundation of the whole project.

How the process works

In outline, the steps are: gather a group of willing leaseholders and sign a participation agreement; set up a company to buy and hold the freehold; get a specialist valuation; serve a formal notice on the freeholder setting out your claim and your proposed price; receive the freeholder’s counter-notice; negotiate the premium and terms; and complete the purchase, transferring the freehold to your company. If you cannot agree the price, either side can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide it, which is a normal part of the process rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.

An uncontested claim can complete in roughly six months, though a disputed valuation will take longer. Specialist legal and surveying help is strongly advisable throughout, because the notices and deadlines are technical and a mistake can set you back.

The easier route: right of first refusal

There is a separate and often cheaper route worth knowing about. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, if your freeholder decides to sell the freehold, they must usually offer it to the qualifying leaseholders first, before selling to anyone else. This is the right of first refusal. It only applies when the freeholder is choosing to sell, so you cannot force it, but if you hear your freeholder is selling, it can be a far simpler way to acquire the freehold than a full enfranchisement claim. If you are ever offered this, take advice quickly, because there are tight time limits to respond.

What if you own a leasehold house?

This guide is about blocks of flats, but leasehold houses have their own, separate right to buy the freehold, under different legislation. The principle is similar, an individual leaseholder of a house can usually require the freeholder to sell, but the qualifying rules and the valuation work differently. If you own a leasehold house rather than a flat, the broad ideas here apply but you should take advice on the rules specific to houses.

How reform will change this

Enfranchisement is squarely in the sights of leasehold reform, and the direction is to make it cheaper and simpler. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill propose changes including removing marriage value from the valuation, raising the non-residential limit so more mixed-use buildings qualify, and stopping leaseholders from having to pay the freeholder’s costs.

The crucial caveat is that most of these changes are not in force yet. As things stand, marriage value still applies to leases under 80 years, the non-residential limit is still 25 per cent, and the cost rules have not all changed. So if you are weighing up a claim now, base your decision on the rules as they are today rather than the cheaper regime that may arrive later. Our leasehold reform tracker keeps the current position up to date.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between collective enfranchisement and Right to Manage?

Collective enfranchisement means buying the freehold, so you own the building. Right to Manage means taking over the management without buying anything, so the freeholder still owns the building but you run it. Enfranchisement gives more control and ends ground rent, but it costs more and is more involved.

Do all the leaseholders have to agree?

No. You need at least half the flats to take part, not all of them. Leaseholders who do not want to join are not forced to, and they do not share the cost, although they also do not get a share of the freehold.

Will buying the freehold get rid of my ground rent?

Effectively yes. Once you collectively own the freehold, there is no separate landlord to pay ground rent to, and you can grant yourselves new long leases at a peppercorn rent. See our ground rent guide for more.

Should we wait for the reforms to make it cheaper?

That is a judgement call, not a simple yes. The reforms are not in force and the timing is uncertain, so waiting carries its own risk, especially if leases are getting short. Get a valuation under the current rules and take advice before deciding whether to act now or hold off.

What to do next

Start by checking the basics: is your building self-contained, are at least two-thirds of the flats on long leases, and is the commercial space within the limit. Then talk to your neighbours to see whether you can reach the half-of-all-flats participation you need, because the project lives or dies on that. Once you have a willing group, get a valuation from an enfranchisement specialist before committing to anything. And if buying the freehold looks like more than you want to take on, read Right to Manage as a lighter alternative, or lease extensions if your real concern is simply a shortening lease.

This guide provides general information about buying the freehold of a block of flats in England and Wales. It is not legal advice, and enfranchisement is a technical area where specialist help is strongly advisable. For advice on your own situation, consult a solicitor and surveyor who specialise in enfranchisement, or a specialist such as the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE). Sources: Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993; Landlord and Tenant Act 1987; Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024; draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill (2026); LEASE and GOV.UK guidance. Last reviewed [date]; reviewed whenever the law changes.