ADVISING ON AND SECURING THE ACQUISITION OF THE FREEHOLD INTEREST IN A BUILDING IN PRIME CENTRAl LONDON

Katherine advised a professional couple who owned various leasehold interests in a large townhouse on the Howard de Walden Estate and who were looking to acquire the freehold interest from their landlord.

Katherine was recommended to the client by a specialist enfranchisement valuer. The client had been informed by other solicitors that there was no scope to use enfranchisement legislation to acquire the freehold interest in the building from the Howard de Walden Estate, who would not otherwise agree to sell them the freehold voluntarily.

Katherine conducted a detailed examination of the legal title to the building, which included various leasehold interests, amongst them a leasehold interest owned by a company of which the clients were directors and shareholders, as well as a leasehold interest owned in the clients’ joint names and an interest owned by a company connected with the Howard de Walden Estate.

Katherine also conducted a detailed investigation of the physical structure of the building.

The investigations into both the title and physical structure informed of the possibility of making a claim to acquire the freehold interest in the building pursuant to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, which relates to flats.

The clients had previously been advised that the only means to acquire the freehold was to make a claim for the building as a house pursuant to the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. Katherine concluded that, although the building presented as a house, such a claim could not be made, and that the alternative claim under the 1993 Act was the appropriate way forward.

The claim was successful and so the clients were able to acquire a substantial freehold interest from the Howard de Walden Estate at a price that reflected the statutory valuation basis, leaving them with a freehold with a substantial capital value.