The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 made it easier for flat owners to join together to enfranchise (i.e. buy) the freehold of their block.

It also sought to introduce new “Right to Enfranchise (RTE)“ provisions whereby a Notice of Invitation to Participate in the enfranchisement was to be served on all flat owners and a RTE Company was to be incorporated as the vehicle to purchase the freehold.

The legal provisions which governed this arrangement have never been implemented.

Despite the fact that many civil servants will have grappled with this issue for the past 6 years or so, the Government has concluded that the RTE provisions cannot be made to work without introducing disproportionate burdens into the enfranchisement process.  It is now consulting on repealing these provisions in their entirety.

Many of us here on the Specialist Enfranchisement Team have long believed that these provisions were unnecessary and unappealing as they would have added bureaucracy and cost to the enfranchisement process.

If you have any views on this, we would like to hear them.