The lease on your home was initially granted for 125 years. In 1993 the law was changed to introduce a new right for leaseholders to extend the length of their lease. This was because some people were finding it hard to sell leasehold properties when there were not many years left on their lease. You are now entitled to buy a new lease, which adds another 90 years to the existing one, subject to meeting the qualifying criteria.

This legislation also introduced the right of 'collective enfranchisement'. This is the right for you and other leaseholders in your block to buy, as a group, the freehold of the block you live in. You have this right even if we do not want to sell, provided the qualifying criteria are met. Once your group has bought the freehold, it would be able to decide how to manage and maintain the building. If we still owned any of the flats in your block, we would lease them back to our secure tenants. This means we would have a lease of 999 years for these properties. In this case, the price you paid for the freehold would be reduced by their value.

The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 has simplified the procedures for the rights to buy the freehold of the building or to extend you lease. Details of the current qualifying criteria are in the Government's advice leaflets, available from Housing Reception or on request.