The right to manage and collective freehold acquisition
As members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP), Ashley Wilson Solicitors are experts in collective enfranchisement – compelling your freeholder to sell the freehold of your property to you, the Leaseholder.
Understanding the technicalities of the legislation will provide you with the best advice to achieve your objectives. We work closely with your instructed valuation company to ensure that you achieve the very best result from a financial perspective and support you through the process to ensure a smooth transition.
Our expert team of solicitors can provide you with advice around whether the extent of the property you are entitled to acquire and all the information you need to help you start a claim to buy your freehold and undertake all legal and compliance actions on your behalf.
The “right to manage” is a useful tool in the event that you, like many others, are experiencing poor management of their building or paying high services charges and management fees and receiving little or no benefit.
By exercising your right to take over the management of your building you will take control and ensure that your services charges are reasonable and you benefit from the money which you are spending.
To acquire the right to manage you do not have to prove poor management by the Landlord. There are very little grounds for your Landlord to resist the claim. The process is relatively simple & quick. The Landlord’s consent is not required. No court order is necessary. A capital payment is not payable to the Landlord.
For comprehensive guidance on the right to manage please see our Right to Manage Guide within the document downloads section of this page.
The main disadvantage of exercising the right to manage as an alternative to freehold or collective enfranchisement (where you acquire the freehold) is that each flat owner's lease continues to become shorter and will need to be extended at some point (at capital cost to that flat owner). Also ground rent continues to be payable.
The Government has recently reconfirmed its proposal to implement reforms in this regard in the current term of Parliament.
Yesterday’s King’s Speech confirmed that the Government intends to continue with further leasehold and commonhold reform legislation during the current Parliamentary session.
The speech itself contained only a brief reference to leasehold reform, stating: “My Ministers will bring forward legislation to increase long-term investment in social housing and to reform the leasehold system, including the capping of ground rents.”
However, accompanying Government briefings and subsequent ministerial commentary make clear that the proposed reforms are intended to go significantly further than the measures already contained in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LAFRA 2024).
Following its Third Reading in the House of Lords on 21 July 2025, only minor drafting amendments were made to the Renters (Reform) Bill (‘the Bill’), signalling the Lords’ broad approval of its substance.
If the Bill is given Royal Assent in its current form — with no last-minute policy reversals when it returns to the Commons on 8 September 2025 — it will mark the most significant overhaul of tenancy law since the Housing Act 1988.
This article outlines the key reforms envisaged by the Bill to help landlords, tenants, and investors prepare for the changes ahead.
