Birketts’ enfranchisement practice comprises specialists across all areas enfranchisement. The team provides full-service advice to landlords and tenants in relation to the following:
- Leasehold extensions under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993;
- Freehold enfranchisement under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993;
- Voluntary lease extensions;
- Deeds of variation;
- Freehold enfranchisement/lease extensions under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967;
- The right of first refusal under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987;
- The right to manage under the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
We routinely act for landlords and tenants on a wide range of enfranchisement transactions across England. Some of our landlord clients include large public bodies and social housing trusts.
We provide a full service offering on enfranchisement matters including tax, corporate and financial/trust advice and transactional support. We are closely aligned with our property litigation team to ensure that we can advise on both transactional and contentious matters.
The depth and range of the team's expertise enables them to provide their clients with accurate, efficient and cost-effective solutions on all manners of enfranchisement issues. We pride ourselves in offering honest, clear and transparent advice to all of our clients.
We are members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners.
The practice is part of the wider Residential Property Team with more than 60 specialists delivering advice on main-steam and specialist residential property matters such as high end conveyancing and residential property finance. The Residential Property Team won Customer Service Champions at the British Conveyancing Awards 2023.
Key individuals:
Nicola Lebish, Partner and Head of Enfranchisement
E: nicola-lebish@birketts.co.uk
T: 01473 921753
Nicola has been involved in enfranchisement matters since 2003 and has acted for higher education institutions, corporate bodies, public bodies, charities and private individual in statutory and voluntary lease extensions, collective enfranchisement matters, disposals under the right of first refusal and the freehold enfranchisement of houses. Nicola has acted on leasehold enfranchisement matters on multi-million pound properties in London as well as advising on protecting key assets for landlord clients. Nicola leads the enfranchisement practice alongside her work in high end and complex residential property matters.
Charlotte Wormstone, Partner
E: charlotte-wormstone@birketts.co.uk
T: 01473 406317
Charlotte trained and practised for five years in the City with two of the leading real estate teams. Her experience spans both high value commercial and residential real estate having acted for both landlords and tenants in a wide range of contentious issues. Charlotte regularly advises on leasehold enfranchisement and mixed use issues. Charlotte is a member of the Property Litigation Association.
James Humphreys, Senior Associate
E: james-humphreys@birketts.co.uk
T: 01603 542690
James has extensive experience in a wide range of residential landlord and tenant disputes, including those relating to leasehold enfranchisement, lease extensions, service charge management, rights of first refusal, and the right to manage. James also has a particular interest in fire safety matters, and advises regularly on the impact of the Building Safety Act 2022 for building owners, leaseholders and management companies.
Gavin Walmsley
E: gavin-walmsley@birketts.co.uk
T: 02039 412057
Gavin qualified as a Solicitor in April 2007 and joined Birketts in February 2023. He has always had a specialism in leasehold enfranchisement and complex leasehold arrangements. Gavin’s areas of expertise include residential advisory and, asset management as well as areas of leasehold enfranchisement including high value, complex claims of flats and houses and mixed use estates. Gavin advises on both voluntary and statutory lease extensions and freehold acquisitions and disposals for a variety of clients including high net worth individuals in London.
Recent examples of Gavin’s work include acting for large landlords who own head leases of large estates advising in relation to ‘Aggio claims’ to acquire new leases of individual flats and the freehold of those units which are considered as ‘houses’ or any subsequent non-statutory deals to extend the whole headlease or acquisition of the whole freehold estate.
Hannah Kemp, Solicitor
T: 01603 756512
Hannah has over five years’ experience in leasehold enfranchisement. The majority of her most recent work includes acting on large landlord lease extension projects. Hannah also acts for landlords and tenants in connection with voluntary and statutory lease extensions, collective enfranchisements and rights of first refusal claims. Hannah has a particular specialism in acting for social housing clients.
Hannah enjoys the challenge that comes with her area of specialism, in particular explaining the intricacies of this niche area of law and helping her clients navigate the complexities. Hannah is technical and client focused striving to achieve the best possible outcome for her clients in line with their specific requirements.
Mona Power, Solicitor
T: 02039 412086
Mona trained in house and joined Birketts in February 2023. Mona predominantly deals with leasehold enfranchisement of flats to include statutory claims and voluntary lease extensions, grant of wholly new leases, deeds of variation, deeds of covenant and licences to alter.
How clients described our property services in Chambers UK 2024, Chambers HNW 2023 and Legal 500 2024 edition:
‘Birketts has proved time and again its ability to deal with complex matters, pulling together a strong team from across various disciplines as needed. We're yet to find any matter it's out of its depth on.’
‘Sometimes I feel like I'm their only client; the responsiveness is excellent.’
Chambers HNW 2023
‘Birketts provide a very human touch, and do their job very diligently.’
‘They are proactive, responsive, efficient, and to the best of my knowledge, always right!’
‘For us the communication is the most important thing. They always pick up the phone, you always get a call back. There are often deadlines and they are incredibly good at getting on with the job.’
‘They are always either calling or sending emails explaining everything. I can't think of a time I had to catch them up. There's a depth of knowledge there, and a depth within all the people that I've worked with that feels better than other solicitors.’
Legal 500 2024
‘The team is incredibly responsive which sets it apart from the competition. The advice is precise, well structured and always pragmatic but it’s the round the client service which sets it apart.’
‘The team at Birketts have a key strength of having the vast depth of knowledge and diversity within the business whilst still being able to give the core value of the personal touch to all clients. Birketts have outclassed other firms in their want to add value to the situations they are involved in and procure the best results for their clients.’
‘I do not believe I would have received a service so tailored to my needs with any other firm.’
‘The teams have an outstanding knowledge, combining well across different departments to deliver an exceptional service.’
