Owning your own home

You're not on the Lea Bridge Road are you? We're in the same position in a similar block. Here's what we found out.

1. If you're the freehold owner, you can block any planning permission, but buying a freehold is a long term solution - planning permission is a short term problem
   
2. If they're granted planning permission it's very likely that that will increase the value of the freehold, making it more difficult for you to actively buy it. The solicitors we spoke to suggested that this is one of the main reasons freeholders are looking into this now, since the planned leasehold reforms are likely to fuck a lot of their revenue streams, so they're looking to get out.
   
3. However (and check this as I'm not 100%) I believe if the freeholder decides to sell it, they have to offer it to you as part of the Right Of First Refusal for no more than they paid for it. This is one of the reasons it might be better to wait, and block planning permission through other routes.
   
4. If you do go down this route I can recommend a planning expert who wrote a report for us and plans to present it to the planning committee on why they shouldn't grant permission.
   
5. Thank god we live in 1930s blocks because if the block was built after 1960something they wouldn't need to apply for planning permission at all.