Free UK Collective Enfranchisement Notice — LRHUDA 1993 s.13

Initial Notice of Collective Enfranchisement — LRHUDA 1993 s.13

Premises Hartwood Court  ·  RTE Hartwood Court RTE Company Limited  ·  9 June 2026

This is the INITIAL NOTICE served under section 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 on behalf of the participating qualifying tenants of Hartwood Court, 14-22 Hartwood Mews, London NW3 4LP, acting by the RTE Company Hartwood Court RTE Company Limited (company number 15782314) as the nominee purchaser.

The notice exercises the collective right under LRHUDA 1993 s.1 to acquire the freehold of the premises. The participating qualifying tenants hold 9 of the 12 flats in the premises (the qualifying tenants together hold 11), satisfying the participation threshold under s.13(2). The proposed premium is £742,000, calculated on Schedule 6 principles (freeholder value + marriage value share + any compensation under Sch 6 para 5).

COUNTER-NOTICE DEADLINE. A counter-notice under LRHUDA 1993 s.21 must be served on the nominee purchaser by 10 August 2026 (at least two months from the date of this notice). If the right is admitted but terms cannot be agreed within two months of the counter-notice, either party may apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) under s.24 for determination — application must be within six months of the counter-notice.

Premises: Hartwood Court, 14-22 Hartwood Mews, London NW3 4LP
Total flats in the premises: 12
Flats held by qualifying tenants (s.5): 11
Participating qualifying tenants (s.13(2)): 9
Non-residential internal floor area: 18% (the LFRA 2024 ceiling, in force from 3 March 2025, is 50%; the prior ceiling under LRHUDA 1993 was 25%)

Name: Hartwood Court RTE Company Limited
Company number: 15782314
Registered office: c/o Linnaeus Property Management, 42 Devonshire Place, London W1G 6JA
Acting director: Catherine Yelden-Rao
Function: nominee purchaser under LRHUDA 1993 s.15 (read with s.4A inserted by CLRA 2002).

Proposed premium: £742,000
Basis: LRHUDA 1993 Schedule 6 — freeholder value (Sch 6 para 3) + marriage value share (Sch 6 para 4) + any severance / injurious affection (Sch 6 para 5).
Counter-notice deadline (s.21): 10 August 2026
FTT s.24 application window: 2 months after counter-notice (earliest) — 6 months after counter-notice (deadline).

The qualifying premises and participation thresholds under LRHUDA 1993 ss.3 and 13(2) are met. The building is a single self-contained Victorian mansion block (vertical division with independent services). Eleven of twelve flats are held by qualifying tenants under long leases (original terms 99 / 125 years from 1985-1990); nine flats are participating, exceeding the one-half participation threshold under s.13(2). Non-residential floor area is 18%, well within the LFRA 2024 50% ceiling commenced 3 March 2025. The proposed premium of £742,000 is calculated on Sch 6 principles: freeholder value capitalising ground rent at 6% with reversion deferred at the Sportelli 5% rate for flats; marriage value share at 50% for flats with unexpired terms of 59-64 years (below the 80-year Sch 6 para 4(2A) threshold); no Sch 6 para 5 compensation as no retained adjoining property. The marriage value abolition under LFRA 2024 has not yet been commenced (October 2025 High Court JR dismissed; secondary legislation pending). FTT Property Chamber jurisdiction under s.24 reserved in the event terms cannot be agreed within 2 months of any counter-notice.

(A) SELF-CONTAINED BUILDING / PART. Under LRHUDA 1993 s.3 the premises must be a self-contained building or a self-contained part of a building. A part is self-contained where it constitutes a vertical division of the building, the structure permits independent redevelopment, and the prescribed conditions on services are satisfied. Hartwood Court is a single Victorian mansion block constructed 1898 on a single demised plot. There is no vertical or horizontal connection with any adjoining building. The building has its own independent gas, water, electricity and drainage supplies (no shared services). A marked-up Land Registry plan (Title NGL482917) is annexed at Appendix 1 with the freehold extent highlighted; the structural surveyor report (Hawkins Brown LLP, 12 May 2026) at Appendix 2 confirms vertical division and independent redevelopment potential. The s.3 self-contained building test is satisfied.

(B) TWO-THIRDS QUALIFYING TENANTS. Under s.3(1)(b) the premises must contain two or more flats held by qualifying tenants and at least two-thirds of the total flats must be so held. The arithmetic: 11 of 12 flats are held by qualifying tenants (the two-thirds threshold is 8). The two-thirds threshold under s.3(1)(b) requires at least 8 of 12 flats to be held by qualifying tenants. The actual count is 11 of 12, comfortably exceeding the threshold. Flat 7 is held by Westmorland Freehold Investments Limited (the freeholder) on its own account and is therefore not held by a qualifying tenant. The remaining 11 flats are let on long leases originally granted for 99 or 125 years from various dates between 1985 and 1990, all of which were originally granted for terms exceeding 21 years and so meet the s.5 long lease definition.

(C) NON-RESIDENTIAL CEILING — LFRA 2024 EXPANSION. Under s.4 (with Sch 6) the internal floor area used for non-residential purposes must not exceed the statutory ceiling. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 raised the ceiling from 25% to 50%, with the relevant provisions in force from 3 March 2025 (Commencement No 2 Regulations 2025). The premises non-residential percentage is 18%. The non-residential floor area comprises (i) Flat 3 (ground floor, currently let to Wadsworth Investments as a serviced office under a 5-year commercial lease — 142 m²) and (ii) the basement caretaker / plant area (28 m²). Total non-residential = 170 m². Total internal floor area = 944 m². Non-residential percentage = 18%. This is comfortably below the 50% ceiling under LFRA 2024 (in force from 3 March 2025) and would also have been below the prior 25% ceiling under LRHUDA 1993. A measured floor area schedule by Cushman and Wakefield (15 May 2026) is at Appendix 3.

(D) QUALIFYING TENANT TITLE — LFRA 2024 + WELLCOME TRUST. Under s.5 a qualifying tenant is a tenant under a long lease (term certain exceeding 21 years on grant). The 2-year prior-ownership requirement was removed by LFRA 2024 with effect from 31 January 2025 — qualifying tenants now qualify from day one of ownership. Per Wellcome Trust Ltd v Baulackey [2010] 1 EGLR 125 the legal ownership cascade still requires proof of title (registered proprietor or equivalent assignment evidence). Land Registry official copies for each of the 11 qualifying tenant titles are annexed at Appendix 4. All titles are registered. The 2-year prior-ownership requirement under the former s.5(2) was removed by LFRA 2024 with effect from 31 January 2025, so the recent purchasers (Flats 5 and 9, both completed in March 2026) qualify from day one of ownership. Per Wellcome Trust Ltd v Baulackey [2010] 1 EGLR 125 the ownership cascade for unregistered titles requires assignment evidence; this issue does not arise here as all 11 qualifying titles are registered.

Matrix narrative:
All four limbs of the qualifying conditions matrix are satisfied with documented evidence. The Tribunal is invited to admit the right to enfranchise in any counter-notice and to focus the FTT s.24 process (if any) on price-only issues.

(A) FREEHOLDER VALUE — Sch 6 para 3. The freeholder's interest is valued by capitalising the ground rent stream over the residual term, then deferring the reversionary value of the freehold (subject to the lessees' leases) to a present value using a deferment rate. The freeholder value comprises (i) capitalisation of the ground rent stream (varying ground rents £150-£300 per flat per annum, capitalised at 6.0% yield) and (ii) reversion value of the freehold subject to the existing leases, deferred at the Sportelli 5% rate for the residual term. The total freehold value (vacant possession of reversion £4.85m × deferment factor) is £294,000. Detailed calculations by Allsop LLP (RICS-registered, Red Book) at Appendix 7.

(B) DEFERMENT RATE — SPORTELLI v CADOGAN [2008] UKHL 71. The House of Lords held that the appropriate generic deferment rates are 4.75% for HOUSES and 5% for FLATS. These rates apply nationally unless real-world evidence of comparable transactions supports a different rate. Outside prime central London (PCL), an additional risk premium may apply per Zuckerman v Trustees of the Calthorpe Estate [2009] UKUT 235 (LC). The Lords also rejected "hope value" as a separate head of compensation. The proposed deferment rate is 5% for the flats element, following Sportelli v Cadogan [2008] UKHL 71. The freeholder has not indicated any non-PCL premium argument; if raised, Zuckerman v Trustees of the Calthorpe Estate [2009] UKUT 235 (LC) would be applied. The Sportelli rate is treated as the starting point and rebuttable only on real-world evidence. Hope value is expressly rejected as a separate head of compensation per the Lords' express ruling in Sportelli.

(C) RELATIVITY — MUNDY v SLOANE STANLEY ESTATE [2018] EWCA Civ 35. The Court of Appeal upheld the rejection of the Parthenia hedonic regression model and approved reliance on real-world market evidence. Practitioners typically use a hierarchy of graphs (Gerald Eve / Savills / Beckett and Kay) cross-checked with comparable transactions. The relativity input determines the lessees' existing-interest value and, through that, the marriage value calculation. The relativity input reflects the average unexpired term across the participating leases (61 years weighted by floor area). Reliance is placed on the Gerald Eve graph (real-world transactions methodology approved in Mundy v Trustees of Sloane Stanley Estate [2018] EWCA Civ 35) cross-checked with three comparable transactions of short-leasehold flats in NW London 2024-2026 (schedule at Appendix 5). The relativity applied is 87.4%. The Parthenia hedonic regression model is not used (rejected in Mundy as inconsistent with real-world evidence).

(D) MARRIAGE VALUE — Sch 6 para 4 + LFRA 2024 ABOLITION CONTEXT. Marriage value is the increase in value of the lessees' interests on merger with the freehold. The freeholder's share is fixed at not less than 50% (in practice 50% for unexpired terms below 80 years; nil where the unexpired term exceeds 80 years per Sch 6 para 4(2A)). LFRA 2024 abolishes marriage value entirely on commencement. As of June 2026 the abolition provisions have NOT yet been commenced — the High Court dismissed the freeholders' judicial review in October 2025, clearing the path forward, but secondary legislation is required. Until commencement, marriage value continues to apply on the current Sch 6 para 4 basis. Marriage value applies on the current LRHUDA Sch 6 para 4 basis because the LFRA 2024 abolition provisions have not yet been commenced (as of June 2026). The unexpired terms of all 11 participating leases are below the 80-year Sch 6 para 4(2A) threshold (range 59-64 years), so marriage value is engaged. The freeholder share is taken at the statutory minimum 50%. The total marriage value calculation is at Appendix 6. Practitioners should monitor LFRA 2024 commencement regulations: if commenced before the counter-notice is served, marriage value would be removed from the calculation, reducing the premium accordingly.

Premium narrative:
Aggregate proposed premium: freeholder value £294,000 + marriage value share £448,000 = £742,000. The premium is contingent on LFRA 2024 marriage value abolition not being commenced before completion; if commenced, marriage value is removed and the premium reduces to approximately £294,000 (subject to revised relativity inputs if any).

(A) PRESCRIBED CONTENT — s.13. The initial notice must specify: (i) the premises (with plan); (ii) the proposed purchase price; (iii) the participating qualifying tenants and their flats; (iv) the appointed reversioner; (v) the nominee purchaser; (vi) the counter-notice deadline (not less than 2 months from service); and (vii) any property over which the tenants seek rights of access / use. This s.13 notice contains all prescribed elements: (i) premises specification with plan (Appendix 1); (ii) proposed premium £742,000 (Section A); (iii) participating tenants schedule (Appendix 4); (iv) appointed reversioner identified (Westmorland Freehold Investments Limited); (v) nominee purchaser identified (Hartwood Court RTE Company Limited); (vi) counter-notice deadline 10 August 2026 (2 months + 1 day buffer from 9 June 2026 service date); and (vii) ancillary rights sought over the courtyard for refuse storage (annexed plan).

(B) COUNTER-NOTICE — s.21. The reversioner must serve a counter-notice by the deadline specified in the s.13 notice (>= 2 months). The counter-notice must (i) admit or dispute the right; (ii) accept the tenants' proposed price or counter-propose; (iii) set out other terms in dispute (e.g. excluded property, lease-back of non-qualifying parts). A failure to serve a valid counter-notice within the deadline can result in a deemed acquisition on the tenants' proposed terms (subject to court application under s.25). The freeholder Westmorland is expected to dispute (a) the deferment rate (likely to argue 5.25-5.5% for the location); (b) relativity (likely Savills graph at 84-85%); and (c) marriage value share (likely 50% statutory minimum challenge if any commencement regulations land). The right itself is unlikely to be disputed given the documented qualifying conditions. The nominee purchaser will engage promptly with the counter-notice and seek Pre-Action negotiation with valuation submissions exchanged.

(C) FTT APPLICATION — s.24. Where the right is admitted but terms cannot be agreed within 2 months of the counter-notice, either party may apply to the FTT (Property Chamber) under s.24 — application must be made any time after the 2-month negotiation window and within 6 months of the counter-notice. Failure to apply within the 6-month window can cause the claim to lapse. If terms cannot be agreed within 2 months of the counter-notice, application will be made to the FTT Property Chamber under s.24 within month 3 of the counter-notice (well within the 6-month window). Issues for FTT determination would be (i) deferment rate; (ii) relativity; (iii) marriage value share (if not abolished by then). Joint expert directions will be sought where possible to control costs.

Procedure narrative:
The procedure timetable is: 9 June 2026 s.13 notice → 10 August 2026 counter-notice deadline → 10 August - 10 October 2026 negotiation window → from 10 October 2026 FTT s.24 application open (closing 10 February 2027). The nominee purchaser intends to complete acquisition within 12 months of notice service.

(A) APPLICABLE RULES — SI 2013/1169. The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013 govern FTT Property Chamber procedure. Key rules: rule 6 case management; rule 13 cost regime (FTT may award costs for unreasonable behaviour, otherwise no costs follow the event); rule 19 expert evidence; rule 31 oral hearings.

(B) TRACK SELECTION. ORAL HEARING — formal hearing before the Tribunal with witnesses, expert evidence and submissions. The Tribunal directs the appropriate track at case management.

(C) EXPERT VALUATION EVIDENCE. PARTY-APPOINTED EXPERTS — each side instructs its own RICS-registered valuer; tribunal weighs competing evidence. Each valuer should be RICS-registered, comply with RICS Red Book valuation standards, and give independent opinion under CPR Part 35 principles (applied analogously in the FTT).

(D) COSTS POSITION — Rule 13. The FTT does not generally award costs except for unreasonable behaviour (e.g. late evidence, refusal to engage, weak case persistently pursued). Each side typically bears its own costs. Each party expected to bear its own costs under rule 13. The nominee purchaser does not anticipate any unreasonable behaviour claim absent provocation. A Calderbank settlement offer at £680,000 will be made shortly after the counter-notice to crystallise the costs position if Westmorland persists in a £900,000+ contention.

(E) UPPER TRIBUNAL (LANDS CHAMBER) APPEAL. Appeal to the Upper Tribunal lies on a point of law only and requires permission. The procedure is: (i) first apply to the FTT for permission to appeal; (ii) if refused, apply to the UT (Lands Chamber) within 14 days of the FTT refusal under SI 2010/2600 rule 21 of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) (Lands Chamber) Rules 2010. Late applications require permission for an extension of time. Cart-style judicial review of UT permission refusals is severely restricted following R (Cart) v Upper Tribunal [2011] UKSC 28 and section 2 of the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022. If either party seeks to appeal the FTT determination, permission must first be sought from the FTT, and if refused, from the UT (Lands Chamber) within 14 days under SI 2010/2600 rule 21. Likely grounds in this matter would be misapplication of Sportelli / Mundy or LFRA 2024 commencement interpretation. Cart-style judicial review of UT permission refusals is now severely restricted following R (Cart) v UT [2011] UKSC 28 and s.2 Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 — full appellate route via FTT then UT is the practical route.

Procedure narrative:
The nominee purchaser proposes an oral hearing track with party-appointed valuers (Allsop LLP for the nominee; freeholder valuer TBC). Estimated hearing duration: 1 day. The bundle will include valuation reports, comparable transaction schedules, Sportelli / Mundy authorities, and the LFRA 2024 commencement position paper.

The nominee purchaser encloses with this notice:

   (a) plan of the premises identifying the freehold to be acquired and any property over which rights of access / use are sought;
   (b) schedule of participating qualifying tenants with flat references;
   (c) certificate of incorporation of the RTE Company and copy of Articles;
   (d) brief valuation note supporting the proposed premium under Sch 6;
   (e) Land Registry official copies for each participating tenant title;
   (f) (where applicable) RICS-registered valuer report.