ABSTRACT
In almost every case a long leaseholder selling their leasehold interest will have to provide the buyer with what is known in the industry as a ‘management pack’. These packs contain information about the property and about property management and the relationship between the parties to the lease. Of around 1,500,000 property sales each year around 15-20% are of flats, meaning 225,000-300,000 flat sales. Based on a survey I undertook in 2024, I estimate that the average fee charged by freeholders, who are monopoly providers, is around £330 against a cap suggested by the First Tier Property Tribunal of £200. This article explores whether the level of fees charged is unreasonable and remedial possibilities. I examine five possibilities:
– That there is an implied term in the lease that the freeholder should provide the pack unconditionally, promptly and at a reasonable fee, or, possibly, at cost.
– That the term should perhaps be implied in law as a facet of this particular, peculiar, type or class of contract.
– That the correct construction of a long lease is that the freeholder must provide reasonable assistance to the leaseholder in order to facilitate efficient operation of the transfer machinery.
– That demanding a waiver of contract rights in return for the pack is lawful act duress or unconscionable conduct or both.
– That demanding a very high fee in return for the pack is lawful act duress or unconscionable conduct or both.
€ (Westlaw)
Haward Soper, ‘Long leasehold “management packs” – use and abuse’ [2025] (5) Journal of Business Law 410-428.
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