I want to buy my freehold, but there is one or more flats owned by the landlord that are not subject to a long lease. Can I do this?

Yes. There are two possible pathways. Assuming that the building qualifies (and don’t forget it needs to be at least 2/3 let out on long leases) then there are rights to purchase the freehold in a situation like this.

The key issue is that the purchase notice needs to offer a price that includes the value of this flat and this may seem a little off-putting as this will no doubt add hundreds of thousands of pounds to the proposed purchase price. However, don’t forget that the landlord does have a right to ask for a ‘leaseback’ of this area meaning that at the end of the process, he effectively becomes your tenant under a 999 year lease.

The landlord may not ask for this however (it is optional, not mandatory in most cases) and therefore if this situation applies to you, you will need to make sure that you have funding in place (or access to this) to be able to proceed in this way.  In a case like this specific advice is needed to ensure a successful outcome.