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Section 7: Failure to accept landlord's offer or to make nomination.

Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 · 1987 c. 31View on legislation.gov.uk

Our take on Section 7: Failure to accept landlord's offer or to make nomination.

Letting the deadline on a landlord's offer pass leaves qualifying tenants more protected than some guides suggest. If too few qualifying tenants accept, or they accept but name no buyer in time, the landlord then has 12 months to sell elsewhere, at a price and deposit no lower than the offer and on matching terms, or at public auction for an auction offer. In our view calling this a 12-month price freeze misleads, because the window is the only sale the offer allows. A cheaper deal, different terms or a sale after 12 months needs a fresh offer, and if the landlord skips it a majority of the tenants can, within time limits, make the buyer sell to their nominee.

Part I: Tenants' Rights of First Refusal

Where a landlord has served an offer notice on the qualifying tenants of the constituent flats and—

no acceptance notice is duly served on the landlord, or
no person is nominated for the purposes of section 6 during the protected period,

the landlord may, during the period of 12 months beginning with the end of that period, dispose of the protected interest to such person as he thinks fit, but subject to the following restrictions.

Where the offer notice was one to which section 5B applied (sale by auction), the restrictions are—

that the disposal is made by means of a sale at a public auction, and
that the other terms correspond to those specified in the offer notice.

In any other case the restrictions are—

that the deposit and consideration required are not less than those specified in the offer notice, and
that the other terms correspond to those specified in the offer notice.

The entitlement of a landlord, by virtue of this section or any other corresponding provision of this Part, to dispose of the protected interest during a specified period of 12 months extends only to a disposal of that interest, and accordingly the requirements of section 1(1) must be satisfied with respect to any other disposal by him during that period of 12 months (unless the disposal is not a relevant disposal affecting any premises to which at the time of the disposal this Part applies).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.