About myfreehold
Valuation and legal advice for freeholders, delivered by two established firms working as one.
Why this site exists
Leasehold has been argued over for a long time, and the argument is usually conducted as though there were only one side to it. There are two, and both are made up of people with legitimate interests.
Freeholders are not a single type. Many are former leaseholders who enfranchised and now find themselves wearing both hats, owning the freehold of a building in which they also hold a flat. Others built or converted a development and retained an interest in it. Others again took a commercial risk to acquire a reversion, and are entitled to the return on it that the law allows. Some are charities and trusts holding property for purposes that have nothing to do with property at all.
What they have in common is that they hold an interest in a building, they carry obligations in respect of it, and they operate in a legislative environment that grows more rigorous with each passing year. The great majority try to run their buildings well and keep reasonable relationships with the people living in them.
That is not the picture usually painted. Public discussion of leasehold has not been generous to landlords for some years, and the coverage rarely distinguishes between those who deserve criticism and those who do not. We take no position on any of it. Our job is not to judge our clients but to advise them accurately, protect their interests properly, and see that they are treated fairly under the law as it stands.
myfreehold exists to give freeholders somewhere to go for that. It is a joint enterprise between Blakes Chartered Surveyors and Arcadia Law — a RICS-regulated valuation practice and an SRA-regulated law firm, run together and instructed together.
Acting for both sides, and what that means
Between them, Blakes and Arcadia act for leaseholders and freeholders alike. We do not present that as a compromise, because it is the opposite.
A valuer who only ever sees one side of an argument learns one set of arguments. A valuer who has argued the case both ways knows which points carry weight before a tribunal and which are posturing — and can therefore tell you, early and candidly, whether a position is worth holding. That is what produces a commercially realistic result rather than a theoretical one.
What it does not mean is divided loyalty. Where we are retained by a freeholder, we act for that freeholder. Conflicts are checked before any instruction is accepted, and no matter is taken where one exists.
We are apolitical about leasehold. Reform will be what Parliament decides it will be. Our responsibility is to understand it precisely, explain it plainly, and make sure our clients are not disadvantaged by misunderstanding it.
Why the dual role matters
01
One instruction, not two
You appoint once. The valuation and the legal work run in parallel from day one, rather than a solicitor waiting on a surveyor who was instructed a fortnight later.
02
No handover, no gaps
The valuer who assesses the premium and the solicitor who drafts the counter-notice sit in the same conversation. Nothing is lost in translation, and no one is working from a summary of someone else’s report.
03
Deadlines are held in one place
Statutory timetables are unforgiving. When one team holds the file, the counter-notice date is not something each side assumes the other is watching.
04
Costs are documented properly
Recoverable costs are frequently reduced because they are poorly evidenced. Running both sides of the work means the schedule is built as the matter progresses, not reconstructed afterwards.
Experience in this sector
Together the two firms bring over fifty years’ combined specialist experience in leasehold reform valuation and legal practice, across lease extensions, collective enfranchisement, freehold acquisition and compulsory purchase, acting for leaseholders and freeholders alike. Its surveyors are RICS Registered Valuers and members of ALEP, and give expert evidence before the First-tier Tribunal.
Arcadia Law handles the legal side of the same work: notices and counter-notices, conveyancing on completion, deeds of variation, licences and the documentation that follows.
That combined experience matters most in the situations that are not straightforward — a missing landlord, a deceased freeholder, a building with substantial commercial content, development value that the leaseholder’s valuer has not identified, or a claim that does not qualify at all.
Who we are built to serve
The site is built for clients who want a firm on retainer rather than a supplier on call — representation across the whole picture, not a quote for a single transaction.
Corporate and institutional owners
Property companies and investment vehicles holding reversions at scale, where consents, claims and reviews arrive continually and need handling consistently rather than case by case.
Housing associations and registered providers
Where governance requires that decisions are evidenced, and where certain leasebacks and statutory obligations apply that do not apply to private landlords.
Charities and trusts
Holding property as endowment or for a charitable purpose, where trustees must be able to show that value has been properly protected.
Resident freehold companies
Where the leaseholders have enfranchised and now hold the freehold together, and the directors are neighbours making decisions about one another.
Developers retaining an interest
Following a new build or conversion, where leases were granted at different times and the reversion needs managing rather than forgetting.
Private investors and portfolio landlords
From a single reversion to a substantial portfolio, where the interest is an investment and should be treated as one.
The purpose of a retained relationship is that the intricacies, the pitfalls and the shifting legislative landscape become our problem rather than yours. You keep the decisions. We handle everything that leads up to them, so you can get on with whatever it is you actually do.
The two firms
Chartered Surveyors and RICS Registered Valuers. Valuation of freehold reversions, premium assessment, negotiation and expert evidence.
Regulated by RICS
Specialist property solicitors. Notices, counter-notices, conveyancing, variations and consents.
Regulated by the SRA
Discuss an instruction
Whether you have been served with a notice, are considering a disposal, or hold a portfolio and want a single point of contact for valuation and legal work, we would be glad to talk.
Valuation
Blakes Surveyors Ltd
Company no. 9184264
RICS regulated firm no. 752265
Legal
Arcadia Law Ltd
Company no. 10043933
SRA no. 629605
myfreehold is a joint enterprise between Blakes Surveyors Ltd, regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and Arcadia Law Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 629605). Both companies are registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: 15 Approach Road, Raynes Park, London SW20 8BA
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