Right of First Refusal

Hello,

I received a letter recently telling me that the company who owned the freehold was sold to another party. The two companies have never had any previous connection.

Obviously when a freeholder sells their interest, a right of refusal should be made to qualifying tenants. However, does the rule still apply if one company is taken over by another? My reading of the Leasehold Advisory Service website is that this is still treated as a disposal as it says the following:

The majority of disposals will trigger the Right of First Refusal, but some are exempt:

Disposal to an associated company: this is where the interest is transferred as an asset to another company, which has been associated with the parent company for at least two years. Therefore, for example, a landlord which is a company may transfer its freehold of a block of flats to an associated company. Tenants are not able to exercise the RFR in this case, but should investigate, through the Registrar of Companies, that the associated company has been associated for the requisite two years prior to the transfer.

The implication I'm taking is anything moving from one company to another is classed as a disposal unless it has been associated for the previous two years.


Any views?

Thanks in advance!