LTA 1987 gives long lessees the right of first refusal if L intends to dispose of his interest. 


Sometimes L will own a piece of land adjacent to the block of flats and wants to know whether he can deal with that without the provisions of LTA 1987 applying. 


If L can show that the whole of that piece of land does not have service media under it (and never will have) then the block of flats will not normally be ‘affected’ by the disposal of that land, and so the disposal will not need to comply with LTA 1987. On the other hand, if there are service media under it then the block of flats will be ‘affected’. 


If L does have to comply with LTA 1987 in selling that piece of land (because of the current, or future, existence of service media under the land) then L can avoid the need for such compliance by transferring the land to an associated company. The associated company will need to have been associated with the L for at least two years immediately prior to the transfer, in which case the transfer to the associated company will fall outside LTA 1987. Once the transfer has been completed, the associated company can sell the land to a third party without needing to comply with LTA 1987 since the associated company will not be the immediate L of the qualifying Ts in the block of flats. Source: www.practicallaw.com (subscription service).