How to buy our loft freehold from a trust

[pandarific]

Sticky one - we own a first floor 1 bed flat in a late Victorian house. It was bought from the landlord who apparently had a large portfolio and wanted to jettison a few properties, and the chap downstairs rents his place from a different landlord.

We'd love to buy the freehold for the loft and go up into it, but it's apparently in a trust fund split between 2-3 people, we're gathering the adult children of the landlord.

We thought they might want to sell the whole freehold or the loft freehold as they don't actually make any money out of the ground rent - it's all been paid up. However, we've sent two letters, one directly to their address (which we were given, but may not be the up to date), and a second one which went to their lawyers, and nada.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anything we can try? Would a gift like a fruit basket sent to the lawyers for the family have a better chance of getting through to them, or a reaction?

I think the fruit basket might look slightly unhinged . You have a right to buy the freehold if you have a lease that covers 50% of the building so I would instruct a specialist company to act on your behalf (lots of them will come up if you google). They will be more persistent and know what to do if there is no response. If you can get the owner of the downstairs flat on board too, that will help but, if not, it is perfectly possible to do it alone.

Definitely talk to a specialist. Even if you buy the whole freehold you might not have the right to the loft as it will be marked as communal space in the leases (doesn't matter if only you have access). So you'll probably have to pay the downstairs flat to make it part of your floorspace.