We bought a house eleven years ago and leased half an acre of garden from the house next door. We had a ten-year agreement paying £50 a year. We spent a lot of money turning it into a garden, but we have just been informed that the land has been sold to a firm in London. Shouldn’t we have had first refusal?
No. I presume that your lease on the garden plot wasn’t in any way connected with your house purchase. In that case the landlord was free to sell the land or re-lease it at the end of the ten year term as he or she saw fit. If there are plans to build on the land it may have been prohibitively expensive in any case, although there’s nothing to stop you approaching the London firm with an offer even at this stage.