Examines circumstances in which the leasehold enfranchisement of a flat under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 ss39 and 56 is not straightforward and involves valuation issues which can call into question the usual legal interpretation of the 1993 Act. Looks at the problems dealing with the headlease (usually owned by a company) to a block of flats where new underleases to individual flats are to be granted by the freeholder as only competent landlord and considers the sparse guidance offered by the Act in this matter. Rent reviews are provided on an unpredictable basis with a real risk that the premium paid to the intermediate leaseholder will not enable future head rents to be met. Suggests as a way of obviating the complexities and distortions of applying the Act that whenever an individual lease is extended, the rent of any headlease is treated as being commuted pro tanto but concludes that it is difficult to get this from the Act.