As with so many things the answer is may be!
Many Freeholds are owned by a Company in which the tenants hold the shares.
When the Company was set up to buy the freehold often the tenants will grant new long leases as part of the purchase process and have their articles of association changed to set out their entitlement to leases. The lease terms are often different lengths and values so you could have £1 voting shares and then separate non voting shares for the payments above the £1 at the time the company buys the Freehold.
In order to offer free extensions in the future the company would be set up as a Bare Trust for the tenants/nominees, this could allow the company to issue free lease extensions.
However, if this wasn’t done then a company would normally be expected to charge arms length market prices for leases or for the lease to be taxable on the tenant as a distribution or benefit.
