It's entirely up to the Council whether they would sell you the Freehold of the building. If not, you would be offered a Leasehold only.
In my experience, ground floor is not normally treated differently........
but .......... it will depend on the terms of the Management Agreement that would come with a Leasehold arrangement.
There is a legal framework covering the whole process. Although, details regarding leaseholders' obligations etc can be different every time. It just depends on what the conditions are in the Agreement.