Anyone familiar with Leasehold disputes?

[~Craig~]

Basically I own a leashold flat and there is another flat below, owned by another person.

The freeholder or Lessor has had a survey carried out for a schedule of works to be carried out. It contains all kinds of thinks like replacing our front door, painting the whole property, repairing any render, removing all guttering and re-fitting, checking the roof, patching a secton of flat roof, repairing some windows & laying asphalt on the entrance steps (only used for access to my flat) to cure a damp problem into the flat below.

I reckon all this stuff could add up to £15-£20k's worth of work and I don't think half of it is even necessary. A lot of the work is checking things rather than repairing a known fault; also much of it is specific to the basement flat below and not my property.

Does anyone have any advice on this? I need to respond back to the managing agent with any comments, along with a recomendation for a builder to get a quote from.

If I respond back and state why I don't think something is necessary or excessive am I likely to get anywhere?


Help! I'm planning on selling the place soon and can ill afford to waste money on this.

ta

[TheFaQQer]

Have a look here for some good information.

I used to have a leasehold flat where we had LOTS of problems with the landlord fleecing us - went to tribunal every year to get the service charges and maintenance fees capped as they were pap. Charged £500 a year for gardening - there was no garden. Charged £600 a year for communal electricity - there was one security light that came on at night. Never gave any receipts. He "bought" the freehold from his brother who got sent down for 10 years for fraud He then appointed his brother-in-law as the agent, who did nothing but charge £5000 a year to collect the rent by direct debit....

You need to get all the leaseholders together as a group to stand any chance - as soon as one person pays up, you are all deemed to have accepted the costs and you all need to pay.

IIRC, if it's over a certain amount, they need to give you multiple quotes to choose from before they carry out the work. Our landlord never did, just stuck in a "receipt" that was fake and tried to get us to pay up.

Never again, I said at the time.




I now live in a leashold house though

[~Craig~]

Have a look here for some good information.

I used to have a leasehold flat where we had LOTS of problems with the landlord fleecing us - went to tribunal every year to get the service charges and maintenance fees capped as they were pap. Charged £500 a year for gardening - there was no garden. Charged £600 a year for communal electricity - there was one security light that came on at night. Never gave any receipts. He "bought" the freehold from his brother who got sent down for 10 years for fraud He then appointed his brother-in-law as the agent, who did nothing but charge £5000 a year to collect the rent by direct debit....

You need to get all the leaseholders together as a group to stand any chance - as soon as one person pays up, you are all deemed to have accepted the costs and you all need to pay.

IIRC, if it's over a certain amount, they need to give you multiple quotes to choose from before they carry out the work. Our landlord never did, just stuck in a "receipt" that was fake and tried to get us to pay up.

Never again, I said at the time.




I now live in a leashold house though

thanks for the link. There is only one other tennant in the flat below and I've found out that she is renting; the freeholder actually owns her flat.

What i'm not clear on in how the costs are split...should it just be the shared parts i.e roof, exterior walls etc or things specific to on flat like replacing four of her windows?

[BrilloPad]

thanks for the link. There is only one other tennant in the flat below and I've found out that she is renting; the freeholder actually owns her flat.

What i'm not clear on in how the costs are split...should it just be the shared parts i.e roof, exterior walls etc or things specific to on flat like replacing four of her windows?

Does the lease say anything about this?

[~Craig~]

Does the lease say anything about this?

well no I can't see anything, it's quite vague.

It's says that the annual service charge is x......but can be increased at lessors discretion.

It also says that the lessee should contribute to additional charges but it doesn't say how much or the split between property.

Also windows aren't mentioned as an item the lessor has a responsibility to maintain either.

[TheFaQQer]

I would think that the split is 50:50 between tenants.

You may find that windows are not the responsibility of the lessee - in my case they weren't, so some replaced them with double glazing and others didn't. As soon as we sold, the new buyers had them done though (they measured up before we completed and had them on order!)

[tim123]

well no I can't see anything, it's quite vague.

It's says that the annual service charge is x......but can be increased at lessors discretion.

It also says that the lessee should contribute to additional charges but it doesn't say how much or the split between property.

Also windows aren't mentioned as an item the lessor has a responsibility to maintain either.

You expect things which are common to be split.

So the front door and the roof are common.

But individual windows are not.

It is possible that the lease will say that the windows are 'common' but on the basis of what you have said I think that this is unlikely.

HTH

tim

[TheFaQQer]

Your best best (as someone wise suggested earlier) is to talk to the guys at LEASE. It's a free advisory service who will be better able to advise than us lot.

[SueEllen]

well no I can't see anything, it's quite vague.

It's says that the annual service charge is x......but can be increased at lessors discretion.

It also says that the lessee should contribute to additional charges but it doesn't say how much or the split between property.

Also windows aren't mentioned as an item the lessor has a responsibility to maintain either.

Has the freeholder ever done any form of maintenance to the windows or window sills? Is there a window in a communal area?

The reason I'm asking is that some leases like my own specifically mention windows, there as others like where I use to live don't. However the leaseholders can change their flat windows but still have to pay to maintain communal windows even if it's just one window which they won't use because they live on a different floor.

Best advice is to go to lease-advice.org and then consult a solicitor if things still aren't clear. You may have to get your own survey done of the work needed.

[~Craig~]

Has the freeholder ever done any form of maintenance to the windows or window sills? Is there a window in a communal area?

The reason I'm asking is that some leases like my own specifically mention windows, there as others like where I use to live don't. However the leaseholders can change their flat windows but still have to pay to maintain communal windows even if it's just one window which they won't use because they live on a different floor.

Best advice is to go to lease-advice.org and then consult a solicitor if things still aren't clear. You may have to get your own survey done of the work needed.

thanks, yes i've got a solicitor looking over the lease. There aren't any communual areas as the two flats have different entrances; mine from the front steps and the other via a side entrance.