UKC

Hi guys,

Quick one. My flat is leasehold (Victorian terrace with the top owning the freehold). The front hall is communal and my door goes off to the left and theirs straight ahead.

Basically my front door is a lightweight, cheap, white old thing covered in black marks and grime (like theirs). I decided to spruce it up a bit by adding some beading and painting it.

I noticed today there is a pipe leaking from my freeholders flat (they rent it out) in to my garden. It's just a sink waste pipe and the leak is at a join. So I emailed to ask them if they'd like me to nip up and fix it. Save them the time of them coming over or the cost of a plumber. Also dropped in that I am doing my front door and if they'd like their rental one done too then it'd be my pleasure.

Their reply told me that I must not change anything in the communal area without their permission. Nothing else. No reference to the pipe. Haha!

Obviously this all depends on the contracts but as a rule of thumb presumably my front door would count as part of the 'communal area'?

Thanks in advance.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

I take it you are the Leaseholder on your property (not renting it from the leaseholder?)

Might be time to get the lease out and review it.

Whilst it is visible from the communal area, I doubt the door is included within the communal area. Apart from anything else, if it became damaged from the inside you would be expected to replace it I presume (and you can't just replace one side of a door).

You may well find that the freeholder isn't keeping the communal areas in the state they should judging by your description. Most Lease/Freehold agreements are very specific on the maintenance required to communal areas and the frequency required.

Keep a log of your correspondence.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

You'll need to check your individual lease. The door is likely to be your own, but there can be various requirements around appearance and upkeep that affect the communal area.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

I am the leaseholder, yes.

Will take a look when I get home. But thank you for the advice, you have confirmed my common sense thoughts, but as we know... leases aren't always common sense!

In reply to hamsforlegs:

Ok, thank you very much. Will update you both when I know more but suspicions confirmed.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

Found this part of my lease... I am very unfamiliar with this kind of thing but I assume this means the external surfaces of the doors are not mine?

http://i.imgur.com/x0CVpsY.jpg

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

It seems you have a bigger problem - your property has demised.

So it seems you can change or modify your door but the surface is not yours. Presumably this means its the freeholders obligation to maintain (repaint) said door.

What does it say in terms of maintenance of communal areas?

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Thanks for the reply again. Appreciate it.

This is all I can find... http://i.imgur.com/b91fd3a.jpg

I don't really understand what 'demised' means. I thought that just meant I was a leaseholder?

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:
Do you know when it was last repainted? How about cleaned?

According to that page it should be repainted not less often than every 4 years and should be kept clean

Assuming its been longer than that I would refer the freeholder to this part of the lease and ask them to dispense their duties asap. I would also demand the pipe is fixed with a wording along the lines of "I politely offered to do this work at my own expense, but seeing as your response ignored one complaint and seemed to infer the terms of the contract would be breached if I did so has lead me to re read the lease and to believe that your are not dispensing your duties as the freeholder."

Be strong and firm with them, but keep it polite and factual.

See what response you get before taking anything further. Do you have a managing agent for the building? It could well be them at fault if you do. If you pay any kind of maintenance fee you should get an annual report discussing the spending of said money.

Again keep a copy of anything sent or received

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Thank you very much for the advice.

It's all very interesting and not the nicest situation. I get on well with the freeholders husband but am yet to meet her herself. She works part time for the NHS and is always 'too busy' to drop in.

The problems began quite early on when she tried to charge me a bill owed by the previous owner for painting works completed and paid for in the weeks prior to my purchase. On the advice of my solicitor I reminded them this bill was not my responsibility. Not only that, they lied to the cost of the painting. Despite this she kept sending her husband over (clearly he didn't want to come) to push for the money. It was insane.

It seems to me like the woman is trying to punish me for this. She claimed she couldn't sleep because of the stress of the unpaid bill (c. £500). She lives in a £2m house in Dulwich Village and the property above mine that they own rents out at £1600 a month.

However, if they really are short of money then why get so arsey about me volunteering to spruce up the communal area and fix their leaky pipe for free? All very strange.

I might look in to buying the freehold. Presumably given it's a Victorian terrace and my flat is the ground floor, the legal route should I force them would go down the lines of a shared freehold?

Thanks again for your help.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

It is normal to have to get permission to change a door etc. In bigger places, this only tends to be an issue because of fire regs. In your place, you might want to check these, but presumably the freeholder will be OK if you make a sensible proposal to fit something nice?

On the pipe, we might be in danger here of skipping a step. Why not get in touch along the lines of: 'Thanks, I'll look at some options for the door and get back to you. I gather from your email that you would prefer me to not to deal with the leak on your behalf - please do let me know when this will be fixed. Let me know if I can help - I would naturally like this resolved as soon as possible'.

That let's them know that you aren't going to be fobbed off and have now reverted to standard procedure. It also puts you on firmer ground if they act like arses. That would be the time to get in touch and note that the general maintenance has fallen a bit behind and you would like it done. Remember that you will have to pay for your share of this!

My own (leaseholder) landlady recently purchased her freehold - it seemed very complicated, but probably worth looking into if you like the property and are planning to hang on to it?

In reply to hamsforlegs:

Thanks for the help. Appreciated. I'll admit I made a mistake by not asking permission to paint the door. Sadly I can't afford to change the door since it's a fire door so I just decided to glue some beading to the front and paint it white (as it was before) while adding some small brass numbers. Managed to get the freeholders husband to agree to coming over this evening to fix the pipe and discuss maintenance of common area. He’s pretty good in all honesty.

She’s just a bit grating with the tone of her emails. I don’t think she likes me much! Previous leaseholders have all rented it out and don’t give a f*ck about how it looks.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

In all fairness, you may well be in the wrong about the £500. It depends on the terms of the lease.

You're definitely wrong about having an entitlement to paint your front door, etc. Although mind you if you don't say anything it's not terribly likely anyone will notice or care. Might be a bit late for that, I guess.

Most landlords don't like tenants messing about doing work and stuff in the common parts. It's all part of landlords and tenants both thinking they own the building.

You don't have any right to buy the freehold by the sounds of the situation, I'm afraid.

You've had some good advice already but I'd curb your indignation. You aren't nearly so much in the right as you think. Welcome to leasehold ownership.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Hi John,

Regarding the £500. I mentioned higher in the thread that I was advised by my solicitor that this was not my responsibility. I wasnt party to the contract and didn't agree the works. They were started before I had even seen the house in a picture or knew it was for sale and finished before I took ownership. It's extremely clear cut. Yet they still bully me regarding it.

Regarding the door. Yes, totally. I agree I was wrong. I added beading and brass numbers without the landlords consent.

Regarding the freehold. I don't understand why I wouldn't have the right? Obviously I must own it for two years, other than that I don't see a restriction under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act to purchase my share.

Thanks.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

>I don't understand why I wouldn't have the right?

Well, it's unlikely the building contains two qualifying tenants, unless the landlords have for some reason granted themselves a lease of the upstairs flat. And even if it does I have an idea that where the building has exactly two flats they both need to participate, though I haven't checked. You can see why, otherwise one could buy, then the other, and so on. If you google LEASE collective enfranchisement you'll find a page that spells it all out.

>I mentioned higher in the thread that I was advised by my solicitor that this was not my responsibility

And I'm sure your solicitor was right, although conveyancing solicitors aren't always. Quite often though this sort of sum is only payable on demand, and if so then it's payable by the tenant at the time of the demand, irrespective of when the work was done or agreed.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:


Thanks John, I will look in to that.


Fortunately the solicitor who advised isn't a conveying solicitor (though my conveyancing solicitor also advised the same).

Thanks for your help. It really is appreciated.