Legal advice on Flat with stubborn freeholder

bitsandpieces

Keep in mind, though, that you're buying a place with a known unhelpful freeholder and a neighbour who is likely to be irritated with you before you move in :eek: Depends how good a deal it is - but I would want a fair discount off usual prices to take something in these circumstances.

gman20_2

bitsandpieces wrote: »

Keep in mind, though, that you're buying a place with a known unhelpful freeholder and a neighbour who is likely to be irritated with you before you move in :eek: Depends how good a deal it is - but I would want a fair discount off usual prices to take something in these circumstances.

It's currently discounted about £20K. With a little renovation I could sell it with a tidy profit. But I would likely do all the work then just live in it with minimal mortgage and maximum expendable income.
And like I said, there isn't much that she could do to me to really stress me out.
I'll send her a request, in person, for details (And disputes) and record her reaction with a hidden video camera (Likely reaction will be to rip it up in front of me). That should give me enough evidence to not have to pay any dispute she tries to argue with me since I requested details..
Thats the only way she could cause me stress.
And finally, if it comes to annoying each other I'm sure she'll like the subs that I'll attach to my ceiling.

Grovester_2

what about all the noise you are making?

Grovester_2

gman20 wrote: »

It's currently discounted about £20K. With a little renovation I could sell it with a tidy profit. But I would likely do all the work then just live in it with minimal mortgage and maximum expendable income.
And like I said, there isn't much that she could do to me to really stress me out.
I'll send her a request, in person, for details (And disputes) and record her reaction with a hidden video camera (Likely reaction will be to rip it up in front of me). That should give me enough evidence to not have to pay any dispute she tries to argue with me since I requested details..
Thats the only way she could cause me stress.
And finally, if it comes to annoying each other I'm sure she'll like the subs that I'll attach to my ceiling.

Right so now there's an open dispute (noise) when you come to sell so no one buys it, how does that effect your tidy profit?

gman20_2

Grovester wrote: »

what about all the noise you are making?

Anything she can complain about me for, I can do the same.

Grovester_2

gman20 wrote: »

Anything she can complain about me for, I can do the same.

Yes and this makes the property unsaleable in the future!

gman20_2

Grovester wrote: »

Right so now there's an open dispute (noise) when you come to sell so no one buys it, how does that effect your tidy profit?

Can you give me more detail on what an open dispute actually means?
I can't find any info on the web about them. Why do they even matter?
If the person who originally caused the problem has moved out, then why does the next owner take it on?

Grovester_2

When you sell a property you have to declare open issues (disputes) you have concerning the property.

For example, flat one complains about the noise in flat 2. This is not resolved so escalates to a dispute. Now flat 2 decide to sell, they have to disclose the fact that there have been noise complaints, if these complaints were say creaking floorboards then it may be a case the new buyers would only proceed if new floorboards were laid in flat 2 at the sellers expense. Even then there is nothing to say a new problem does not arise and it becomes apparant that it is the neighbour that is the problem and most people won't want to knowingly buy a property with a difficult neighbour.

gman20_2

Hmm, well wouldn't the freeholder want to declare these disputes if she had them?
To put buyers off?
Surely by not giving anyone anything all she's doing is proving she doesn't have any disputes.
What are the legal ramifications of a dispute? What's wrong with just ignoring them.

Edit: Would buying the freeholder/other flats land registry shed any light on the matter?

Grovester_2

It's not the freeholder it's the seller who discloses this information. There may well be no disputes (it may be the seller does not want to open a dispute in case it puts buyers off!).

What I'm saying is the freeholder is being difficult here, you want to buy the property knowing there could be tension between you and the other flat (if indeed the freeholder lives there), this could lead to a dispute which could effect the resale of your flat.

You cannot ignore them if there is a dispute you must declare it to your buyer, thusly putting them off, if you fail to do so they buyer can sue you. I'm not sure how a it's mediated during the process, I guess whoever complains does so to the freeholder/management co and if it's not resolved goes to a solicitor.

In my case when buying my flat it transpired that there was a dispute about an old car the sellers were fixing up. Residents had complained as it seemed abandoned. Obviously in this case the dispute was resolved by me buying the flat and the car going with the vendor. If the problem was with noise etc. I would be worried that I would have to pay for remedial work to reduce the footfall noise etc. hence I would have been put off buying it.