Who pays for rising damp repair - freeholder or me?

highpriestess

Hi there,

I'm not sure if this is the most appropriate board for this question, so apologies if it's not. But if anyone has any experience of freeholder / leaseholder responsibilities, knows the answer or has some advice on this issue, I'd appreciate it please.

I have a 99 year lease on a ground floor flat (house converted into two flats - upstairs is also LH).

At the back of the house, two structural external walls are blighted with damp - there is black and white fluffy mould and a shadow about 2.5ft high on the interior of the wall.

I've had a couple of people round to look at it and both diagnosed rising damp. The solution is either tanking the room / injecting the walls with some stuff, and then replastering both walls.

The question is, am I responsible for the cost of repairing this or is the freeholder?

My lease states that services to be provided by the 'Landlord' include "repairing the roof, main structure and foundations of the building".

My lease covers the "interior faces of the ceilings, floors and main structural walls". I pay a ground rent of £200 per year BUT no service charges.

The freeholder is not particularly co-operative and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to enforce the contract if it is his responsibility! But I'd like as many good arguments up my sleeve as possible to try and counteract any attempts to wheedle out of responsibility.

Many thanks,

HP

macman

Since rising damp comes from the foundations or through the external walls, it would seem clear that the freeholder is responsible.
The work that is required internally is presumably as a result of the landlord's failure to maintain the outer structure.

Doozergirl

A freeholder is never responsible for paying for anything. So whilst the responsibility is theirs to organise and to keep the structure in good repair, the cost is always shared by the leaseholders.

House buying board will confirm this.

https://www.lease-advice.org is an invaluable source on leasehold property.