Freeholder demanding money in advance for repairs

[Deleted User]

The freeholder - who owns other flats in the building - is demanding money upfront for repairs. He wanted £11,500. Looking at the paperwork and taking advice from LEASE, I have a statement written and signed by freeholder, that he planned to carry out decorations to building in the next two years for which I would not be charged. I have ad the flat for 3 years and he has not yet done the work. Going through the estimates, I have taken out costs for decoration (i also discovered that contingency of £3,500 had been added twice!) I have brought my 20% share of the bill down to £5,500. The freeholder was trying to charge me for work he had said he'd do and which affected my decision to buy and the price I paid.
As the freeholder has not yet done this outstanding work, and attempted to charge me for work he'd said I would not have to pay for, I am reluctant to give him any money before work is done. He is being nasty about this and threatening to contact my building society if I drag my feet. I am tempted to suggest that unless he accepts my revised figures AND payment after completion of the work, I will trll the other two leaseholders that he had agreed to do some of the work at his own cost. They bought their flats after I bought mine. Any suggestions? I can't trust him to complete the work - he also included in the estimates repairs to the interiors of his own flats in the building - these costs I have also removed from my revised estimate.
What happens to contingency sums in this kind of work? How can I check if they are legitimately used? How can I check thhat the money I pay will be used for roof and common parts and not for his repairs?

lemontart

Have you pointed this out to him. also what other work is he proposing to do as you would want to see estimates etc and then only pay on completetion direct to builders etc ..........tell him you are saving him the hassle of banking waiting to clear etc by paying direct. Then in work carries guarantees you would want copies for your files.

Beth
xxx

[Deleted User]

Yes there have been three estimates and all that. I first had to be certain about my rights and have only just got that back from LEASE. So I wrote to freeholder yesterday:

............The relevant costs of the building and the common parts of the building will be shared by the five properties, but this does not include repairs, refurbishments or rearrangement of pipework, etc within individual flats, where there may be converting bedsits into flats or vice, etc., or to cover damage done in individual flats by previous tenants, etc.
There is no requirement to meet any particular standards inside individual flats or bedsits.

Our agreement contains a statement written and signed by you that these decorations will be done by you. You said that we, as the purchaser, will not be charged. Our decision to buy was dependant on this undertaking by you, but you still have not done this work. Moreover, there are charges for this work included in the estimate.

Therefore, for the above reasons, we have had to take advice and we have had to recalculate the cost of our contribution.

You seem to be anxious that we are overrunning the consultation period for estimates. But we would not be having to do this had you apportioned the bill for the work correctly and carried out the work that you said you would do.

Apart from discovering that the contingency has been added twice (which is an error), this is not a questioning of the estimate but a correction to the apportioning. Therefore we have not overrun the consultation period as that applies only to the amount of the estimate.

Please be advised that we will not be sending you a cheque for any monies up front. You have still delayed the decoration of the building which you wrote that you would do at the time we purchased our lease from you.

We may release some money in advance, but need some strong evidence that you will carry out not only this work but the previous work you said you would complete..........

So I think my position is pretty clear. He has said that he needs money in order to start the work, but past track record makes me reluctant and I think any money should only be paid in installments as work is completed. I have considered lodging the money with a third trusted party, but I still need to know how it will be spent. He has converted some of his flats from bedsits into flats and some of the work he was trying to make me pay a share of covered rationalising the pipework and damage to interior flat ceilings done by one of his tenants.
I had a purchaser for my flat but with all this - I had to let him go - and I have let it now to a tenant who moved in at the weekend.

[Deleted User]

I need some stuff up my sleeve in case he makes more threats

lynzpower

hang on though
im not sure I get this

Are you saying that he has waited ( as he cant afford it) tilll you are out of the 2 years which he committed to ( and you bought on the strength that there was work planned but you wouldnt have to pay it for 2 years) so that voila its now 3 years and he can charge you?

or have i got that wrong

rjm2k1

I could be wrong, but I believe it may be possible to force a sale of the freehold if enough of the leaseolders get together, it might be worth investigating.

[Deleted User]

hang on though
im not sure I get this

Are you saying that he has waited ( as he cant afford it) tilll you are out of the 2 years which he committed to ( and you bought on the strength that there was work planned but you wouldnt have to pay it for 2 years) so that voila its now 3 years and he can charge you?

or have i got that wrong

Yes - I had misgivings when buying as the block was looking incredibly shabby. He wrote and signed a note to say that he planned to do decorations in the next two years at no cost to the purchaser. He said I would not have to pay service charge or ground rent until it was done - I have been asked to pay neither of these in the three years I've had the place. The organisation LEASE - having looked at my paperwork, say that if he tries to go to court on it, I can regard his note as a promisory estoppel in that I acted on his promise. He could say that it only applied to work he carried out in those two years but he did not do any work. At the time of purchase he said that there was no major worked planned which would affect costs to me, except the decoration which would be done but at no cost to me. I think he is quite chaotic. A tenant of his who had a scary mental health problem also did a fair amount of damage to the bedsit he occupied (amongst other bizarre stuff). He deliberately flooded the place (which affected me in the basement - I had to get the freeholders letting agent to repair my ceiling) and fell behind with the rent. As the situation escalated, the tenant called in the local council and the bedsit and other parts of the building had a notice to repair served as unfit dwelling. The freeholder has included the water damage caused by his tenant which affected ceilings in other flats he owns , in the estimate he wants me to pay 20% of. He threatened that if this work was not done the local council would take me to court. I have been in touch with local council, who have been very helpful and they have told me that there is no enforcement notice. I think he bought the property at a low price five years ago, couldn't afford the repairs, sold me my flat with the intention of using the money to do up other flats and sell them on. This involves him gutting two dilapidated bedsits at a time to make into a flat - with all the wiring, water, waste, etc its expensive - probably more than originally anticipated. So in the estimates there items of pipework, etc. too. Again, of no benefit to us leasholders and internal work in individual flats.He has sold one or two more but has run out of cash and is trying to get the work done on the common parts AND refurbing his own flats under the same bill, but with us leasholders contributing to it. He made his promisory note because he was desperate to get hold of cash at the time. He doesn't have a copy of the promisory note and although he said that if I didn't pay up immediately, he would contact my building society as this work affected the value of the property which they had lent money for - if you see what I mean. But he isn't very well informed - because in fact I was a cash buyer.
I don't mind - well I don't exactly relish - contributing to leigtimate costs. But we are all money savers and I don't want to be ripped off and threatened. I want him to accept my revised figures. If he kicks up a fuss, I will have to tell him about the costs of work that I had to have done to cure damp(from the bridging of a damp course), getting the stop !!!! for the entire building moved out of my flat, and removal of redundant pipework from old shower, etc.
Sorry - I'm rambling - its complicated. But as I said oing through the estimates 'contingency' was added twice - £3,500 before VAT and then 17.5% of the total after(around £44,000) after VAT. So i have had to be vigilant.
Thanks for your interest - I've been losing sleep.

[Deleted User]

I could be wrong, but I believe it may be possible to force a sale of the freehold if enough of the leaseolders get together, it might be worth investigating.

That would be ok but he owns at least one of the flats. One leaseholder I cannot get hold of - the local authority say that he is ill and worried to death about this bill.