Loft and roof space not mentioned on lease of freehold

ontheladder_2

Hi All,

I have recently purchased the top floor lease of a two story freehold, and am now interested in converting the loft.

The lease itself does not mention the loft space, or roof as either being included, or excluded. Does this mean that the loft and roof space is excluded by default?

The lease is very long, 950 remaining.

Thanks all

Doozergirl

Yes, it's excluded by default. You'll not be able to sell on without clear title to that space above your ceiling and under the roof. You could negotiate with the freeholder over it but I wouldn't spend anything on the space until you have deeds in hand.

sirmosh

In many cases the roof is jointly owned by all leaseholders and they're jointly responsible for any upkeep. You'll probably need to pay the freeholder some more to own the loft space too and take on responsibility for maintaining it too.

Richard_Webster

The lease needs to be looked at in detail to see if:

1. the loft is clearly excluded; or
2 the loft is clearly included; or more likely
3 the wording is vague, in which case it could be arguable either way.

How is the flat defined? If the words are something like "...all that upper flat at....." you might argue it was included.

Who is responsible for maintenance of the roof covering and roof structure? If the freeholder/landlord is to maintain the structure roof and foundations that could be a dead end.

If the lower flat is responsible for the lower part of the structure and the upper flat for the upper part then you might argue that if the maintenance responsibilities are as vaguely defined as the areas included in the lease e.g upper flat and the lessee has to maintain the structural parts of the upper flat, then this must include the roof.

However, it really all depends on an analysis of the detailed wording of the lease as a whole and in the end we would only come out with what we think a judge would probably decide.

Opinions will differ and the difficulty comes when selling a property. A buyer's solicitor will want certainty. So, if you have done work in the loft (which will probably need consent anyway under the terms of most leases which require landlord's consent for alterations), they may still want the lease altered to make it 110% clear that the loft is included and will not be prepared to rely on a legal argument about what a judge would probably decide.

People often ask about what the legal position is in a particular situation as if it is cast in concrete. Conveyancing solicitors generally have to advise their clients not about what the legal position is, but what another solicitor may think the position is - because that is what is important on a later sale.

ontheladder_2

Thank you all very much for your responses.

From the wording of the lease, I suspect it'll be the case that it is not included, but I'll get an eagle eye to review it.

Thanks again