Neighbour's balcony/our ceiling..

animalgirl

Bear with me..

We live in a ground floor flat and our upstairs neighbour's balcony forms part of our bedroom ceiling.

We've noticed, on the edge of the balcony where it meets the top of our ceiling, the felt has failed and is peeling off - meaning we're (potentially) one major downpour from a leak through to our ceiling.

The lease makes no mention as to who is responsible for this and we have an absent freeholder. Our neighbour is..to put it nicely..a bit strange so having a regular conversation with him isn't always possible (we've tried!).

All the quotes back we've had on this state they will have to replace the entire balcony felt and tiles.

My question is, is it fair to say this is a straight 50/50 job in terms of cost and responsibility? Or, as his entire balcony is getting replaced, is it fair to say he should assume a higher proportion of the costs..?

Any advice is much appreciated!

jozbo

Sorry I can't answer your question, but am interested to know the outcome as currently buying a flat that possibly has this issue (a plumber needs to investigate...)
Our surveyor suggested it would be a cheap job to fix, re-felting or something similar, cost a hundred odd at most.
Out of interest, what's the quote for the balcony and what is it made of?

londonlydia

Regardless of fairness, it's how much fuss you're willing to go through. I would think about seeing if you can afford to do it all yourself if needs be: may not be the fairest outcome for you but will probably save you a lot of difficulty negotiating the split before the damage is worse and you're combining your sleeptime with your morning shower!

animalgirl

So far the lowest quote is £625 + VAT and the highest was £1200 + VAT!! They've said they have to remove the whole of the existing felt cover + tiles, then relay 3 layers of felt and fit new tiles. Obviously we were hoping they could patch up the part that's come away but I suppose that wouldn't make it water tight.

Cost seems excessive but I'm no roofer, what do I know!

We're in London, that's probably not a surprise looking at the costs

animalgirl

londonlydia wrote: »

Regardless of fairness, it's how much fuss you're willing to go through. I would think about seeing if you can afford to do it all yourself if needs be: may not be the fairest outcome for you but will probably save you a lot of difficulty negotiating the split before the damage is worse and you're combining your sleeptime with your morning shower!

Thanks, you're not wrong..sadly we can't afford to do it all ourselves though.

We're newbie house buyers so we're new to all this. We're trying to be accommodating about it, we've arranged all the quotes and have stayed in to let them in to his flat. It's hard not to feel like the responsibility lies with him more than us but as you say, I suppose it comes down to how much fuss are we willing to go through trying to get him to see that!

animalgirl

jozbo wrote: »

Sorry I can't answer your question, but am interested to know the outcome as currently buying a flat that possibly has this issue (a plumber needs to investigate...)
Our surveyor suggested it would be a cheap job to fix, re-felting or something similar, cost a hundred odd at most.
Out of interest, what's the quote for the balcony and what is it made of?

If at all possible, I would try to find out before you buy, who is responsible if it's not outlined in the lease as well as the process they have in place if something does go wrong. All things we didn't do, doh!

silvercar

This is clearly a buildings issue and I would have thought the freeholder would be responsible and bill the leaseholders. Do you pay into a maimtenance fund each year?

animalgirl

silvercar wrote: »

This is clearly a buildings issue and I would have thought the freeholder would be responsible and bill the leaseholders. Do you pay into a maimtenance fund each year?

We don't, no. He really is an absent freeholder - aside from paying ground rent, it seems the freeholder has nothing to do with the property. There isn't a maintenance fund or service charge. We're responsible for insuring the building (as far as I can tell, both flats have buildings insurance). And as repairs go, it's solely between the two flats to sort out amongst ourselves.

I'm just unsure as to how we proportion responsibility..

G_M

animalgirl wrote: »

So far the lowest quote is £625 + VAT and the highest was £1200 + VAT!! They've said they have to remove the whole of the existing felt cover + tiles, then relay 3 layers of felt and fit new tiles. Obviously we were hoping they could patch up the part that's come away but I suppose that wouldn't make it water tight.

Cost seems excessive but I'm no roofer, what do I know!

We're in London, that's probably not a surprise looking at the costs

Both the explanation of the work required, and the quotes, seem reasonable.

Yes - you could try bodging a patch-up job, but with a felt roof (especially one that gets walked on) it is unlikely to last long. Next year you'll have the same problem recurring.

Are you sure the lease is silent as to responsibility? Does it say nothing about maintenance/repairs?

You are going to have to bite the bullet and discuss with upstairs - even if you pay for it, he will presumably have to agree to allow access....?

If the lease genuinely says nothing, and the freeholder is absent, I would start from theposition that both parties share the cost 50/50, but perhaps be prepared to bear the whole cost yourself. Unfortunately you have more to lose since a leak will come through your ceiling but barely affect him.

Conrad

One thing, if you get into a legal or even personal heated dispute, this can later adversly affect a future sale.

Sometimes, in fact often' life is uneven. If it were me I'd probably just take it on the chin myself. Sometimes in life things will go in your favour so it all balances out.

We manage property for clients and I can well imagine your neighbour having quite a different view point to yourselves, something along the lines of 'if they want it done, they can pay for it, I was quite happy living here all this time with no fuss from anyone'.

Sorry to be a bit brutal, I'm not a poster that tells others what they want to hear in order to garner thanks numbers.

animalgirl

G_M wrote: »

Both the explanation of the work required, and the quotes, seem reasonable.

Yes - you could try bodging a patch-up job, but with a felt roof (especially one that gets walked on) it is unlikely to last long. Next year you'll have the same problem recurring.

Are you sure the lease is silent as to responsibility? Does it say nothing about maintenance/repairs?

You are going to have to bite the bullet and discuss with upstairs - even if you pay for it, he will presumably have to agree to allow access....?

If the lease genuinely says nothing, and the freeholder is absent, I would start from theposition that both parties share the cost 50/50, but perhaps be prepared to bear the whole cost yourself. Unfortunately you have more to lose since a leak will come through your ceiling but barely affect him.

Thanks for your reply.

The lease just covers the main areas, like the main roof. The balcony isn't mentioned at all so will go through the lease again to see if I've missed something.

I really had no idea what to expect when it came to costs so appreciate that, thanks