share of freehold and building an extension

emg

Hi, just a quick question.

My building is split into three flats. I own a 50% share of freehold, owners of the flat below me own the other half. We havent formed a freehold company or anything.

The owners of the downstairs flat have sent me a note saying they are planning an extension to their flat (using their garden space) and will let me know when work will start. I was under the impression that they would need to get my agreement (leases obviously state that no alterations can be made without permission of the freeholder).

I dont plan to object or anything but I would like the opportunity to see the plans before it's all agreed (and also there are a couple of things i think we need to do in the communal area that the other freeholder is reluctant to discuss and wondered whether I could use this as leverage).

Any thoughts?

propertyman

emg wrote: »

Hi, just a quick question.

My building is split into three flats. I own a 50% share of freehold, owners of the flat below me own the other half. ?

No you dont, you jointly own the freehold, not share it.:)

ie flat 1 owned by A

flat 2 owned by b you

FH owned by A and B as one legal entity.

You are therefore correct in that, if thelease requires consent for alteration and any change to the garden A must get the consent of A+B, and in due course amend the lease to show the revised layout, and any sahred expenses that are based on floor area eg insurtance.

if you insure the builing joinlty then ensure that the buidiing is revalued to reflect the new rebuilding cost-nowt to do with market vlaue.

££sc££

What propertyman says. Plus there may be other things in lease that will be affected, e.g. saying you pay 50% of external decorations each. If the cost of external decs goes up loads as you have to have special scaffolding to go over their extension, you could get stung financially if you don't do appropriate licence for alterations etc.

emg

Thanks I spoke to the guy today and made it clear that I expected to see his proposed plans and for us to discuss and agree them before anything else happens and that we will need to look at the lease to see whether we need to make any changes. That's also a good point about the insurance amount changing and I will raise that with him too. He /should/ know all the legalities as he is a retired solicitor but I had a few issues with him when we bought the freehold and as such, dont completely trust him.