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Freeholder maintenance decisions
Sallibee
Posts: 32 Forumite
After several unsuccessful attempts at buying (always glitches in things), I have just received from the conveyancer the lease and leasehold questionnaire for a 5 bed 2 floor maisonette. I'm planning to let it as an HMO (this is known by the freeholder and it is already fitted out as such). The freeholder's management company has put on the questionnaire that there will be major works carried out in the next two years.
One of the major works is repair or replacement the flat roof (this is the terrace and access route of the maisonette and kitchen of the kebab shop downstairs - an aside is that they don't pay their maintenance charges). This is the size of a large garage (3mx5m). The form says 'repair £900, replacement £3,000'. The seller, who doesn't know this, told me early on that there's a problem with the wall, not the roof. (He bought the property at auction and has spent several months refurbishing it and so has had no requests for service charges.)
The other is painting of the exterior of the building, most of which belongs to the maisonette (there being the shop and a basement flat with little exterior) and the seller has just - in October - painted the exterior. The form says it will be painted again in 2016. I will be liable for 66% of expenses.
My questions are: Is it reasonable to paint the exterior every two years? I've read that six years would be the norm. Can the management company make such decisions without consultation or consent? Can the leaseholder object? Can the freeholder (or management company) send in tradesmen and charge what he likes? I read that he takes 10% of the costs...I doubt if he ever even sees the property. The company is in London and the property on the south coast.
I feel as if I'm spending a lot of money on 'buying' a property but am actually little more than a tenant (I do now realise that that actually is sort of what leasehold boils down to...)
How much say would I have in what gets done and for how much?
Any comments will be VERY gratefully received...
Thank you.
One of the major works is repair or replacement the flat roof (this is the terrace and access route of the maisonette and kitchen of the kebab shop downstairs - an aside is that they don't pay their maintenance charges). This is the size of a large garage (3mx5m). The form says 'repair £900, replacement £3,000'. The seller, who doesn't know this, told me early on that there's a problem with the wall, not the roof. (He bought the property at auction and has spent several months refurbishing it and so has had no requests for service charges.)
The other is painting of the exterior of the building, most of which belongs to the maisonette (there being the shop and a basement flat with little exterior) and the seller has just - in October - painted the exterior. The form says it will be painted again in 2016. I will be liable for 66% of expenses.
My questions are: Is it reasonable to paint the exterior every two years? I've read that six years would be the norm. Can the management company make such decisions without consultation or consent? Can the leaseholder object? Can the freeholder (or management company) send in tradesmen and charge what he likes? I read that he takes 10% of the costs...I doubt if he ever even sees the property. The company is in London and the property on the south coast.
I feel as if I'm spending a lot of money on 'buying' a property but am actually little more than a tenant (I do now realise that that actually is sort of what leasehold boils down to...)
How much say would I have in what gets done and for how much?
Any comments will be VERY gratefully received...
Thank you.
0
Comments
-
New paintwork after only two years seems unnecessary to me.
If you have not already looked at these sites, they are a good place to get an idea of what is involved:
https://www.gov.uk/leasehold-property/leaseholder-rights-and-responsibilities
http://www.lease-advice.org/Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0
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