title deed woes

albion1 · 27 January 2015 at 4:17PM

I own a flat which I rent out. Some work is needing carried out to the exterior of the property. I got all the neccesary quotes and gave them to the other flat owners in the block. One of the owners, who is a solicitor, is insisting the costs be split as per the title deeds. To my horror I'm to pay three sixteenths of the bill and the other three tenants who have larger flats, in fact the solicitor has two, have to pay one sixteenth each. The rest is to be paid by the shop on the ground floor. My property is by far the smallest. I had no idea these costs could be so unequally shared out, has anyone been in a similair situation and what did they do

davidmcn · 27 January 2015 at 4:48PM

If that's what the title deeds say then that's what you have to go with (unless you can get agreement from the other owners).

When did you buy the flat? Didn't you get a report from your solicitor about the title conditions?

eddddy · 27 January 2015 at 6:18PM

So I assume you are a leaseholder. Why are you arranging external repairs, instead of the freeholder?

You will need to ask the freeholder's permission to do the external repairs. And if you arrange them instead of the freeholder, you may have some liability if the repairs are bad.

Normally, the freeholder would arrange the repairs (possibly including a Section 20 consultation) and collect the contributions from leaseholders according to the lease. i.e. 3/16th of the cost in your case.

But... if you do want to arrange the repairs informally (as you seem to be doing), your fellow leaseholders are not obliged to pay anything towards them. If they offer to pay 1/16th, that's great. If they offer to pay more, that's even better. (Get their offers in writing!)

davidmcn · 27 January 2015 at 7:59PM

eddddy wrote: »

So I assume you are a leaseholder. Why are you arranging external repairs, instead of the freeholder?

I suspect the OP's flat is in a jurisdiction which doesn't do the leaseholder/freeholder thing.

deedee71 · 27 January 2015 at 8:29PM

I live in a tenement with a shop, two storey house, my 4 bed flat and two one bedroom flats. The split is 44%, 20%, 14% and 11% for each of the wee flats.

Unfortunately in the 6 years I've lived here not one penny has been spent on communal works. The shop is rented and the owner is in his 90's. The two one beds are buy-to-let as well so unless the council makes us do something (we're right on the main road and the guttering is flooding the street) I can't see anything being done.

3/16 is just under 20% and there are 5 properties in your tenement so were you expecting to pay a lot more?

G_M · 27 January 2015 at 11:56PM

Which country is this? (please don't reply "UK")

If that's what the Deeds/lease say, that's how the repair costs are split.

hostie · 28 January 2015 at 6:14AM

OP mentions 'wee flats' so I'm guessing it is Scotland

This would also explain why she was sorting it and not leaving it to the freeholder.

fishpond · 28 January 2015 at 6:19AM

hostie wrote: »

OP mentions 'wee flats' so I'm guessing it is Scotland This would also explain why she was sorting it and not leaving it to the freeholder.

The original poster does not mention "wee flats".

lincroft1710 · 28 January 2015 at 1:52PM

Are "wee flats", ones with or without toilets?

xylophone · 28 January 2015 at 4:04PM

OP, what are the terms of the lease with regard to upkeep and repair?

title deed woes

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