Do we have to give access to our garden for building works?

TobyGilliam534 · 28 January 2015 at 10:08AM

We are leaseholders of a flat in a block with a number of flats. The freeholder wants to build another flat in the building, which we don't have any particular problem with. However it's going to cause a huge amount of disruption over quite a long period, and they'll need to get access to our (private) garden to set up scaffolding.

What we're more annoyed about is that he hasn't bothered to tell us anything about it, letting us find out from a planning consultation letter.

Aside from that, my key question is whether he has automatic right to use our garden, or whether this gives us a bargaining chip. I don't think there's anything we can do to stop him doing the renovation, but we would like to ask for some conditions - not least the timing of the renovations so ideally they're not being done when we're using our garden in the summer and some other things regarding the shared services.

Thanks in advance!

RAS · 28 January 2015 at 10:51AM

I suggest you start by reading your lease. You may or may not find that the freeholder has rights written into it.

stator · 28 January 2015 at 10:51AM

It probably depends on the actual lease agreement. What clauses does it contain that gives access to the freeholder? Pressumably it contains access rights for maintenance, but building a new flat probably wouldn't be covered.