Freeholder wants fee for work undertaken before ownership

laccal

Pls can someone help
My girlfriend is in process of selling her flat and as it is leasehold (900 years left) the company wanted to inspect property before sale ( apparently they have a legal right )
This is now when the fun begins.
After inspection they are fining her for breach of lease for work undertaken to kitchen bathroom and laminate flooring put down. The twist is when she bought the flat the freeholder was a different person ( he only sold it to the people above 2 years ago) AND more importantly the kitchen and laminate flooring was already in place. She then decorated the bathroom when she moved in but again with the different owner.

My question is can the new owner actually claim this when all the work was completed prior to his ownership

Any help appreciated

BlaEm

Does the work done actually breach the lease? Your girlfriend should review her lease, along with the Property/Leasehold Information Forms she was provided with from the seller when she bought the flat. This will be more relevant that the freeholder changing in the interim.

This should highlight whether (a) the alterations contravene the lease (for example, the lease specifies that floors must be carpeted and not laminated), and (b) whether any fines or charges are applicable under the lease.
The PIF should show whether the previous seller indicated the alterations and also if they had permission from the previous freeholder for these.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along to advise on what the next steps would be..

booksurr

as Blaem says, your GF needs to check what info she read (or failed to read!) when she bought the lease in the first place

she will certainly be required to declare it to her purchaser now that it has been brought up otherwise her purchaser could come after her

eddddy

laccal wrote: »

My question is can the new owner actually claim this when all the work was completed prior to his ownership

Yes.

Your girlfriend needs to read her lease, in order to understand her obligations.

Here are a few comments:

laccal wrote: »

After inspection they are fining her for breach of lease...

The freeholder cannot fine her. But they can require her to pay reasonable charges for...
- retrospective consents
- damages (if any - but probably none)

laccal wrote: »

The twist is when she bought the flat the freeholder was a different person ( he only sold it to the people above 2 years ago)

It doesn't matter. Your girlfriend still has to abide by the terms of the lease.

laccal wrote: »

...for work undertaken to kitchen bathroom and laminate flooring put down....

I can't see her lease, but a typical lease would state...
- The new kitchen and bathroom needs the freeholder's consent (which cannot unreasonably be withheld), for which a fee will be payable
- the laminate flooring will not be allowed, and will need to be removed, or carpeted over.


Edit to add...

@BlaEm and @booksur

My reading of the the first post is that the OP's girlfriend did all the alterations - but before the current Freeholder bought the freehold. So the advice about the SPIF isn't relevant.

Maybe laccal can clarify...

laccal

Thank you for the replies - it's hard to believe that that's how the property was purchased but she still may be liable

DTDfanBoy

A breach doesn't cease to be a breach just because the property has changed hands

laccal

Yes that's right all work undertaken before change of freeholder.

BlaEm

@ eddddy - think it says that kitchen and laminate flooring were in place when purchased, so just the bathroom was changed subsequently.

@ laccal - again, she needs to read the lease and purchase information to see where she stands.
For the bathroom - If the lease states that the bathroom should be neutrally decorated / tiled, and her redecoration doesn't fit, she should have obtained permission from whoever the freeholder was at the time. This would then have carried over to the new - so check whether permission was necessary and/or was sought.

Also: it doesn't matter whether the work was undertaken before the change of freeholder, IF the lease says permission is needed and no permission was obtained. If previous freeholder did give permission, THEN the new freeholder can't claim under the lease.

laccal

How will I know if he did give permission as I can only presume the previous owner did and apologies for this one but how do they know I didn't get permission !!

G_M

If he previous freeholder gave permission then the permission letter should be retained and passed from one leaseholder to the next along with other relevant documents.

laccal

If the permission letter wasn't passed on would there still be a record somewhere. If I state that permission to our knowledge was obtained before new ownership how can they dispute it. Who is to say the previous holder did not pass the details to the new owner.