Freeholder demanding money for repairs.

thebigman11

Hi all
I was wondering if you could help me.
I own a flat in England in a house that has been converted into 2 flats. The person who owns the flat below is also the freeholder.
She has a problem with her chimney it is letting water in to her flat, Our part of the chimney is fine and not letting water into our flat at all. She as the freeholder is demanding that we pay half for the repair of this even though our chimney is fine and the problem is only related to the flat below?

It does not seem right that I have to pay half of this.

If you could help with this question that would be amazing.

chris_m

What does your lease say?

eddddy

Your lease will explain who is responsible for building repairs and how they must be paid for.

It is very common that the freeholder is responsible for any building repairs, and the costs are shared between all leaseholders (i.e. in your case 50% each.)

So, if that's how your lease is structured, if the roof should start leaking into your flat, the freeholder would repair it, and you would only pay 50% of the bill.

G_M

As above: you need to read your lease.

Doozergirl

Shall I tell you to read your lease as well?

belisha-beacon

As others have said, this may be fine even if it is not affecting your property. Many leases work like that - it's to stop people paying selectively only for repairs they think will benefit them as individuals.

The other issue is that I'm having trouble working out how a flat below you could have a different chimney to yours - she has no 'roof' for it to sit on, presumably? So if you mean it's a chimney breast that runs through both properties and the leak is coming out of the lower half, it doesn't necessarily mean the problem is in her flat. There could be a crack in your bit of the chimney which is letting water out, and the water might be dripping down into her property. We had a basement leak in our property caused by a problem a floor up. If that were the case, you're lucky she's only asking for half because in some properties the person who is liable to pay to fix the problem is the one who has the defect in their property which is causing damage to others.