Terrace in demise, roof is leaking & responsibility of freeholder

euromike

My flat is in a modern residential building and comes with a terrace which is demised. The leasehold agreement (mine, but I'm sure all the neighbours have the same lease terms) clearly says roof maintenance is the responsibility of the freeholder.

My terrace is the downstairs neighbours' roof, and it leaks. They've been chasing the freeholder for repairs since 2013 - I have seen an email chain which confirms that. I recently changed the decking on the terrace, for which I applied for &received freeholder's permission. The neighbours are now implying that the leak is related to my repairs (it's not; we just changed the outermost layer, without touching the insulation "Kingspan" layer underneath, or the asphalt roof proper) and demand to see written confirmations and warranties from my builder.

Can they do that? Do they have any recourse to me?

martindow

Replacing the decking certainly has the potential to damage the roof and I'm not surprised that the flat below is suspicious, especially if the leak occurred soon after the work. Decking sitting on a flat roof and people walking on it is likely to shorten its life in any case. What does your leaseholder have to say about this?

euromike

the leak has been there, as it's clearly documented, since 2013. The work on my terrace was carried out around beginning of this year, and the leak mostly plays up during big downpours, specifically it leaked a lot when there was a mini-deluge in London in March (I think).

Leaseholder - you mean freeholder/owner of building? They are happy, they gave me permission for my works and are happy with what I've done. They think the leak has nothing to do with my works. It's the neighbours downstairs who, understandably, are unhappy about the leak. I get the impression that what happened was they have been unsuccessful with trying to get the freeholder to fix it for so long, they've now sensed the opportunity to shift the blame on the new resident i.e. me

EDIT: important detail. The neighbours downstairs would like the leak to stop, but even more importantly - they will be trying to sell the flat and want a warranty/confirmation of works carried out for the insurer etc.

euromike

martindow wrote: »

Decking sitting on a flat roof and people walking on it is likely to shorten its life in any case.

flat roofs are not a good idea in general, in fact it was the one serious issue that came up on my survey when I was buying. It's everyone's (leaseholders' and freeholder's) understanding that this is a bit of a design flaw of the whole building, and that it will need to be dealt with at some point.

david1951

If they can prove, on the balance of probabilities, that your repairs caused a leak, or worsened the existing one, then they have recourse to you for any damage that that leak does.

Do you have written confirmation from the builder that the new decking would not worsen the leak or lead to any new ones?

Has anyone had a surveyor in to give an opinion as to the cause of the leak?

Ultimately they can only force you to do anything through the courts.

xylophone

http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Demised_premises

The leaseholder below you has checked his deeds and lease and can show that the freeholder is responsible for maintaining your floor/his roof?

If this is the case and the freeholder is refusing to comply with the terms of the lease, why isn't your neighbour suing the freeholder?

euromike

>The leaseholder below you has checked his deeds and lease

I don't know if he's checked it, but all the leaseholders in the building I spoke to have the same lease agreement and it says both roof and terrace is responsibility of the freeholder.

>Why isn't your neighbour suing the freeholder

because it's costly, difficult, and the freeholder is probably technically not in breach, but merely guilty of using delaying tactics? For example, last time they complained about the leaks, the downstairs neighbours were told to wait until next big downpour and provide photos - the sort of rain that occurs 3x a year, because that's when the flat leaks badly.

xylophone

that's when the flat leaks badly.

But leaking slightly or at all is bad enough! Damp damages fabric.

Either the freeholder is responsible or he isn't.

If he is, then your neighbour should be requiring him to comply.

euromike

Freeholder is responsible. My roof was leaking, too. It's a massive property management firm, people in charge of our building seem to change every 6 months, the new guy arrives and apologises for his predecessor's delays, then takes weeks to catch up on outstanding issues and inevitably, there's always something more pressing than fixing one leaseholder's roof. I ended up paying for some repairs out of my own pocket, as have quite a few neighbours.

AdrianC

euromike wrote: »

the leak has been there, as it's clearly documented, since 2013. The work on my terrace was carried out around beginning of this year

So this is an aging, already-leaky flat roof?

No wonder changing the decking perched on it has worsened the situation.

The freeholder was certainly negligent for not sorting the roof while the decking was off - because it's certainly going to have to come off again to resolve the problem.

euromike

AdrianC wrote: »

So this is an aging, already-leaky flat roof?

yes, although I'm not sure about the expected life-span of these things, roof is about 10 y.o.

AdrianC wrote: »

The freeholder was certainly negligent for not sorting the roof while the decking was off - because it's certainly going to have to come off again to resolve the problem.

and yes, agreed.

Not many residents are happy with the level of service we receive from the freeholder, or its managing agent.