Advice needed re challenging council over "unnecessary" work on block of flats

JJAM

Firstly, this is on behalf of a friend, who bought a ground floor flat in a four storey block in London a few years ago (at a good price - well, for London, anyway). Since she moved in, she has been hit with bills for incessant works to the block - the previous owners were only there 4 years, and I feel that they probably sold up for the reason of having to constantly fork out for such work.

For example, the lift was replaced a few months ago - of course, she has no reason to use it, but obviously it's mandatory that, being one of the few private owners in the block, she must pay what has been a very considerable amount, and she totally accepts that (not that she can't!). She currently is paying off what's owed, £20,000 (!) in instalments.

The block has always seemed to be in decent condition to me, but now the council has proposed replacing all the floors in the block, and is asking if anyone has any issues with this. To my eyes, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the floors. It just seems as if the council want to do this work anyway. This will truly cripple her financially, and I have advised her to email them - I'm going to help her with doing a response, as it's all a bit overwhelming for her at the moment.

Has anyone had any luck in stopping what seems to be non-essential works such as these? Advice would be very much welcome

marksoton

£20K is her share to replace the lift?!

How many flats are there?

moneyistooshorttomention

Is there any chance of her getting in a structural surveyor or someone for an impartial opinion as to what work is necessary?

Assume the surveyor comes down on the side of a lot less work than the Council is going for - then does anyone know what protection in law she will have against the Council insisting on doing unnecessary work?

Hoploz

I think the answer to this problem will be within her lease. It ought to say in there what the procedure is for major works ... Getting quotes in to be agreed by all leaseholders etc. Obvs if there are not many private owners it may be harder to veto things but I think that's where she needs to look, to find out whether she has any ability to object.

datostar

I think a lot of Councils undertake major works on a time schedule regardless of whether it needs doing or not. For instance, where we live, all the Council houses in the vicinity were re-roofed as a matter of course (in a different colour to all the others, which makes them stand out now!)

Richard_Webster

The lease will impose some form of duty on the Council as freeholder to keep the structure and common parts such as the lift in repair.

This generally gives a fair amount of discretion as to when works are done. It may more cost effective to do works at an earlier stage so as to reduce the seriousness and cost of the repairs needed. So it is quite difficult to challenge work if you think itis being too early.

You would need to get a surveyor who is an expert in such matters to give you a written opinion (which he is prepared to back up in court) that the works that the Council propose to charge you for are way above and beyond wht is reasonable to comply with the terms of the covenant in the lease to repair. In this context the precise wording of the covenant may be crucial.

It could cost £thousands to get such an opinion and you may not find a surveyor prepared to do this. Unless you do then the Council will keep pressing on. it will not waver for anything less than a proper professional opinion.

AdrianC

Lifts are expensive. There's legal requirements as to maintenance of them.

TBH, this is just one of the reasons why the usual advice is not to buy a flat in a local authority block.

Lloyd90

Especially if you end up paying £20k for a lift you never going to use.

ThePants999

Sadly council decision makers are not spending their own money and rarely account for such irrelevant matters as whether the work is actually needed. The perils of buying leasehold where the council is the freeholder.

Hoploz

On the up side, you say your friend has had a letter asking whether anyone has any issues with the work being done - so she has this opportunity to put her case at least.

JJAM

marksoton wrote: »

£20K is her share to replace the lift?!

How many flats are there?

I was there earlier today, it's actually 5 storeys and 25 flats in total. My friend reckons there are 5 private owners of flats - I've advised her to speak to the two of them that she knows.