Freehold & adding a velux/window...

GaelleComte

Hi there,

I'm brand new to this forum, so hope I'm posting in the right section!

I hold a share of freehold in a house with 3 flats. Mine is pretty dark, so I was thinking of adding one or two velux on the roof, and installing a bigger window in the lounge.

Would anyone know what the protocole is - do i need permission from my neighbours, if it's my part of the roof/my wall? I was going to inform them as a matter of courtesy, but I was wondering if I actually need formal consent, too.

Thanks in advance for your help.

eddddy

(Assuming it's a leasehold property in England or Wales...)


You probably need consent - but see what your lease says. Most leases will say that you need consent from the freeholder.

Since 3 of you are joint freeholders, you as a leaseholder would need joint consent from the 3 joint freeholders.

And I suspect it may not be your roof - more often it belongs to the freeholder (i.e. jointly owned by the 3 of you).

And just to be absolutely sure... if you are talking about putting a window in a roof space - you need to be sure that you own that roof space.

According to the lease, who is responsible for maintaining windows? If it's the freeholder, this might introduce another issue.

GaelleComte

Thanks Eddy, that's what I suspected.

The roof space is above my flat, but I don't know if I own it as such.

I'm assuming the window would be less of an issue as it's my wall?

Yes it is a property based in England, and we're 3 directors in the freehold. I just find the situation a bit confusing!

eddddy

GaelleComte wrote: »

The roof space is above my flat, but I don't know if I own it as such.

I'm assuming the window would be less of an issue as it's my wall?

Actually, I'd say it's probably not your wall - it's very likely that the external wall belongs to the freeholders. (But you might well own the plaster on the internal side of the wall!)

It should be clarified in your lease.

Realistically, the bottom line is that if your fellow freeholders are happy about you putting in a window, the consent etc can be sorted relatively easily.

If they're not happy about it, it could be quite messy.

If proper written consent isn't obtained now - you may have problems when you sell. (Especially if any of the other flats are resold, and you end up with new 'difficult' joint freeholders.)

GaelleComte

Thanks a lot; this is very helpful!