Forfeiture of Leasehold

bubbaspaarx

Hi everyone,

apologies if this isn't the correct forum section but it seemed the most relevant.

I am hoping to seek some advice on behalf of my friend who is a joint freeholder of a property I happen to live next door to.

The property in question is a terraced property that was split into 3 flats (basement, ground floor and first floor).

The basement and first floor flats are owned by the freeholders. The ground floor flat's leasehold was sold to someone else and it is the ground floor that is the issue.

This flat was last sold in 2015 to a gentleman who has since caused quite major disruption to the neighbourhood.

I arranged a community support meeting at the local police station last week to deal with him and the issues we are having and over 20 local residents turned up, all with stories of things he's done.

You could say that we are motivated to get him removed but as he owns the property, the police are limited to what they can do at this stage.

One of the stories though is heartbreaking and it's this reason I am hoping the freeholders can forfeit his lease.

The owner/freeholder of the basement flat has owned the property for 23 years. In 2014 she renovated the flat fully in order for her elderly parents to move in. Unfortunately they were forced out due to the happenings in the flat above.

During the months since they left, the owner of the flat above has trashed the place (he's a drug addict, dealer and generally disgusting person) and in one of his episodes he broke a hot water pipe which leaked 100litres of water per day into the flat below. This went on for 6 months with no admission, help or acknowledgement of the problem from the guy. They were emptying 2 dustbins of water everyday.

She has now had quotes from builders to repair the damage (it's horrific) at a cost just shy of £40k!!:mad:

The freeholders have had to cover all of his costs, ground rent, maintenance, insurance as he refuses to pay them. He doesn't pay any bills at all and throws his rubbish out his window into the property below.

As a concerned/really angry/sleep deprived neighbour, I would love nothing more than to see him evicted but we need help in order to get this done.

He unfortunately owns the flat outright. The flat is owned by a trust in his name as he had an accident at work and got a few mil from the insurance.

Any help is greatly appreciated and would be going towards helping an entire community. :beer:

anselld

Regardless of the anti-social behaviour, non payment of ground rent and service charges is ultimately sufficient grounds for forfeiture if it continues and if the Freeholders pursue vigorously enough.

G_M

This is not the appropriate place to get advice. The freeholders need proper legal advice.

There is a set procedure for pursuing debts of GR and SC, and, ultimately, for forfeiture, but unless the freeholder is legally astute he will need a solicitor to guide him through.

eddddy

bubbaspaarx wrote: »

She has now had quotes from builders to repair the damage (it's horrific) at a cost just shy of £40k!!:mad:

Freeholders (and/or leaseholder of the basement flat - whoever has suffered a loss) can look at making a claim for negligence to claim that £40k back.

If the claim is successful in court, and the guy really does have a 'few mil' in the bank, the money can be taken from the guy's bank using a Third Party Debt Order.


Also, if there are things the guy is doing (like throwing rubbish out of the windows) which are breaching covenants in the lease, the freeholders can get an injunction prohibiting him from doing it.

If he then breaches the injunction, he can be taken back to court - and could get fined, or ultimately imprisoned.


The freeholders can also start forfeiture proceedings for breaches of covenants (and/or non payment of ground rent/service charges) - but that's likely to be a very long process.


Whichever way the freeholders go, they need to take advice from a specialist solicitor first.

bubbaspaarx

thank you all for your responses here. This is really useful stuff. I will pass this all along and hopefully we can get something done about him and his antics.

we may have difficulty getting the money as it's in a trust which is in his name. Not sure if this makes a difference though. the trust are who owns the property too.

Will update this thread when I have an update.

Thank you again

AdrianC

If the property is owned by a trust, then he does NOT own it. The trust does. The trust is managed by trustees, who need to act in the beneficiaries best interests. I find myself wondering what sort of accident this is, what the injuries were (they must have been VERY substantial for a payout of "several million"), and whether living on his own is in his best interests... You need to identify who the trustees are, and involve them.

If he needs to pay substantial recompense for damage he's caused, then the trustees should be able and willing to authorise that payment.

You say he's a "drug dealer". If that IS the case, and can be proven, then his accommodation in the near future should not be a great problem.