Landlord wants to stop the lift

SammyJ87

Hi,
We live in a block of 6 flats, of which the landlord owns 5. Myself, partner and 6 month old live on the top floor, and a few months ago our landlord sent us (and the other flats) an email saying he wants to stop the lift and what all of our thoughts were. Now, as far as I've been told, myself and 4 flats have said we don't want it stopped, and now we have had a message stating he will be stopping the lift at the end of the month.

His reason was that it was expensive to run. I have checked the contract and it states he's supposed to keep all community floors, stairways ect well maintained, but doesn't say anywhere about a lift.

So my question is, can I do anything to stop him from doing this? It's going to make shopping / buying furniture, taking the baby out ect such hard work. Including the fact that we are hoping to move some point next year, which includes moving a sofa, bed, chest of drawers ect down three flights of stairs. Any help will be appreciated. Thankyou

Le_Kirk

Maybe ask a board guide to move this to the House buying, Renting and Selling sub-forum by sending a PM to either Nile, silvercar or Cornucopia

flashg67

Can't advise on the legal position, but having 5 tenants give notice (If you are able) might make him rethink (unless that's his plan to get rid of you all). LL sounds like a barm pot if you ask me. What did he expect buying 5 flats anyway?

Does the 6th person own their flat and does the LL have the right to inconvenience someone who is not his tenant?

SammyJ87

Hi, yeah I tried to put the post in a different area but it wouldnt let me have a new thread Will give it a go.
And yes he is! He is very much a cheap skate and will cut costs where ever he can, but I dont know about what the tenants think that own their flat.

Cornucopia

This thread has been moved to seek a better response.

Comms69

Who owns the freehold? That's really the starting point - it sounds like the LL does.

SammyJ87

Yes he does sadly

AdrianC

So the fact that he's your landlord isn't really the issue - it's the building freeholder that's making the decision.

"Top floor" in a six-flat building is, what, second floor...? Lifts ARE expensive things to run - there's various legal requirements wrapped up in them. Would you pay an extra £50-100/mo on your rent to cover your flat's share of the costs? Would your neighbours?

thelem

Do you mean Landlord (i.e. the person you are renting your flat from for a monthly fee) or Freeholder (i.e. the person who owns the building and you have a circa 100 year lease from)? The answers are very different.

Likewise, are the other flats rented by this Landlord, or owned by other people on a Leasehold basis?

G_M

* are you a leaseholder or tenanant?

* have you ever seen the lease for the property (not your tenancy agreement which you say does not mention a lift)? Does the lease mention a lift?

* is the 6th occupant a leaseholder or tenant?

* have they seen their lease? Does it mention a lift?

* if a lift is mentioned in any of the leases (as opposed to tenanies) then the freeholder cannot remove the lift.

* even if no mention is made of a lift in either the tenancy agreement or leases, it could well be argued that a lift was implicitly included in the tenancy contract, since it was thre when the contract was formed, and has remained there for some time.

* but a legal battle is not to be taken lightly. Depending on the type of tenancy (fixed term, periodic) it may be simpler to give notice.

SammyJ87

The top flat is the 3rd floor (the ground floor is just a corridor), we're the tenants. It states in the contract that the landlord is the sole owner of the leasehold or free hold interest in the property. As far as I'm aware the one other flat has bought the flat outright and has a mortgage but I haven't seen the lease and never asked if anyone else has. I would've said the cost of the lift is on top of the rent anyway, so wouldn't it be fair to say that the rent should be decreased if he stopping it? It does say in the contract that the landlords obligations are to pay all assessments and outgoings in respect of the property, wouldn't that include the lift too? Sorry, I'm new to this type of thing. We wouldn't of even rented the property if we knew he'd be stopping the lift in the future. Hope this answers all the questions