Obtaining consent for extension in share of freehold

bouicca21

:wall:

It is your job to understand the problem and its possible solutions (and how costly they are likely to be). At the moment you don't understand the problem let alone the solutions. Stop wittering on about the walls, take a deep breath and start again.

bouicca21

The freeholder will suffer a loss because of acquiring additional maintenance and repair obligations.

SmashedAvacado

bouicca21 wrote: »

The freeholder will suffer a loss because of acquiring additional maintenance and repair obligations.

This is wrong.

Tom99

bouicca21 wrote: »

The freeholder will suffer a loss because of acquiring additional maintenance and repair obligations.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]That could be dealt with by a variation to the lease, making the leaseholder responsible for the repair and any extra insurance costs of the new structure.[/FONT]

NeilCr

Perhaps reading 5.6 here will help

https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/understanding-lease/

For all the sabre rattling about solicitors and suing the freeholder etc you do have to look at the overall picture and remember that you will have to live with these neighbours, quite possibly, for some years yet. I dislike bullies intensely but you also have to be pragmatic. Only you can decide whether that is something you can deal with.

I do have some doubts about whether all the other owners are with you and against your neighbour. It really would help us all if you could answer the questions about the freeholder decision making process and the number of flats

SmashedAvacado

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]That could be dealt with by a variation to the lease, making the leaseholder responsible for the repair and any extra insurance costs of the new structure.[/FONT]

This would be the case in any event. Its a non issue.

The danger with a thread like this is that it loses focus. There are rules specifically allowing people to improve their property. The neighbour has recourse through the planning system - and their other rights such as rights of light. The neighbour doesnt want you to build an extension but they have no valid right to object. They ought not even to be involved in the process. This needs to be liaised only through the company and made clear to the landlord company that they are required to act reasonably, and that a reasonable time to consider the application is probably 21 days. If they are going to refuse consent, they need to explain the basis of the refusal and why they believe they have the right to refuse noting in particular the provisions of the 1927 act.

MarianeJ

bouicca21 wrote: »

:wall:

It is your job to understand the problem and its possible solutions (and how costly they are likely to be). At the moment you don't understand the problem let alone the solutions. Stop wittering on about the walls, take a deep breath and start again.

We do, and we did from day 1.
As per the lawyer's comments to our case: "Having considered the reasons which the freehold (via Flat 2) have put forward I believe that those have been adequately addressed by you. On the balance, refusal based on ‘complications’, ‘damage’ etc are not reasonable explanations for refusing consent under clause 3(9). A refusal is deemed to be unreasonably when it is based on a pecuniary loss which can be compensated. Therefore, in circumstances where you and your partner have agreed to remedy any damage, and indemnify the freeholder and any neighbouring properties for damage, refusal to provide consent for this reason would be deemed unreasonable. "

What more can we do?

Tom99

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

You have a right to make improvements regardless of what the lease says unless the landlord suffers a loss in value. That’s the only relevant info you need. Talk to your solicitor on that basis. Your neighbour might not like it but they don’t have rights to prevent you doing something that otherwise you’d be entitled to do.

I think that may only apply to property used for a trade or business, not residential property leases.

SmashedAvacado

Tom99 wrote: »

I think that may only apply to property used for a trade or business, not residential property leases.

No, that's not the case Tom. On what basis have you concluded that?

MarianeJ

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

You have a right to make improvements regardless of what the lease says unless the landlord suffers a loss in value. That’s the only relevant info you need. Talk to your solicitor on that basis. Your neighbour might not like it but they don’t have rights to prevent you doing something that otherwise you’d be entitled to do.

Thank you for your kind solution focused approach...
This is exactly what i told them from the beginning... that we were held responsible for any potential damage; what wasn’t thought from their end is that whilst they were concerned about potential consequences (which we ended up acting on by removing all the structural work), we are the one presently dealing with the consequences of what was done before we moved in; the works we wanted to do were in response to the building survey, flood risk assessment etc, we never went extreme, we only intended to regive life to an old flat, hence to repair it as the survey said there wasnt one element that didnt need repair/replacement urgently and fewer non as urgent... the flat is so old and has been unhabited for over a year so we re scared of how winter could worsen the current state... we re in a high risk of flooding, in a basement full of cracks on the rear walls due to an older extension that was done to the entire block as well as the foundation’s state that’s affected by rain, we can’t move in the property, toilet’s broken, a part of the drainage’s broken, main door broken because the previous owner passed away and needed the police to break in; all the windows are locked, like there are so many elements already to our disadvantage and not only hasnt anyone showed compassion, they added more to our problems; i dreamt of becoming an interior design and my partner s just graduated from architecture so we thought we’d jump in and take the challenge; we thought the neighbours would be happy, but in the end all our good intentions went to waste, we compromised on everything to avoid conflicts and build good neighbours relationships and look where it’s lead us...
I happily accepted a green roof for them after telling them we had been told the terrace was not meeting planning requirements and would most likely be refused, so that we couldn’t afford going through another 2 months of application with the risk of having our entire application refused, which they initially understood. So she was happy with the green roof but changed her mind without telling me, and simply objecting to our plans just because they wanted a terrace. Considering their first objection was related to «!giving access to thieves!», I don’t see how a terrace would prevent that. I’m pretty sure they had that in mind for a long time and just use us to have it done. By using I’m saying yes, I did show some weakness at the beginning, ending up in tears when they told me we had to pay for their terrace and share the profit we make from all the renovations the day we resell it. They dared telling us «!you must have paid few for that flat since the owner passed away!» but no we didnt, not like they pictured, not to the point we can afford improving their property along with ours, paying all that money and putting all that effort, for them to take all the gain? When one other co freeholder who used to be friend with her admitted to me she didnt want to participate in the cost of repainting the facade of the building nor get involved in the organisation of the renovation of the common parts? They know i was happy to do the terrace at first, but we cant and that because of planning and I’m glad they raised those issues, thank god we didnt go ahead with the terrace, they’d be soooo present and we d have zero privacy. Would be different if we at least liked them like my current neighbours i give the keys to our flat to keep our rabbit when we’re away. Surely this will never happen now and it saddens me. Who wants enemies as neighbours? Surely I won’t think a single time about respect towards her; if we are allowed to make noise between 8:00am and 11:00pm then so be it. Who would be silly enough not to see that coming?

Oh and did i say we, and the engineer, are pretty sure the laminate flooring they recently installed isn’t sound deadening like the lease requires? How would that work out for her? Maybe thats something we can actually use in our defense.