Freeholder planning on adding extra stories to create new flats - advice needed

af1234

I was hoping to get some advice on how to approach a planning application my freeholders are about to put in. As the title says, they are planning on adding two stories to my block of flats! I live in a one bedroom, third floor, small block of flats in London, its currently three stories and the freeholder is planning on adding two stories to create extra flats.

They have sent a formal letter informing us that they are applying for planning permission but have not yet actually applied as far as I can see. I suspect as a leaseholder there isn’t a huge amount we can do, the lease clearly states we don’t own the loft area. The letter is trying to sell it to us saying it will be to our benefit as they will be adding lifts, adding balconies onto all the flats and landscaping the communal gardens and redecorating the communal areas (both of which area bit of a state at the moment through neglect to put it bluntly) and they will pay for all of this so there will be no cost to leaseholders.

Anyway, they have asked us to contact them if we have any questions or queries so was wondering what other people would be concerned about / would ask in my position. My current thoughts are below and are based on the assumption there isn’t anything that can be done to stop the development completely if they are granted permission which they seem to be very sure of having spoken to the council.

- What will be done about sound proofing? I am on the top floor at the moment so I don’t currently suffer but I know my other neighbours already complain about sound of neighbours above
- How long will the proposed development take?
- What will be the impact on service charges, they mentioned something about freezing them for 5 years so would want that in writing as would be worried about the impact on lifts on current service charge levels
- Who will pay for French doors onto the balconies, the letter states the freeholder will pay for the balconies but what about the doors themselves

Can anyone think of anything else they would ask, or anything obvious I have missed that would concern them. I am sure there is a long list but I am trying to think of the main points for now (and keep my first post as short as possible). It’s a bit of a strange one as I’ve not heard of such a large scale redevelopment to existing flats that are not council owned and am concerned about essentially living on a building site for the next year or so. Without seeing any planning application yet I am a bit in the dark too.

We do have right to manage if that changes anything?

Thanks in advice for your help and advice.

stator

Do you have a mortgage? If so you should inform them.


Living on a building site will affect your insurance, you'll have to inform them.
Adding extra floors might affect your ability to get insurance or even mortgages in the future.


You won't be able to sell the flat whilst the works are going on.



What is the parking situation?

SmashedAvacado

1. you dont need to inform your lender
2. the building will be insured by your landlord- so again no need

The reality is that there is not a lot you can do, unless you and the owners buy the loft from the freeholder and leave as is.

In terms of comfort - the builder will need to comply with building regulations which ought to ensure sound etc is ok.

af1234

Thanks for your advice. Wasn’t sure if I needed to advise mortgage company or not. From their point of view if it’ll improve value they might not be so bothered. In my area of London outside space adds quite a bit of value.

While I won’t need to speak to buildings insurer I guess I’ll need to let contents insurer know there will be scaffolding up when the time comes.

Parking might be an issue as there will be less space but as it’s central London I don’t drive personally so I’ve not looked into that yet.

I guess I just have to put up with it for a while knowing that once complete it will hopefully go up in value as I doubt I will be able to sell with this in the pipeline. Buying freehold or loft space is a non starter I think. We tried guaging interest in buying freehold a while back but cause most leaseholders sublet therevwasnt much interest as they are just happy as long as rent is coming in.

SmashedAvacado

best you can get a commitment to refurb the common parts at their cost.
they will want to do this to attract new buyers, and they will likely cause damage so it shoudl be an easy give by them
also ask them for a hotline to complain about noise / issues -

getmore4less

Happened near us a commercial building was converted to flats then sold.

As soon as they all sold the developer put in planning for 2 more floors.

Leaseholders are furious and the top floor flats leak because they never finished the roof properly as they new they were building up.

Parking was going to become an issue with all the new flats

Scaffolding and building work a nightmare for owners.

burtbot1

If they put lifts and whatnot in it's going to increase your management fee by loads! Assuming you have no lift now. Although they may not charge you for the initial works, you will be charged more for maintenance going forward - that would be my first major point of complaint!

stator

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

1. you dont need to inform your lender
2. the building will be insured by your landlord- so again no need

The contents insurer will want to know about building works.

diggingdude

Object to lifts unless they will maintain them solely from service charge of new flats

af1234

I am worried about the service charge costs with installation of lifts. They have mentioned freezing service charges for five years but Id need to insist on that in writing but after that it could increase maintenance costs. While we can object to the lifts not sure if we can stop them putting them in? I guess I need to try to get together with my neighbours and come up with a plan for replying together.

eddddy

af1234 wrote: »

I am worried about the service charge costs with installation of lifts. They have mentioned freezing service charges for five years but Id need to insist on that in writing but after that it could increase maintenance costs. While we can object to the lifts not sure if we can stop them putting them in? I guess I need to try to get together with my neighbours and come up with a plan for replying together.

You almost certainly cannot be 'forced' to pay for maintenance of the lifts - because the lifts were not there when your lease was granted, and will not be mentioned in your lease.

(FWIW, I know of a block where a lift was added - some leaseholders declined to contribute to the costs. So only those that contribute have an electronic fob to operate the lift.)


"Freezing service charges for five years" sounds strange. What happens if repairs needs doing, or the insurance premium increases?

Or is it the management fee that will be frozen for five years?