Southwark Council Lease Extension + Statute of limitation for building work in Leasehold

Disjoint

Hi All -

Wondering if anyone went through the process of extending their lease with Southwark Council as the freeholder?

The solicitor acting for the council sent me her fees etc... I have had issues with Southwark, but mainly due to their incompetence.
IE: I ended up being charge £5k for decoration works they did to the building (the company they employed left the scaffold on the facade for a year and thus charged us through the nose for it). I complained at the time, but got no where.

So if they are actually decent, and given they are the council and have their own in-house solicitors you would think they are not out there to completely screw you over on money. I am tempted to just approach them without a solicitor and see what their offer is to extend the whole thing. I can read legal documents and my brother is a solicitor here in the UK if I find anything fishy. I am above marriage value so that won't be an issue either. So any feedback on the process would be fantastic.

Side note: I am going to do some very minor work to my flat and I don't intend on telling Southwark about it and be charged some random fees for the pleasure of informing them. Worst case scenario I can revert to what was there before.
Is there a status of limitation similar to the building regs 4 year retroactive application, or 10 year rule with freeholders? (The work in question involves no electricity or plumbing so it should not be an issue, but I am curious for curiousity's sake) TO BE CLEAR: the work does not require planning, but would be in breach of my lease as I need to inform them.

cattie

As you are so anti Southwark council, wouldn't you be better off just selling the place & going elsewhere, not another ex council flat I hasten to add.

It might have been helpful for you to give a hint as to the alterations you wish to make. I knew somebody a few years back (also Southwark council freeholder) who had wall between bathroom & toilet knocked down to make it a bigger combined bathroom. No permission sought & as far as I know, no repercussions when they sold. I'd image there are thousands of folk who've carried out alterations without getting prior permission from the council. It's hard to see how a council as freeholder would find out about any such works, unless a disgruntled neighbour contacted them.

I can't comment on the lease extension, but you would still need to pay the council's solicitor if you decide to forgo legal advise/representation yourself.

eddddy

Regarding the lease extension... here's what Southwark say:
https://www.southwark.gov.uk/home-owners-services/buying-selling-subletting-and-remortgaging/extend-your-lease

It's a bit ambiguous, but I read it as meaning...

- they want you to go through the statutory process
- their legal fees would be £294 (which is cheap, if that's correct)
- you'd also have to pay their valuer's fee (which is normal)
- you'd also have pay the cost of the lease extension (which is normal)

Plus you'd have to pay your own legal and valuation fees.


Regarding the alterations... when you eventually sell, you will be asked to fill in a TA7 Leasehold information form, and answer these questions:

• Is the seller aware of any alterations having been made to the property since the lease was originally granted?

• If alterations have been made to the property since the lease was originally granted, was the landlord's consent obtained?

If Yes, please supply copies of any consents obtained.

If you say that alterations have been made without the freeholder's consent - it will generate questions from the buyer's solicitor, and perhaps a lot of problems.

If you fib and say no alterations have been made, you might end up being sued by the buyer, if the freeholder eventually finds out and insists that the alterations must be undone - e.g. to maintain fire resistance.

Disjoint

Thank you Eddie - didn't think about the resale bit...
I was planning on adding a wall and a door to create a third bedroom, so it would be easy to find out that a third room had been put in. I'll go through the pain of talking to them.

For Southwark council their process seemed straight enough, I was just wondering how they actually did it in practice. They charge £290 per solicitor hour, so wondering how many hours do their solicitors actually spend on a straight forward lease.

Cathy, own a flat where Southwark is your freeholder and you'll understand the pain. They get ripped off on all building work and I have to pay for my share of it. Some of the council tenants in the building like to rip the front door at the weekend, and I have to pay for my share when it gets fixed. I wanted to sell but my little nephew is moving to London for Uni so I am leaving him the flat. We had knotweed in the garden, they wouldn't take care of it so I paid for it out of my own pocket for their bloody building. They are the worst.