Need advice on how to take legal action against my co - freeholder ( self managed property )

Nat76SW

Hello,

I have owned my flat in a three flat building for four years. The other two flat landlords are renting out their properties.

Since the beginning we have experienced issues, amongst the most annoying we have a bin alleway that is shared with another building which is continuously filthy and dirty with garbage spread around the floor constantly and items thrown into it that are not collected by the council who keep piling up and contributing to degrading the environment.

The building with who we share the bin alleway is managed by a property management company and it is entirely occupied by tenants. They have so far taking responsibility and cleaned the area a few times but (rightly) claim this is a shared issue and we should also contribute to the cleaning of the area and to find a solution.

For four years my co-freeholders have been completely avoiding the issue and not taking any actions. I have emails reporting the complaints and pics of the situation going back four years.

I thought we had reached an agreement a month ago as we met and after a very unpleasant conversation we supposedly agreed to take action. I would buy new bins to replace the old ones and they would engage a waste management company to come and collect the garbage and items not collected by the council and clean the area. All costs would be shared.

Unfortunately following this meeting which was a month ago they have gone back to their usual behaviour of ignoring my emails and not doing what they agreed to do.

There are also other issues ongoing in the property that add to my frustration - lack of appropriate cleaning of common areas, recurring drain blockages in the patio due to the misuse of the rain pipe of one of the flats of my co-freeholders, lack of adequate maintenance of the decoration ( painting needs to be refreshed but they don't agree to it) and recurring mice in one of the properties ( same as the one misusing the rain pipe) .

I am at the edge of my patience and we are not in good speaking terms. I have suggested we delegate the management of the property to a professional agency but they refuse to agree because they don't want to pay for it.

I am concerned for the health and safety issues that can arise from not maintaining the bin alleway clin, the issues with the constant water flooding the patio because of the blocked drain and the not appropiate tackling of the mice in the property.

I fell helpless and this is causing me great distress. I wonder what kind of action, including legal I could take to get my co-free holders to appropriately managing the building.

thanks so much for your help

JJ_Egan

You should speak to a legal expert or even CAB citizens advice .

Nat76SW

Thanks. Do you have any suggestion on legal advise or should I just engage any civil solicitor?