Shared Freehold Disputes

scarletlolita

Hi.  I hope someone can give me some advice on what to do next. I've ran out of options.  

I have problems the other freeholder. Over the years it has been one thing after another. I have complained about so many things from her anti social tenants (which we had to call the police) to her renovations which she didn't get a party wall agreement to damage to external building.  It takes months just to get a first response, and then more months to fix the problem.  Sometimes there is no response at all. Any problem will take either more than 6 months or never resolved. I have had to back down so many times because I can't afford a lawyer to give me legal advice.

I'm also worried that the other freeholder will ask me to pay for damages to external building caused by her tenants.  Can the other freeholder ask me to pay for property damage done by their tenants after I have warned her about it?

Is it possible to accumulate all the unresolved issues over the years and claim damages?

thx

pramsay13

I'm not clear what you are suing for?

scarletlolita

There is a whole raft of things. Damage to property from the renovations without party wall agreement, taking no action for a long list of tenant's antisocial behaviour, various damage to building by tenants after warning her to investigate, damage to internal my pipes from her repairs, the list goes on. 
I wanted to see if there is anything (anything at all) I can do or claim. I seem to be getting nowhere with emails or phone calls. 

hazyjo

Your post is a little confusing. Your bits are bold - my comments underneath will be in normal text.

I have problems the other freeholder.
Other freeholder? Are you a leaseholder with 'share of freehold', or just a freeholder with someone else, or do you mean you're a leaseholder?

I have complained about so many things from her anti social tenants (which we had to call the police)
So she's a leaseholder letting her flat to tenants? Surely your issue is with the tenants? Do you know if they were on a fixed term tenancy?

to her renovations which she didn't get a party wall agreement to damage to external building.
What did she [want to] do to the outside of the building?

It takes months just to get a first response, and then more months to fix the problem.  Sometimes there is no response at all. Any problem will take either more than 6 months or never resolved. I have had to back down so many times because I can't afford a lawyer to give me legal advice.
Other problems, or the ones you mention?

I'm also worried that the other freeholder will ask me to pay for damages to external building caused by her tenants.  Can the other freeholder ask me to pay for property damage done by their tenants after I have warned her about it?
Another freeholder? Three of you? Or is it leaseholders you mean? Or is there one overall freeholder? How was the property damaged?

Is it possible to accumulate all the unresolved issues over the years and claim damages?
No. I'm not sure what you're actually claiming for. You can't just get compensation for someone not replying to you or not dealing with something. If you're sued for something by the freeholder/a leaseholder that you object to, you can in turn attempt to sue her.

hazyjo

PS just noticed title saying 'shared freehold' so presume you all own 'share of freehold' - so ignore my confusion with regards to that.

MovingForwards

England / Wales? Scotland?
Over how many years?
You have 6 years from the date of the incident to commence litigation.

If you want free opinions, then you will have to gives details and specifics:
when it happened?
what happened?
what have you done to try and resolve it?
what was the response?
how much has it cost you to repair / replace?

scarletlolita

Thx hazyjo for the detailed questions. 
It sounds really trivial without going into the whole story just to peruse compensation for merely not responding to emails/phone calls or rectifying the issues but the accumulation of all this has impacted my life and I can't relax at home. 
Here are my answers

• We are both shared freeholders of the building (2 parties)
• The tenants were on a fixed term tenancy. I have tried to speak with the tenants the first year (once a month) but now there is no line of communication so have to go through the landlord.  The problems are literally daily so I accumulate a fortnightly email to the landlord and list all the anti social behaviour that week. The council and police have been called on numerous times. No action taken to remove them. I have to leave the house just to get away.
• Pipes outside damaged by her tenants. As shared freeholder will I be expected to pay for half of the expense of fixing this even though I had warned her about it and she didn't do anything about it?
• The chimney and a wall was removed and it shifted parts of my flat. It has cost me a lot to get it fixed.
• Other issues include, damages to my ceiling and loft because of lack of response for roof repairs (this happened twice), raised an issue with shared easement to fix which is causing a trip hazard (no response), no water to my house because they didn't ask for permission to turn off my water supply to fix their pipes, damages to my wall from some "minor" repairs, strong damp smell arising from the flat into mine, damage to my front door from her builders.  There are other issues...

At the end of the day, I just want to see if there is any remedy from this whole situation.  Outlook seems grim...

scarletlolita

MovingForwards said:

England / Wales? Scotland?
Over how many years?
You have 6 years from the date of the incident to commence litigation.

If you want free opinions, then you will have to gives details and specifics:
when it happened?
what happened?
what have you done to try and resolve it?
what was the response?
how much has it cost you to repair / replace?

In England and over 4 years now
You can see there is so much stuff. I've done everything I can to resolve it. I tried calling and emailing to rectify. I even offer to do the investigation or get an impartial third party but it's difficult to resolve anything when they don't answer calls, texts or emails. When I eventually do get a response they tell me they will investigate and after chasing them so many times I find out they haven't done anything and have forgotten what the issue was.

So far all the problems that has caused I'm out of pocket by almost £10k