Replacing a conservatory in a flat with share of freehold

JMS63

Hi,
I bought a ground floor flat with a conservatory but it is in need of repair. Can anyone advise if the cost to replace is 100% mine, or if if is part of the management company? (The conservatory is marked in the deeds and i plan to keep it the same size.)
Also, do I need to get permission to change like-for-like? Do I need the management company to approve that the new conservatory is in keeping with the building?
Any tips around this would be greatly appreciated as I don't really know where to start...!
Thanks. 

eddddy

Your lease should tell you who is responsible for maintaining and repairing the conservatory - you (as the leaseholder) or the freeholders.

You mention a management company, so I guess the freeholders have appointed a management company to do stuff on their behalf.

There's no harm in asking the management company who is responsible for the conservatory. If it's the freeholders, the normal situation is that there would be a section 20 consultation, they would get multiple quotes, choose the contractor, get the job done  etc, and split the cost between the leaseholders. (That might take 6 months.)

But since you're all joint freeholders, everyone might agree to do it more informally, to save time and money.

gwynlas

If the conservatory is solely part of your flat why would the management company be responsible for it? They would hold responsibility for comunal areas. You would possibly need freeholders permission if you were to change it in any way but if repairing like for like this would be straightforward. You can just write to the management asking if it okay to repair it/

princeofpounds

gwynlas said:

If the conservatory is solely part of your flat why would the management company be responsible for it? They would hold responsibility for comunal areas. You would possibly need freeholders permission if you were to change it in any way but if repairing like for like this would be straightforward. You can just write to the management asking if it okay to repair it/

Because usually (but not necessarily) the freeholder (the management company) is responsible for the entire structure of the building, which IS a common area despite the fact that the inside of the conservatory is demised exclusively to one single lease.

Common areas doesn't just mean things like hallways and gardens - it means anything not specifically demised to leaseholders, who normally own their apartments only as deep as the layers of paint and internal plasterboard.

It's possible that the lease is written in such as a way as to make the leaseholder solely responsible for the conservatory, but that is less common.

So as edddy says, the responsibility for the conservatory will be defined in the lease. 

greatcrested

Quote the relevant section(s) of your lease here and you will get more meaningful replies. As it is, we can only guess.