Can the freeholder charge us for this???

wksd

davidmcn said:

wksd said:

This is the quote from the lease:
"the Common Parts" means the front doors the entrance hall landings staircases lifts corridors and external staircase in the Building but not within the individual flats therein

So it doesn't even mention the car park?

Not that I can find, I will scan through the lease again using ctrl+f as reading it is confusing.
They are charging my block (6 flats) and the adjoining block (3 flats) - they are not charging the solicitors next door, or their block of flats next to that. I don't know where they plan to stop paving.

The cost is around £30k which would be just over £3k each, not disastrous but not good.

wksd

The right to park a single motor vehicle in the area edged in blue on the plan and the right of access and egress to and from the said parking space over the Common Parts

Could this be the part? Common parts is what I described above which said nothing about the road but could this be enough?

princeofpounds

Hi. 
This is a somewhat complicated situation as it involves two separate areas of law. And like many such cases, it will turn on details.

With regards to whether you are liable as a leaseholder. The road does not appear to be included your freehold, nor does your lease make any mention of it, assuming you have read it accurately. 

However, you may find that the freehold is liable (at least partially) to maintain the road in its role as a 'frontager'. 
https://www.barkergotelee.co.uk/who-is-responsible-for-maintaining-unadopted-road/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Highway%20Authority,owners%20to%20be%20deemed%20responsible.

I'm no kind of expert in splitting responsibilities between frontagers, but this might start you down the right google path.

Whether that responsibility can be passed onto leaseholders probably relies on some fairly general clauses in your lease. I'm sure there will be tribunal case law on this, but I am not familiar with this.

My suspicion is that they would be able to charge for this in some way, as it is being done for the communal benefit of the freehold, but that's only a hunch.

Do not be afraid to challenge the freeholder on this - write to them and ask on what basis they propose to introduce the charge given it is not in the freehold title or referenced in the lease. You may get a sensible reply from them. You should also ask them how they plan to split the costs with other parties who use the road.

Your right of way down the road is unlikely to rest on who maintains or owns that road - I would not worry about that for now.

Who owns the road (i.e. which property/ies have title)? Have you done a land registry map search and downloaded the road title - or more likely the adjacent property titles - to find out? You may find out some details about covenants that relate to the road if you can establish that.

davidmcn

wksd said:

The right to park a single motor vehicle in the area edged in blue on the plan and the right of access and egress to and from the said parking space over the Common Parts

Could this be the part? Common parts is what I described above which said nothing about the road but could this be enough?

So you can drive your car up the stairs, but not across the car park! It sounds simply wrong to me, and I'd have thought they'd want something there about recovering maintenance costs for the car park.

saajan_12

There may be different definitions of 'common parts' or a similar term for different sections of the lease. Many blocks of flats are within a larger estate with outside green space etc. If there were say 5 blocks each with 20 flats, then a lease could say each leaseholder is liable for 5% of maintenance for the common parts of the building itself (corridors, lifts, roof etc) and 1% of maintenance for the common parts of the estate (outside paths, greenery, etc). 

greatcrested

Have I missed this or have you made clear whether you are being charged to pave the car park, or the road, or both?

wksd

greatcrested said:

Have I missed this or have you made clear whether you are being charged to pave the car park, or the road, or both?

They want to tarmac the private road which is used to access our car park, as well as the car parks /spaces for all other businesses on the road and residences. The road looks more like a dirt track to be honest. Only 2 small blocks of flats out of about 15 properties are being charged (the ones owned by the freeholder)