Terminating Lease for Landlord's Failure, and Small Claims Court for Financial Loss?

greatcrested

fly_pips said:

Dear all,
.....
I would like to know if I can have my lease terminated on the grounds that my Landlord has not allowed me peaceful enjoyment of my property, and if I can take my landlord to the small claims court for financial loss.

The right to 'Quiet Enjoyment' (not 'peaceful', but that's semantics), is a Common Law Right. It is not a Contractual Right. Nor is it a Statutory Right. It comes form several hundred years of precedents handed down by judges, adapted, altered, ignored, over-ruled, re-established etc over time by judges in courts at differing levels.

As such, courts today can and do rely on it when passing judgements, but do so alongside other factors, which may equal or outweigh the right to QE in relevance to any specific set of circumstances.

In this case a court would look at your shared owership tenancy and agree ou have a right to QE.

They would also look at your freeholder's obligation to make the building safe.

Since the freeholder's obligation is set down as a Statutory duty (ie defined by an Act or Acts of Parliament) no reasonable judge would uphold your right over the Freeholder's obligation.

Any claim based on your right to Quiet Enjoyment would fail.

SpiderLegs

fly_pips said:

SpiderLegs said:

fly_pips said:

SpiderLegs said:

fly_pips said:

Cant sell also doesn’t mean ‘won’t sell at a loss’. I don’t have a mortgage on my share and the value of the home would be more or less break even or a few % above. So I’m not sure why people make assumptions. 

I asked for any advice or guidance, not criticism. 

You can initiate a claim for your financial loss if you believe it has been caused by the freeholder
since you won’t sell at a loss then you clearly have nothing to claim for.

Again, some one who does not read or comprehend well.

This post was for help or advice, not unfounded assumptions or criticism. You do not need to post here. Please save your time for something more useful.

Oh lord we’ve got one of those posters have we.

ok then , yes you can sue and are due at least 250k in compensation.

Is that more like you were hoping to read?

No it's not what I was hoping to read, I am not after excessive compensation - or anything far-fetched. 
I would seek the difference between borrowing government funds at 1.75% and what I would find on a standard mortgage, and a stamp duty tax saving of around £15k. It's nothing like what you are suggesting.

As I explained to you, you cannot claim for a loss until you actually make one.
a theoretical stamp duty saving that does not exist and an arbitrary borrowing rate for finance that you have not taken out are not actual losses.

fly_pips

numbercruncher8 said:

Look, you aren't going to get the advice you want here, and the nice way of putting it is because nobody would think that what you are suggesting is possible.

It may be easier for you to seek advice in a more appropriate way - there are plenty of solicitors out there who may give you a free initial consultation to ascertain whether you have a case or not.

If you do get progress that way, why not update it here then? There are hundreds of thousands of people presumably in the same position that you are in and I'm sure it would be most useful for them.

The best response so far. Thanks.

fly_pips

AdrianC said:

fly_pips said:

Cakeguts said:

I don't understand what you need advice about.  You have a flat that is being repaired by the freeholder and you want to hand the keys back to the lender and walk away from the situation without any comeback from being able to get another mortgage because you can't use your balcony? How often in the last month have you wanted to sit on your balcony? 

'Hand keys back to the lender?'
As I said I do not have a lender.

That makes "just handing the keys back and walking away" even stranger.

First off, not many people buy a %age of a shared ownership outright. It's a strange thing to do - if you have the equity to put down 40%, you'd usually be looking at using that alongside a smaller mortgage to purchase entirely.
 
You've already said the HA won't buy your share back - so where would you get your equity back from if the lease was "cancelled"? If it was cancelled, your %age ownership would cease to exist - because that's what you've paid your money for.

I have to admit to being completely baffled about what you want. No, there's no way to force the HA to compulsorily purchase your %age back. They have first refusal, and they've declined to exercise it. So you would need to sell your %age on the open market. It may not be mortgageable, until the cladding is resolved, and - as already stated - cash purchasing a shared ownership is unusual. Also, while the work is ongoing you would have to take a further hit on the price.

A new build flat should not be sold as fire safe if it is not

At the time it was sold, it was believed to be, to the best of everybody's knowledge.
Understanding of the products used changed in the aftermath of Grenfell.
Those products are currently being replaced on your block. A bit of patience, and you will have a saleable flat again.
There are many people in a far worse position than you.

I started with a mortgage, but I paid it off - I don't think it's that unusual.

"Understanding of the products used changed in the aftermath of Grenfell."
As I mentioned before this was all before Grenfell. But never mind.

I notice people here only want to bang on about cladding being repaired and nothing else really.
You think having your external cladding repaired is anything compared to the whole of your house (walls and ceilings internally demolished) after you just moved in, and have to go live in temporary accommodation after you had just paid your savings on a deposit? 

I don't care what anyone here tells me, that is absolutely disgusting regardless of if it was being repaired or not. 
Of course it should be repaired. Should I be grateful for that? Absolutely not!! Should I thank these people? NO WAY!

You go buy a house and have the builder knock it down after, and then be so thankful that they decide to build it again.
THAT IS ABSOLUTE NONSENSE. If that's how you would feel good luck to you mate.

davidmcn

fly_pips said:

AdrianC said:

fly_pips said:

Cakeguts said:

I don't understand what you need advice about.  You have a flat that is being repaired by the freeholder and you want to hand the keys back to the lender and walk away from the situation without any comeback from being able to get another mortgage because you can't use your balcony? How often in the last month have you wanted to sit on your balcony? 

'Hand keys back to the lender?'
As I said I do not have a lender.

That makes "just handing the keys back and walking away" even stranger.

First off, not many people buy a %age of a shared ownership outright. It's a strange thing to do - if you have the equity to put down 40%, you'd usually be looking at using that alongside a smaller mortgage to purchase entirely.
 
You've already said the HA won't buy your share back - so where would you get your equity back from if the lease was "cancelled"? If it was cancelled, your %age ownership would cease to exist - because that's what you've paid your money for.

I have to admit to being completely baffled about what you want. No, there's no way to force the HA to compulsorily purchase your %age back. They have first refusal, and they've declined to exercise it. So you would need to sell your %age on the open market. It may not be mortgageable, until the cladding is resolved, and - as already stated - cash purchasing a shared ownership is unusual. Also, while the work is ongoing you would have to take a further hit on the price.

A new build flat should not be sold as fire safe if it is not

At the time it was sold, it was believed to be, to the best of everybody's knowledge.
Understanding of the products used changed in the aftermath of Grenfell.
Those products are currently being replaced on your block. A bit of patience, and you will have a saleable flat again.
There are many people in a far worse position than you.

I don't care what anyone here tells me, that is absolutely disgusting regardless of if it was being repaired or not. 
Of course it should be repaired. Should I be grateful for that? Absolutely not!! Should I thank these people? NO WAY!

Is that what anybody said? They're explaining to you that you don't have a legal case - which I thought was what your question was?

[Deleted User]

As I explained to you, you cannot claim for a loss until you actually make one.
a theoretical stamp duty saving that does not exist and an arbitrary borrowing rate for finance that you have not taken out are not actual losses

Technically you can sue for lost opportunity (i believe).   I would expect the cost of taking someone to court over this to outweigh the benefits though.   I dont think it would be in small claims court so you would expect the defendant to seek their fees being covered when they win .

diggingdude

Did you have someone in line who would buy your property were it not for the problems? I would have thought you would need this before being able to sue for lost opportunity, because following Grenfell and this pandemic the likelyhood of anyone wanting to buy a flat is limited 

rik111

This highlights how crappy shared ownership schemes are.
The OP can not sell without the HO who own the rest of the property firstly agreeing and then setting a sale price, to which the owner has absolutely no say nor input.
The OP can not sell his place firstly because of the ongoing works and secondly because the HA refuse to start the ball rolling. 
If I offered him 50k cash to buy him out, it wouldn't happen, he has absolutely no control of the situation.
On top of the ongoing building works I can sympathise with the OP's situation, he is just caught in limbo, can't sell, doubt he can rent so in essence being forced to live on a building site. And yes you should be able to hand they keys back for a full refund, if this was any other purchase, it would be covered under consumer law and not fit for purpose! but sadly the government offers little protection against these rogue part buy schemes.
Consult a solicitor or do you have free legal cover with your home insurance ?