Freeholder's responsibilities - Fire

Skag

I live in a block of freehold flats and we have 5 directors in the Freehold Ltd. We have done a fire assessment 2 years ago which highlighted some things that are super high priority and should have been done within 3 months, such as changing most of the flat's front doors, because the current ones aren't fire-rated, and have a glass top that can break in case of fire; it's not fire proof as it's very old.

This hasn't been enforced so far by the directors. I asked them, and they said that because it's a high expenditure, they don't want to have to force people to change their doors (and they also said that they like their current doors!). They said they will communicate the fire assessment findings to all the tenants, and let them decide if they want to change their doors.

My question is, are the directors legally responsible in case something bad happens? What should their responsibilities be in this case? Are they breaking the law or some regulation? It just seems absurd to me that something so dangerous flies by so easily!

TripleH

What is your position?

Are you renting, only a leaseholder or both a leaseholder and joint freeholder?

Skag

I am a freeholder, as half of the current residents (the other half rent). Some of the freeholders are in the directorship.

eddddy

Skag said:

I am a freeholder, as half of the current residents (the other half rent). Some of the freeholders are in the directorship.

(Just as an aside, saying that you're a freeholder is a bit inaccurate. You are almost certainly two things: 1. a leaseholder of a flat and 2. a shareholder in the company that owns the freehold of the building.)

Back to your main question...

A 'responsible person' will be required to ensure fire safety. In your block of flats, the 'responsible person' is probably the freehold company.

If you want, you can report the issue to the Fire and Rescue Authority, who might then serve an enforcement notice on the 'responsible person' telling them to get the work done. If they still don't do it, they could be fined and/or the council might do the work and send a bill to the 'responsible person'.

There's more info here: https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/will-enforce-fire-safety-regulations/



The freehold company might also be breaching the terms of their buildings insurance by not doing the work - so an insurance claim following a fire might be rejected.


(If there was a fire, and the insurance claim was rejected due to the lack of fire doors - I guess you as a leaseholder could sue the freehold company, but that might be self defeating, as you're also a shareholder.  I guess that in the worst case somebody dies because of the lack of fire doors, the freehold company and/or it's directors could also be prosecuted for manslaughter.)

Skag

(Just as an aside, saying that you're a freeholder is a bit inaccurate. You are almost certainly two things: 1. a leaseholder of a flat 2. a shareholder in the company that owns the freehold of the building.)

Correct, I own a share of the freehold, we're 18 in total.

A 'responsible person' will be required to ensure fire safety. In your block of flats, the 'responsible person' is probably the freehold company.

And since the directors have been appointed to take decisions on behalf of the company, they are ultimately and jointly responsible to enforce the risk assessment findings, correct?

but that might be self defeating, as you're also a shareholder.

As above, the directors act on behalf of the sole interest of the company, therefore the shareholders don't have any decision power.

Also, as I mentioned above, would "send a notice to all flat owners and let them decide what they want to do" suffice, instead of enforcing the risk assessment findings?

eddddy

Skag said:

Also, as I mentioned above, would "send a notice to all flat owners and let them decide what they want to do" suffice, instead of enforcing the risk assessment findings?

Actually, thinking about it, it's more likely that the leaseholders are responsible for the front doors - not the freeholder.

So if the leases say that the leaseholders are responsible for their own front doors, then enforcement notices can be served both on the individual leaseholders and the freeholders.

i.e. Each leaseholder (flat owner) can be reported to the Fire and Rescue authority, and get an enforcement notice along with the freeholder - and the leaseholder and/or freeholder could end up being fined or the council doing the work and charging them.


I guess it's reasonable for a freeholder to send a letter first, and and if a leaseholder ignores it, report them. (Or I guess anyone else can report the leaseholder.)

It's probably unreasonable/negligent of a freeholder to say "you can change the door if you want" as opposed to "the law requires you to change your door". But there are other routes for dealing with unreasonable freeholders.

Skag

So if the leases say that the leaseholders are responsible for their own front doors, then enforcement notices can be served both on the individual leaseholders and the freeholders.

Just to make it clear: in this case, all leaseholders own a share of freehold. So to correct what you said, any notice will be served to the freeholders. Correct?

So we should look in the lease for "who owns the front door" ?

Robin9

Do the freeholders / leaseholders contribute to a "sinking fund" or similar to meet these costs.  and other things like insurance, electrics, general maintenance like window cleaning, painting, gardening.   £1000 a year might be reasonable.

Skag

Robin9 said:

Do the freeholders / leaseholders contribute to a "sinking fund" or similar to meet these costs.  and other things like insurance, electrics, general maintenance like window cleaning, painting, gardening.   £1000 a year might be reasonable.

Yes, they do.

eddddy

Skag said:

So if the leases say that the leaseholders are responsible for their own front doors, then enforcement notices can be served both on the individual leaseholders and the freeholders.

Just to make it clear: in this case, all leaseholders own a share of freehold. So to correct what you said, any notice will be served to the freeholders. Correct?

So we should look in the lease for "who owns the front door" ?

You're confusing things. That's why I specifically said earlier that you own 2 things, and you have 2 roles.

1. You are a leaseholder of  a flat
2. You own a share in the company that owns the freehold of the building

• Every flat will have a leaseholder
• Each of those leaseholders might (or might not) own a share in the freehold company.

I was being very specific when I referred to leaseholders (I specifically did not mean shareholders in the freehold company).

So enforcement notices would be served on:

• The leaseholder - i.e. the person who owns the flat lease
• The freeholder - i.e. the company that owns the building freehold. A company is a legal entity.

Skag

Got it, thanks for making it clear. So yes I am a leaseholder and I own part of the freehold.

So why would both leaseholders and freeholders be served notice, since in this case all the leaseholders own a share of the freehold? Is it just a legality, so that the legal entity who owns the freehold is also notified? That's kind of duplicating work.