Answered

indigofreeze

.....,..........

user1977

indigofreeze said:

The lease says they cannot make alterations without my consent in writing first obtained.

Can you give us the exact wording of the relevant clause.

indigofreeze

.................

bbat

Are there any more words in the lease? This appears to be relating to external boundaries and footprint. 

user1977

indigofreeze said:

Sorry for the delay

"Not at anytime during the said term without the licence in writing of the lesser first obtained to erect or place any additional building or erection on any part of the demised premises and not without such licence as aforesaid to make any alteration in the plan or elevation of the demised premises or in any of the party walls or the principle or bearing walls or Timbers thereof"

None of that seems to be relevant to the internal works you're talking about.

NameUnavailable

What is the issue? Do you want to block the leaseholders from improving their flat? Do you want to earn £100 out of them for 'permission'.

If you aren't against them doing some improvements then why worry? Of course they shouldn't make any structural alterations, but refitting bathroom and kitchen furniture and redecorating is what most people want to do to their homes from time to time.

AdrianC

indigofreeze said:

I own the freehold to 2 maisonettes
...
new people have bought the lease for the upstairs maisonette 3 months ago. They have told my family member who lives downstairs that they are renovating, putting in a new kitchen, bathroom, floors and decorating. Can they do any of this without my consent?

The key is absolutely in the wording of the lease.

indigofreeze said:

"Not at anytime during the said term without the licence in writing of the lesser first obtained to erect or place any additional building or erection on any part of the demised premises

That's putting a garden shed in.

They aren't doing that.

and not without such licence as aforesaid to make any alteration in the plan or elevation of the demised premises or in any of the party walls or the principle or bearing walls or Timbers thereof"

That's doing structural work or building an extension.

They aren't doing that, either.

They don't need your permission.

AFF8879

The vast majority of freeholder permission clauses relate to structural and/or external work (taking down walls, changing windows/front door etc). Impossible to be certain without seeing the exact wording of the lease but I’ve never known any leaseholder require permission to redecorate/replace a kitchen and bathroom (potential exception might be shared ownership/retirement complex flats but even then I’m unsure).

user1977

AFF8879 said:

The vast majority of freeholder permission clauses relate to structural and/or external work (taking down walls, changing windows/front door etc). Impossible to be certain without seeing the exact wording of the lease but I’ve never known any leaseholder require permission to redecorate/replace a kitchen and bathroom (potential exception might be shared ownership/retirement complex flats but even then I’m unsure).

To be fair, we have had some previous threads here involving leases (of apparently mainstream flats) which certainly did require consent for replacing kitchens or bathrooms.

user1977

indigofreeze said:

Sorry, I didn't explain properly, they want to put the kitchen into the spare bedroom and move the bathroom into the kitchen

OK, so which part of that do you think triggers a need for consent under the clause you've quoted? Are they moving walls, for example?

If you're not actually objecting to the works anyway, you don't really need to get involved. It's up to them to approach you for consent if they think that's needed. 

Leesabee1

To my knowledge, they will absolutely need permission to do the works that you are referring to. I think you are looking at wrong part of the lease to be honest. I would be requesting the plans and who is going to be doing those works. I am a property manager and that is the norm for such things. If the builders put a loose connection in and someone else suffers leaks then you will suffer consequences. Finding out the detail would be standard.