Buying share of freehold flat - Current owner refusing to provide proof of consent for alterations

PeachyZee

Hi All,

Coming here for advice as I'm getting some very conflicting information from the EA and my solicitors.

Currently waiting for my final searches to get back alongside the enquiries we sent off to the vendors solicitor and one of the questions which was asked was what work has been done on the flat.

The vendor responded that the boiler and central heating had been relocated during general renovations to the flat, and pipework was moved when he redid the kitchen and bathroom. When asked if he received permission from the LL/other owners of the freehold he refused to provide evidence of consent to the works. My solicitors are raising this as an issue and saying that I could be liable for any complaints from the other flats in the building and in a worst case scenario, have to move everything back to the original position. The EA is saying that as he owns the share of the freehold, LL consent was never needed and my solicitors are making something out of nothing.

Is this actually an issue considering no walls/layout changes were made during the renovations or should I be concerned?

princeofpounds

The EA is wrong. Being a shareholder of the freehold entitles you to nothing more than some kind of vote in how it is run (the details depend on if it is directly held or held in a company etc). The freehold is its own legal entity and is the only body that can provide consent.

Of course it may be easy to sort out practically as co-owners tend to be co-operative but there are no guarantees.

As for what count as alterations - depends on the definitions in the lease but the bar is not that high if it involves a physical change to the freehold property. I know for a fact that a hole for a gas boiler exhaust, for example, has been held to be an alteration at tribunal.

You may be ok with taking a view on the likelihood of being asked to restore thing but if you have a mortgage lender they will also have to take a view in consultation with your solicitor.

Brie

I'd be informing the seller that without the proof of consent you will be walking away.

user1977

What does the EA's opinion matter? This ought to be a discussion between the solicitors.

If the vendor thinks it's a non-issue, why can't they simply arrange for retrospective consents to be issued now in order to tidy everything up?

PeachyZee

Thanks for all the responses! 

I'll look at trying to get retroactive consent sorted out and if he doesn't want to do that, it's a pretty big tell that it wouldn't be an easy or simple process.

I don't think I'd be keen to take on the risk of having to restore everything to it's original position as the boiler/central heater relocation were originally at the back of the flat in a bedroom, and they're now in the kitchen.

eddddy

PeachyZee said:

I'll look at trying to get retroactive consent sorted out and if he doesn't want to do that, it's a pretty big tell that it wouldn't be an easy or simple process.

Just to clarify - consent could just be one sheet of paper saying something like "We consent to the pipework in flat x being moved from ... to ..." - and signed by the freeholder(s).


So, potentially, that's a few minutes work for the freeholder(s).

A problem only arises if the freeholder(s) refuse to sign. Perhaps because:

• They're disinterested / lazy / difficult to get hold of
• They don't like the seller, so they refuse to sign to annoy the seller
• They are genuinely worried about the relocation of the pipes - and maybe want a plumber, or surveyor or somebody else to look at the pipes to make sure everything's OK, before they sign