Advise on junk left outside communal garden

Michy78

Hello,

I have been renting for almost a year a flat in the block where we share all the communal garden. About 9 months ago , someone who is not a resident in the block and was renting one of the garages located at the back of the garden, has left a bulk of junk outside one of the garages and never cleared it. We have complained several times to the agency and building manager however nothing has been done to clear the junk and no feedback or response has been given  . On top of this, the garage has been damaged by the weight of the junk and a family of foxes has found shelter inside which is very inconvenient as they are very loud at night .Is it anything we can do legally to get the owner of the garage to take responsibility to clear the mess as it seems the person who was renting this garage has purposely left it all behind to avoid to pay the cost? I was  thinking to write a letter and get it signed by all the residents of the block as a formal complaint however i don't think this will produce any result.

Any advise is appreciate

Thank you

canaldumidi

As a tenant you have very few options. Your contract is with your landlord.

Your landlord is, presumably, the leaseholder of the flat, and as such has rights under his lease. It is for him to contact the freeholder, or the freeholder's management company, to get this dealt with.

If your landlord is unwilling or unable to take action, speak to other residents and find out if they are tenants, like you, or owner-occupiers (ie leaseholders) who can complain to their freeholder.

eddddy

It might help to understand the structure of ownership of the property, it's probably as follows:

1. A freeholder owns the building and communal gardens - they employ a management company (building manager) to look after the building and gardens
2. Leaseholders own individual flats - so your landlord would be a leaseholder
3. You rent the flat from your landlord

The freeholder (via their building manager) is responsible for getting the mess sorted. But you don't have a direct relationship with them, so they might not take notice of what you say, and they might not discuss things with you.

So you might have to complain to your landlord who would then need to complain to the freeholder's building manager (or the freeholder).

Or as @canaldumidi says, you can try persuading other leaseholders living in the block to complain.



(All the above is based on a 'typical' situation - so maybe assume that's the case, unless somebody tells you otherwise.)

Norman_Castle

Usual solution is for the freeholder to remove the junk and charge the owner. They would have to give the owner notice of their intention to do this. The freeholder has the problem of proving the junk is connected to this garage if the owner disputes it is. If they cannot prove who is responsible they can add the cost to the service charge paid by all which is obviously unfair for residents.

Is the garage now empty? Putting the junk in the garage will get it out of sight.

Michy78

Hello , Thank you for the useful information. The garage is apparently still rented by the same man who i saw dumping the junk( which i described him to the Estate agent) and for what i have been told by the Estate Agent is still renting the garage and I can see there is stuff inside it . Unfortunately the garage door is damaged and bent  and the junk left inside caused the garage door to bend
 I rent my flat through the Estate agents and i have been raising the issue with them who also came to take evidence of the junk. The building management also works from the same Estate agent and he has contacted the owner of the that garages in dispute to ask him however no response from anyone. I know for a fact that 2 owners of the flat below has also complained about this over 20 times and nothing has been done by the owner of the garage.

The Estate agent has told me that if they will call to clear it, the charges will be split amongst the residents of this block although none of us owns the actual garage. It is utterly disgraceful actually

canaldumidi

Michy78 said:

....

The Estate agent has told me that if they will call to clear it, the charges will be split amongst the residents of this block although none of us owns the actual garage. It is utterly disgraceful actually

This is a fact of life.

Freeholders/building managers are responsible for

a) maintaining the property and

b) reclaiming the costs of a) above either from i) whoever caused the damage or other required work, or ii) from the leaseholders as part of their general annual maintennace fee .

The difficulty with i) above is where the culprit declines to pay in which case court is the only other option, which requires proof. And since there's a risk the court claim might fail (eg not enough proof), the court /legal costs would get added to the leaseholders bills!

But all of this is no different to a house owner trying to get money off someone who dumps rubbish on their front garden. Or trying to get compenation from someone who scratches your car. You ask for money, they refuse, you sue, you may or may not have enogh proof they did it and court may or may not award you the money.

eddddy

Michy78 said:

I know for a fact that 2 owners of the flat below has also complained about this over 20 times and nothing has been done by the owner of the garage.

In which case, the freeholder is probably breaching the terms of the lease by not having the mess cleaned up (by the building managers or whoever.)

Perhaps the owners of the flat downstairs should start threatening the freeholder with legal action, because of the breach of lease.

Michy78

So the only option left i to write a formal complaint in writing to the Building Management company and get all the residents in the block ( 4 they own the flats and 3 rent) to sign the letter?

eddddy

Michy78 said:

So the only option left i to write a formal complaint in writing to the Building Management company and get all the residents in the block ( 4 they own the flats and 3 rent) to sign the letter?

I'm not sure whether you've understood or not.

The 3 people renting have no power to get the Building Management to do anything.


The people you refer to as "owners" are "leaseholders". It's those owners/leaseholders who have the legal rights. 

In simple terms, the owners/leaseholders can threaten the Building Management with legal action, if they don't clear up the mess.

So it's the owners/leaseholders who need to complain.

canaldumidi

eddddy said:

Michy78 said:

So the only option left i to write a formal complaint in writing to the Building Management company and get all the residents in the block ( 4 they own the flats and 3 rent) to sign the letter?

The 3 people renting have no power to get the Building Management to do anything.

Though those 3 renters could ask or presurise their landlords (who own the leases) to complain- just as you can ask your landlord.

Michy78

Thank you. In understood that i have no legal rights however The renters in the block including me, all rent through the Estate Agent and it is also where the building manager is located . We do not deal with the landlord directly , we all have to liaise via the Estate Agent and i know they wrote to the building manager but there is no response.