Share of freehold - can I refuse transfer?

arciere

I live in a converted flat with a share of the freehold for the building and the front garden. There are two properties in total.

The front garden is property of the freeholder, meaning that it is not part of either leasehold contracts.

If my neighbours decide to sell their property (leasehold flat), can I (temporarily?) refuse to agree on the sale of the freehold?

The reason is, the front garden has been heavily damaged by the current neighbours and nothing has ever been done to restore its original appearance. I have asked for the front garden to be sorted out before a new freeholder can join.

Am I legally allowed to do that?

anselld

Don't see why not, at least to the point where it will be a lot easier for them to sort the garden than to pursue other legal avenues.

How is the ownership of the Freehold arranged?  Company or jointly on deeds?

arciere

Jointly unfortunately, it would probably be a good idea to set up a company when/if they sell.

eddddy

Going off topic... but this a perfect example of how "Share of Freehold" can turn into a nightmare.

Your neighbour is annoyed with you; or is lazy and disinterested; or just wants to be awkward - and they can disrupt the sale of your flat, by refusing to cooperate with the freehold transfer.


To help avoid these types of problems, it might be sensible for the joint owners to sign a 'Declaration of Trust' when they buy the freehold. That document would specify things like:

• What a joint owner can do if the other joint owner wrecks the garden
• What a joint owner can do if the other joint owner refuses to cooperate with the transfer of the freehold

arciere

Thanks, but I don't think that will help me in any way at this point in time. That wasn't given to the younger-me as an option when I purchased the flat and back then I knew a fraction of what I know today.

NameUnavailable

OTOH if they are selling then it will surely be in their interests to sort out the garden. Even if they don't a new neighbour might be willing to help with making it better. Why would you want to 'trap' a neighbour you don't like/get on with?

arciere

NameUnavailable said:

OTOH if they are selling then it will surely be in their interests to sort out the garden. Even if they don't a new neighbour might be willing to help with making it better. Why would you want to 'trap' a neighbour you don't like/get on with?

Mainly because we are not talking about negligence, but basically they decided to get rid of a number of plants, trees and flowers over the last few years just because they live on the ground floor (closer to the front garden).

We had a number of other issues with them, but I don't think it's fair that I (and the potential new neighbour) should bear the cost of replacing all the plants and hire a gardener.

NameUnavailable

arciere said:

NameUnavailable said:

OTOH if they are selling then it will surely be in their interests to sort out the garden. Even if they don't a new neighbour might be willing to help with making it better. Why would you want to 'trap' a neighbour you don't like/get on with?

Mainly because we are not talking about negligence, but basically they decided to get rid of a number of plants, trees and flowers over the last few years just because they live on the ground floor (closer to the front garden).

We had a number of other issues with them, but I don't think it's fair that I (and the potential new neighbour) should bear the cost of replacing all the plants and hire a gardener.

Didn't you step in to stop them doing all that at the time? Is the garden actually demised to either flat or is it a shared space?

arciere

NameUnavailable said:

arciere said:

NameUnavailable said:

OTOH if they are selling then it will surely be in their interests to sort out the garden. Even if they don't a new neighbour might be willing to help with making it better. Why would you want to 'trap' a neighbour you don't like/get on with?

Mainly because we are not talking about negligence, but basically they decided to get rid of a number of plants, trees and flowers over the last few years just because they live on the ground floor (closer to the front garden).

We had a number of other issues with them, but I don't think it's fair that I (and the potential new neighbour) should bear the cost of replacing all the plants and hire a gardener.

Didn't you step in to stop them doing all that at the time? Is the garden actually demised to either flat or is it a shared space?

We live on the first floor, but regardless, we are not at home 24/7 and they have always done it while we were away (despite the fact that we clearly told them NOT to do it).
The garden is property of the freeholder, which is 2 persons upstairs and 2 downstairs.
The two leases only include the building (two flats) and two private (back) gardens.

sidneyvic

This is what happens when you tell people what to do.....

arciere

sidneyvic said:

This is what happens when you tell people what to do.....

Yeah, problem is, we never told anyone what to do.