Query stairlifts/ neighbor

donkeyivory

Hi I live in a 1st floor flat for over 55, run by firstport, my neighbor has a stairlift, I am selling my flat, the new buyer has asked about the use of the lift, and he is willing to pay half. She has said she pays £50.00 a month for the lift which seems a lot. She has told me she does not want anyone using it. 

Surely she cannot do this.

Alderbank

I am assuming there is a communal staircase to a communal first floor landing, and the two flats, yours and your neighbour's, open on to the landing?
You say your neighbour 'has' a stairlift. Does she own it or have a private contract? If so, it is entirely up to her who uses it.
If it is provided by the owner of the flats or by the Council, the new buyer should speak directly to whoever owns it.

If she has a private contract, it is likely that having more users will increase the rental cost even if they allow it.

I can understand why she might not want to share. Stairlifts can be temperamental and the number of breakdowns seems proportional to the number of users. Also, some are quite slow. With a single user, the chair is always ready for use on the floor you are on. When it's shared, much of the time you will have to wait while the chair comes to you.

Tigsteroonie

But could you put a private stairlift on a communal staircase and then lockout anybody else from using it? It's not as though the other flat owner(s) has any option to put in a second stairlift, it wouldn't fit and would therefore be a daft arrangement.

herebeme

But if it’s a communal staircase you surely can’t have a situation where the first person to put one in has exclusive use even if others then come to need one but are unable to put one in as one is already in place? 

I’d wonder if the second person would have a claim against the freeholder for allowing a situation that discriminated on the grounds of disability. 

pinkshoes

If it is a private stairlift, then the leaseholder must have given permission for the lift to be there. I would contact the leaseholder and ask to see the paperwork about the lift and who can use it.

It would seem odd the other person can't use it, as it's not like you can then put another stair lift on the other side... (Or could you?!? That would just be rather odd!)

herebeme

Interesting, though doesn’t address this specific example but does raise some of the other issues. 

https://www.fpra.org.uk/qa/2889

propertyrental

Surely you mean

pinkshoes said:

If it is a private stairlift, then the leaseholder  freeholder must have given permission for the lift to be there. I would contact the leaseholder freeholder and ask to see the paperwork about the lift and who can use it.

It would seem odd the other person can't use it, as it's not like you can then put another stair lift on the other side... (Or could you?!? That would just be rather odd!)

I think we need more precise information about exactly where the stairlift is, whether in a communal area, installed with consent by whom, owned/rented by whom on what basis.

HampshireH

If this person has a stairlift and it's for sole use which she seems to be implying then she is probably paying the electric bill for it (likely to be wired into her flat) and the £50 charge is probably a maintenance charge to the freeholder for servicing etc 

If this is the case and it is connected to her electric meter for her sole use then yes she absolutely can decline others use it.

Freeholder will confirm permissions but you will be able to see by looking at it where it is wired into.

I've always thought it odd putting private stairlifts in communal stair wells but it's actually more common than you would think.

Why would someone who needs a stairlift buy a first floor flat?

(As opposed to someone who buys a flat and later needs a stair lift)

elsien

England, Wales, Scotland?
Scotland don't have freeholders, so they? 

theoretica

Firstport seem quite a large organisation - so why not ask them how they handle such situations fairly.

user1977

elsien said:

England, Wales, Scotland?
Scotland don't have freeholders, so they? 

Everyone is a freeholder in Scotland, because we're not so ludicrous as to try using leasehold tenure for residential property.