Share of freehold

maruuchan

Hello,

This is my first post here, so hopefully I'm doing it right!

May I please have an advice as we purchased a property that is share of a freehold. There is limited company formed by 4 freeholders in total to manage the properties. Each freeholder has a share of the limited company.

Since the purchased we have had a few issues already, we haven't been issued a share yet (despite many many letters sent by our solicitor that gets ignored) and now we have been in a dispute over a fence.
There is a fence already in our garden, paid by the previous owners. We checked the lease, consulted our solicitor and were advised that there is nothing from a legal perspective that stops us from putting up the fence.
However, the people upstairs overhead us talking to the fence people (when getting a quote) and approached us in rude manner telling us we cannot put up a fence/change the old one.

We had a meeting after that, when we agreed on compromised (not 6 foot but 5 foot) etc. We were happy so we told the fence guy to go ahead. We then informed the neighbours and they went absolutely crazy. 
Then they requested another meeting where basically they kept saying that the management company decides about everything. When I tried to point out that the management company is there to manage the lease terms, not private property I was just talked over. They were just pure rude.

We were also told that we cannot plant or basically do anything without their permission. 

In the meantime, we found out that the old fence was only put up 2 years ago, we called the company that did it and they told us that they left mid job as the people upstairs were horrible to them (as well as to the previous owners of our current property).

In a nutshell, we don't want to be in a dispute with the neighbours and we were happy to compromise on the fence height but I'm not happy with being told I cannot do anything in my property. I'm terrified to get rid of things in the front garden (that's overgrowing) that is part of our demised premises in the lease and I'm worried I'll be shouted at again.
I was told I'm being "unneighbourly" already even though I haven't even done anything yet!

The neighbours also raised panels of our fence and drilled stuff into it (as they saying to show as that we cannot go any higher than this) which I believe is illegal since we own the fence.

We haven't seen any communications from other freeholders, we are only dealing with one of them (2 others don't even live there) who seems to be abusing his power.

I understand that it is share of a freehold so things are limited by lease (which I'm happy to follow) however it seems that I'm being blocked to do things within my legal rights. 

Any suggestions, please. 

MEM62

I have just sold a share of freehold property.  The management company would normally handle more than just the lease.  They would also arrange maintenance of the communal areas, buildings insurance and ensure that each leaseholder pays their potion of the costs - usually by means of a monthly management fee.  It can be the case in such arrangements that some individuals with 'strong' personalities think that they can rule the roost.  Refer to your lease and that will tell you what powers the shareholders and any directors may have.  It will also instruct you in what you can and cannot do to your property and what permissions may be needed.   

     

maruuchan

MEM62 said:

I have just sold a share of freehold property.  The management company would normally handle more than just the lease.  They would also arrange maintenance of the communal areas, buildings insurance and ensure that each leaseholder pays their potion of the costs - usually by means of a monthly management fee.  It can be the case in such arrangements that some individuals with 'strong' personalities think that they can rule the roost.  Refer to your lease and that will tell you what powers the shareholders and any directors may have.  It will also instruct you in what you can and cannot do to your property and what permissions may be needed.   

     

I'm happy with all what you listed, however there is no sinking fund, each property insures their own bit, the common areas haven't really been looked after etc. So as even my solicitor pointed out, they don't do anything that normal management company would do, just demand I inform them about everything I do. (even though they don't inform me!) However I don't want to annoy them, just don't want to be told I can't do things that legally I can. 

eddddy

Essentially, the problem seems to be that you have a difficult neighbour who shouts at you, tries to tell you what to do, scares away people working in the garden, etc.

So you need to try to find a way of dealing with that. Maybe...

• Try to "make friends" with the neighbour, to see if that helps
• If the neighbour is already "friends" with one of the other joint freeholders, see if their friend can calm them down
• Ask a solicitor to write a "nasty" letter to the neighbour - but that might inflame the situation.
• Try to find out when the neighbour will be away, and put up a fence then (and get ready to be shouted at, when the neighbour gets back).

In general, it can sometimes be very difficult to find ways of dealing with difficult people.

propertyrental

there are two aspects to this
1) leaseholder/freeholder rights and duties.
For this, you need to read your lease carefuly, check what areas (eg garden) fall within your demised property (ie belong to you/your flat as opposed to any other flat or the freeholde (common areas))
Unless your lease says otherwise (again- read it carefully) you can do what you want within your property eg planting/clearing the garden, decorating etc. Be careful with fences though - you can put up a fence within your boundary (unless the ease says otherwise) but maybe not ON the boundary.

You also need to read the Articles of Association of the limited company. That will tell you how the freeolder company should act, who/how decisions are made etc.

2) Neighbour dispute
This is nothing to do with your leaseholder rights, just a basic neighbour issue. If you feel threatened, make a complaint to the local community police officer(or in extemis, 999)

maruuchan

propertyrental said:

there are two aspects to this
1) leaseholder/freeholder rights and duties.
For this, you need to read your lease carefuly, check what areas (eg garden) fall within your demised property (ie belong to you/your flat as opposed to any other flat or the freeholde (common areas))
Unless your lease says otherwise (again- read it carefully) you can do what you want within your property eg planting/clearing the garden, decorating etc. Be careful with fences though - you can put up a fence within your boundary (unless the ease says otherwise) but maybe not ON the boundary.

You also need to read the Articles of Association of the limited company. That will tell you how the freeolder company should act, who/how decisions are made etc.

1) thanks. Yes, the garden is part of demised premises. Solicitor confirmed that there is nothing in the lease. Also there is a fence there already so it's not a boundary dispute - more of them telling us there are certain rules that we need to follow as it's "development" and "things have been like these for years".  They seem to ignore the legal side of it and when I pointed out that this is demised premises he said "yes but within management company grounds"

NameUnavailable

What's wrong with the existing fence?

As said, the lease will stipulate what exactly is demised to you and if part of the gardens are 'yours' you can do what you want within reason (and within the limits of what the lease says).

If it was a smallish garden of which each flat 'owned' a quarter, it wouldn't be a good idea to erect tall fences sectioning them off as it would possibly block light and look unsightly. If there's an existing fence that's been up for two years then I don't see what the issue would be (unless your new/proposed fence is significantly different).

Did you seller note anything in the sales forms about a dispute with a neighbour?....

Regarding the share of freehold again check the lease, it might have a clause stating that each leaseholder must agree to being a member of the freehold company or some such. Who issues the notice? This is really a matter for your solicitor as it's part of the sale and part of their job to ensure everything has been completed correctly.

maruuchan

NameUnavailable said:

What's wrong with the existing fence?

As said, the lease will stipulate what exactly is demised to you and if part of the gardens are 'yours' you can do what you want within reason (and within the limits of what the lease says).

If it was a smallish garden of which each flat 'owned' a quarter, it wouldn't be a good idea to erect tall fences sectioning them off as it would possibly block light and look unsightly. If there's an existing fence that's been up for two years then I don't see what the issue would be (unless your new/proposed fence is significantly different).

Did you seller note anything in the sales forms about a dispute with a neighbour?....

Regarding the share of freehold again check the lease, it might have a clause stating that each leaseholder must agree to being a member of the freehold company or some such. Who issues the notice? This is really a matter for your solicitor as it's part of the sale and part of their job to ensure everything has been completed correctly.

The fence is 1m tall only. 
Yes, the lease says it's our garden. 

The neighbour objecting is the one issuing the notice though.