Fellow-freeholder access dispute. Legal opinions anyone?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Have you considered some lock picking tools?

Most padlocks can very easily be picked which would result in no criminal damage claims. 

bouicca21

eddddy said:

bouicca21 said:

Leasehold advisory service?

They advise leasholders. 

This is a problem faced by the freeholder (which is probably a company). The LAS don't advise freeholders.



The OP Is also a leaseholder - so the OP could contact the LAS as a leaseholder about being prevented access to the communal grounds.

So the LAS would tell them to inform their freeholder, and that the freeholder should take action. But the OP is (one of) the freeholders. So they're no further forward.

But wouldn’t advice to OP as a leaseholder that they do have a right of access and need the freeholder to take action be useful in persuading the recalcitrant landlord that their fellow freeholders are in the right (assuming of course that they are)?

MeteredOut

OP, do you have any legal protection on your household insurance policy? Not sure they'd cover this, but worth a call?

yksi

Update: another freeholder was so angry that she has contacted all freeholders with a clear statement that Annex Owner is obstructing our use of our garden.

She was very thoughtful in her message, noting clearly that until such time as the chain is removed, there will be no choice but to continually press the buzzer of the Annex, knock on his window to request passage, or simply place a step stool near the gate and climb over every time, and that if the owner doesn't see fit to rectify her lease breach, we may need to obtain legal representation to sort this out.

Although not done the way that I liked (eddddy's fabulous example letter!), she's on notice that we aren't going to roll over and take this, and the ball's in her court. Nothing precludes us from using the example letter next if she fails to act.

I want to thank you all so much for being so kind with your time and advice to me here. I have felt really alone and stuck, and honestly quite dejected about all this, and you've all cheered me up so immensely just to know that I have a bunch of people on our side.

eddddy

bouicca21 said:

eddddy said:

bouicca21 said:

Leasehold advisory service?

They advise leasholders. 

This is a problem faced by the freeholder (which is probably a company). The LAS don't advise freeholders.



The OP Is also a leaseholder - so the OP could contact the LAS as a leaseholder about being prevented access to the communal grounds.

So the LAS would tell them to inform their freeholder, and that the freeholder should take action. But the OP is (one of) the freeholders. So they're no further forward.

But wouldn’t advice to OP as a leaseholder that they do have a right of access and need the freeholder to take action be useful in persuading the recalcitrant landlord that their fellow freeholders are in the right (assuming of course that they are)?

The LAS would only give generic advice like: "If another leaseholder has breached the lease, you should complain to your freeholder, and ask your freeholder to enforce the lease."


They wouldn't do anything like read the lease or look at the title plans, and therefore they wouldn't say anything like "In our opinion, putting a chain and padlock on the garden gate is a breach of the lease."

user1977

Surely the complaint is against the neighbour as a leaseholder? I don't think the fact they happen to have a minority interest in the freehold is all that relevant.

eddddy

user1977 said:

Surely the complaint is against the neighbour as a leaseholder? I don't think the fact they happen to have a minority interest in the freehold is all that relevant.

Yes. I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with - is it something I've posted?

user1977

eddddy said:

user1977 said:

Surely the complaint is against the neighbour as a leaseholder? I don't think the fact they happen to have a minority interest in the freehold is all that relevant.

Yes. I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with - is it something I've posted?

No, more the subject line and the general discussion about conflict of interest etc.

yksi

user1977 said:

Surely the complaint is against the neighbour as a leaseholder? I don't think the fact they happen to have a minority interest in the freehold is all that relevant.

You are correct. The difficulty (so I thought) was that since she's also part of the freehold limited company, it might end up being difficult for part of the company to force the other part of the company to act.

But this thread, and the other owner's email I talked about above, has made it more obvious to me that actually this is one leaseholder infringing on the legal rights of the other leaseholders, and that we should approach it as such, and only then to resort to the company "voting" then charging her if we incur costs while rectifying the access problem on the site.