Confusion about a share of freehold

Hach

Hello everyone.  Sorry for the long post but I was just after some help with the following.

I bought a flat with a share of freehold about 8 months ago. I am a co-freeholder with another flat downstairs (only 2 flats in the block). I am a little confused about being a leaseholder and freeholder.

My understanding before buying a share of freehold flat was that I still needed to follow the lease and need to ask for permission when required to do certain things. There is no sinking fund, maintenance is done on an as and when basis.

Myself and Downstairs bought the flats at roughly the same time and arranged the buildings insurance through our solicitors. Downstairs moved in 2 months before me, once I moved in I found out that he has a dog and 2 cats.

1. The current lease states under the restrictions section:

* No bird dog or other animal which may cause annoyance to any owner  lessee or occupier of any other flat on the estate shall be kept in the flat.

I know some people feel this means if the animal doesn’t cause a problem then its fine to have them. I should have asked my solicitor at the time of buying the flat to make sure, in my old leasehold flat that I moved from it stated the following in the lease:

* Not to keep or suffer to be kept in the Flat any living animal or birds except with the consent of the Lessor other than small birds of any kind commonly kept in captivity.

The old flats lease states that if I want to have a dog then I would need consent from the freeholder but the new lease does not state that at all so I simply thought that pets were not allowed. I explained to downstairs that I believed that pets were not allowed and he just stated that he was not going to get rid of them. He let me know that one of his cats has a skin disease and he has to get special medicine from Belgium but it was not working.

I am not sure what kind of disease the cat has but it is always in my garden, he does not try to move the cat out of my garden (there is a communal part where he can walk past my garden to get to his) he just leaves it there and this makes me feel reluctant to go in my own garden as I don’t want to catch anything. We do not have a private entrance we have to share a small communal area. I don’t want to offend pet owners but from a non pet owner I can smell his dog and his dog stink and it does bark.

2. He also mentioned that he was going to replace all his windows but didn’t provided me with any details in writing of any work. A few weeks later he just changed them. In our lease it states:

* Not to make any structural alternations or structural additions to the demised premises or any part therof  or remove any of the Landlord’s fixtures without the previous consent in writing of the Lessor.

I didn’t give consent and I am still not sure if the work has been done properly but as I said earlier we were buying the flats at the same time so if he got consent from his previous owner then it has nothing to do with me? If that is the case when I received the leasehold information from my solicitor, my seller did not state that there would be any work so I guess she didn’t know about the work either.

3. A few days ago I got a text message from downstairs that he was selling his flat and the buyers surveyor found some cracks on the external wall and in his hallway and lounge. He said he would get a structural survey done. Today I was working from home and saw that the surveyor came and stayed a maximum of 5 minutes. I thought it would take longer than 5 minutes, I am just worried that the surveyor might be dodgy.

So the confusion is, am i a freeholder for my flat and he is for his flat rather than the building. So basically if consent is needed I can ask myself for consent and get on with the work?

If we still need to follow the lease for example, we need consent from the other freeholder etc I think I missed the opportunity to speak with him formally about it as he is selling now but I would like to make sure with the new owner that we follow the lease because it makes things easier. As he is selling I want to take this opportunity to communicate to the new owner through my solicitor about it, I don’t know if this is possible but could I ask downstairs to pay my legal fees?

 Any advice or help would be much appreciated

Thank you.

Bookworm105

I think you haven't got your head around the fact that the freeholder is a totally different entity to the leaseholder

yes, there are only two real people, but it matters which hat each person is wearing at the time, as they cannot wear both hats simultaneously.

as leaseholders you each individually have to follow what your respective lease says 

as freeholders you jointly have to hold the leaseholders to account for adherence to their lease, and, to an extent, the freeholder decides what is in the lease (ie can decide to start the process for a formal amendment to the lease) or takes action for a breach of the lease.

What does share of freehold mean? - Starck Uberoi Solicitors & Advocates

particularly note:
Are there any downsides to share of freehold

Possibility of disputes between share of freeholders Owning a share of freehold property doesn’t give you unopposed control over the entire building. When it comes to varying or extending leases, arranging maintenance and buildings’ insurance and all over aspects of managing the freehold, share of freehold owners need to make decisions jointly. This means if you fall out with any co-freeholders, they may purposefully make things difficult for you when you want to extend or vary your lease.

In your situation where there is no casting vote because there are only two of you I think you are going to have to learn to live with some things you may not like or your respective positions will devolve to open warfare.

sheramber

Why would your downstairs neighbour pay your legal fees for your solicitor to write to a new owner- presumably after he ha moved out?

A lawyers letter as soon as he moves in is going to predudice your relationship with your new neighbour.

Titus_Wadd

Maybe they got permission from the previous freeholder: the one who sold their flat to you?
Good luck trying to ask any pet owner to give away their animals...it might irreparably damage your interaction with the other leaseholder

HampshireH

Completely objective view

You sound like a bit of a nightmare who wants to be involved rather than leaving your neighbours to live in peace. Whilst I appreciate the point of the freeholder and lease and could understand if they were knocking walls put or something but why would you have had any objection to them upgrading their windows at their cost. It's sound's really picky.

Like for like window replacement is not a structural alteration. If you are that concerned about their windows being done properly check fensa or certass for a certificate or BR via the council.

Thinks like actual structural issues of the building would be a shared responsibility.  If your neighbour has got a structural report at their cost then great. Just wait and see the outcome. 

What do you think you're going to catch from a cat in the garden? 

You're not going to get far demanding they don't have pets. Your option would be to take them to court, which will be expensive and potentially seen as unreasonable. Especially in a world where people's rights to have pets are more and more likely to be accepted.

It's probably best to not try and make an enemy of your néw neighbours when they arrive.

LinLui

If you are going to get so obsessively involved in watching everything your neighbours do, expecting to have to give approval before they can do anything, and don't like the way other people live, then perhaps living in a flat isn't for you? There is a certain amount of "live and let live" that has to go alongside living in close proximity to others, and nothing he has done seems to be "wrong" - just not to your liking. 

Good luck finding anywhere at all where cats don't come in your garden. 

If you are going to start going down the route of complaints, remember that these have to be declared when selling and can make your property appear much less desirable to buyers.