Freeholder/Leaseholder do we have to pay for a new front door we don't even use?

Cheeky73

I live in a converted Victorian flat, which has 2 flats downstairs with it's own front door and 2 flats upstairs with it's own separate front door.  I live upstairs and we do not have access to the front door or flats behind it downstairs and likewise the other way around.
We are being asked to pay for a new front door downstairs, which doesn't make sense to me.  If we are liable for these costs, surely they should be paying for the repairs to our stairs (which provide access to our upstairs front door - which they do not use) and also the communal electricity for upstairs (which again they have no benefit of)?

I have a share of freehold and I am a leaseholder.  There is no RTM, no management company and we pay no service charge.  

I've looked at my lease, but cannot make heads or tails of it.   Any advice please.  

eddddy

Cheeky73 said:

I've looked at my lease, but cannot make heads or tails of it.   Any advice please.  

Unfortunately, it's only the lease that can give you the answer to your question.

The lease will (indirectly) say who is responsible for maintaining / repairing / replacing the front door, and also who is responsible for contributing to the cost.




Do you think the person telling you to contribute would have read the lease to check who has to pay, or do you think they might just be guessing?

You could ask them to tell you which paragraphs in the lease indicate that you have to pay, and then take a closer look at those paragraphs.

DE_612183

It could be the doors are classed as communal - by the same token if the roof fell in the downstairs flats might resent paying for a new one as it may not impact them....

Cheeky73

I'm not sure that they have read the lease.....possibly but I'm not sure.  thanks for your responses.  In the same vain, do you think they would have to pay for our stairs (which are metal external stairs) and also our electricity, which is only for the upstairs communal area?

DullGreyGuy

Cheeky73 said:

I'm not sure that they have read the lease.....possibly but I'm not sure.  thanks for your responses.  In the same vain, do you think they would have to pay for our stairs (which are metal external stairs) and also our electricity, which is only for the upstairs communal area?

Read your lease.

With our lease all communal areas are chargeable to all leaseholders, so we pay for maintenance of the lift which we will never use in our life. At our previous place only floors 2+ had to pay for a share of the lift but then the fobs used for getting into the building and activating the lifts control panel wouldnt work for those going to the first floor.

Ours current one is an even split across all leaseholders even though 2/3 of units are 2 bed duplexes and the other 1/3 are much smaller units, some only one bed. In the prior place the split was by square meterage so those with bigger units paid more than those with studio flats. 

DE_612183

Cheeky73 said:

I'm not sure that they have read the lease.....possibly but I'm not sure.  thanks for your responses.  In the same vain, do you think they would have to pay for our stairs (which are metal external stairs) and also our electricity, which is only for the upstairs communal area?

If everything other than the stuff internal to the flats is classed as communal - then yes.

Normally a management Company is set up and you pay, say £100 a month towards that - the Management Co then pay all the communal charges whether they relate to upstairs or downstairs - my MIF used to tear her hair out at the cost of repairs to a lift which she didn't use.

eddddy

Cheeky73 said:

I'm not sure that they have read the lease.....possibly but I'm not sure.  thanks for your responses.  In the same vain, do you think they would have to pay for our stairs (which are metal external stairs) and also our electricity, which is only for the upstairs communal area?

Again, it depends if that's what your leases say. It's really impossible to guess what your leases might say.

user1977

Surely you got advice about what the lease says when you bought?

Cheeky73

user1977 said:

Surely you got advice about what the lease says when you bought?

it was 17 years ago!  we've never been asked to pay for their front door before and the new owners are asking for it

Cheeky73

DullGreyGuy said:

Cheeky73 said:

I'm not sure that they have read the lease.....possibly but I'm not sure.  thanks for your responses.  In the same vain, do you think they would have to pay for our stairs (which are metal external stairs) and also our electricity, which is only for the upstairs communal area?

Read your lease.

With our lease all communal areas are chargeable to all leaseholders, so we pay for maintenance of the lift which we will never use in our life. At our previous place only floors 2+ had to pay for a share of the lift but then the fobs used for getting into the building and activating the lifts control panel wouldnt work for those going to the first floor.

Ours current one is an even split across all leaseholders even though 2/3 of units are 2 bed duplexes and the other 1/3 are much smaller units, some only one bed. In the prior place the split was by square meterage so those with bigger units paid more than those with studio flats. 

I did read my lease - but as my comment says above - it is not clear, or specific and I don't understand it, which now means we are going to have to pay for some independent advice in interpreting the lease.

DullGreyGuy

Cheeky73 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Cheeky73 said:

I'm not sure that they have read the lease.....possibly but I'm not sure.  thanks for your responses.  In the same vain, do you think they would have to pay for our stairs (which are metal external stairs) and also our electricity, which is only for the upstairs communal area?

Read your lease.

With our lease all communal areas are chargeable to all leaseholders, so we pay for maintenance of the lift which we will never use in our life. At our previous place only floors 2+ had to pay for a share of the lift but then the fobs used for getting into the building and activating the lifts control panel wouldnt work for those going to the first floor.

Ours current one is an even split across all leaseholders even though 2/3 of units are 2 bed duplexes and the other 1/3 are much smaller units, some only one bed. In the prior place the split was by square meterage so those with bigger units paid more than those with studio flats. 

I did read my lease - but as my comment says above - it is not clear, or specific and I don't understand it, which now means we are going to have to pay for some independent advice in interpreting the lease.

You could pay for legal advice but do you know how much the door is and do you understand what % you pay of all other costs? Its very possible cost of advice will exceed the cost of your contribution and it may well come back saying you are liable. Obviously though this may be the thin edge of the wedge and a raft of other costs may come out in due course... repairs to the roof are an obvious costly one that comes in time. 

Advice from people here are no substitute for legal advice, and you have no come back if the advice is wrong, but plenty of people have previously put up screenshots of leases here when they've struggled to understand them.