I am in the situation where the freeholder of a terraced house which had been converted into two flats would like to refresh the outside of the house. The freeholder has got a quote for the work which needs doing .The owner of the top flat thinks it is too high. The only way to get to the back garden (to see the back and side of the property) is via the kitchen of the bottom flat. The owner of the bottom flat is away for a year and gave the freeholder the keys to the bottom flat. The owner of the top flat therefore has no access to the rear of the property so cannot show tradesmen the rear or side of the property , all the tradesmen asked to quote on behalf of the top floor flat owner would not give a quote as they cant see the work which needs doing. Does the owner of the top flat have to accept the quote obtained by the freeholder ? By law should the owner of the top flat be given access to the rear and side of the property so he can get quotes to compare with the freeholder's quote ? What should the owner of the top flat do
When the freeholder of the wife's old flat decided to redo the roof we just got presented a bill for our share of the works, never saw a quote or anything spoke to solicitor who advised to pay it nothing more could be done as they own the building and can charge you what they want.
Hi hi2u. Unless you are lucky enough to have someone on here who's clued up on these issues, I suspect you'd be better of on a different forum. Thinking back to when I had a leasehold flat, I think the Freeholder was obliged to get three quotes for any significant work, but even that didn't guarantee that they weren't pulling a fast one (quite often Freeholders have their 'own' maintenance companies or work closely with one who they'd obviously want to give the work to. That's not to say they are all bent, of course.) How 'high' is this quote - stupidly high or possibly just a tad? If the former, then I think Leaseholders do have some protection over what could be seen as something like extortion, but I think the occupier of the top flat needs proper advice. 'Cos they only lease the flat and not own it - they don't want to put themselves in a tricky situation through incorrect advice...
Best place to start... http://www.lease-advice.org/ Also http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?11-Long-Leasehold-Questions Landlordzone is a pretty decent forum with quite a few legal types helping out. Recommended.
Yes, poor practice. And I think unacceptable. Having said that, I doubt the FH needs to listen to his LHs should they wish to get quotes themselves - I suspect you are stuck with the FH doing it all themselves. So in this case I doubt the top flat owner has any say in the matter - they can't tell the FH to wait until the other flat owner is back so's they can arrange their own quotes. But I don't know for sure.
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