Good Afternoon, I hope you can assist. I have lived in my Flat for 19 years (99 year lease). A Commercial shop is below and were served with Dilapidations in August 2011. I have not had any dealings with the Landlord up until now. The new tenants of the shop are putting pressure on me to have work done on the Common Parts. I am resposible for 50% repairs, which i have paid 100% for over 19 years. The Landlord is now trying to put pressure on me to have the Roof repaired, the External Concrete steps etc.. surely this should be covered by the Landlords Liabily Insurance which I have paid each year. I do not pay any Service Charges - only Ground Rent. I estimate that I have spent approx �14,000 in repairs & maintenance over the years with no contribution from the Landlord or previous Tenants, how can I claim this back as I believe the Landlord & Tenants are trying to get me to pay towards the dilapidations. The Tenants are very troublesome and I will not have any verbal agreements with them whatsoever, all correspondence has to be in writing as they cannot be trusted. I look forward to your reply. XXXXX XXXXX
Optional Information: System of Law: England-and-Wales Already Tried: I have had a brief chat with my Solicitor who suggests the Landlord is in Breach of his own Lease & obligations.
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Best regards
Caroline
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Hi there. Thanks for your question, I will assist you with this.Are you able to let me know what your lease says about repairs to the roof?Dan
Morning Daniel, I am digging out my copy Lease and get back you shortly, Hidden in in a safe place, just cannot remember where?
Haha. I know that feeling! Let me know when you've got it.Dan
Hi Dan
Found it. Of course it is all jargon to me, however, The Demised premises:-
The Flat specified in paragraph 4 (Flat above no 31 Castle Lane West) of the particulars and shown Red on the plan annexed herto including:-
(a) The Garden area coloured Blue on the plan annexed hereto and the boundary walls or fences hereto
(b) The front entrance hallway on the ground floor of the property and internal staircases leading to the flat
(c) The internal plaster tiles or other coverings of the walls bounding the flat and the doors and door frames, windows etc...
I will go forward to (g) All fixtures & fittings in or about the flat and not hereafter expressly excluded:-
(i) Any part or parts of the property lying above the said surfaces of the ceilings or below the said floor surfaces.
(ii) Any of the main timbers or structural parts of the property and the external or internal load bearing walls of the flat
(iii) Any conducting media in the property which does not serve the property exclusively.
Daniel, as mentioned before I have paid for repairs & redecoration over 19 years without any interferance from the Landlord as it is in my interest to look after my property. I do not pay any Service Charges.
Please note;- (3) Subject to and conditional upon payment being madeby the Tenant of the interim charge abd the service charge in the manner hereinbefore provided:
(a) To maintain and keep in good and substantial repair amd condition:-
(i) the main structure of the property including the roofs and foundations the principal internal timbers and the exterior walls the timber joists & beams of the floors celings & roof in the property the chimney stacks gutters rainwater and soil pipes of the property
(iii) the common parts
The tenants of the shop were sub-tenants for many years as Blockbuster used to rent. These tenants own the House ajoined to the shop and have dug out the foundations and have knocked through to the shop. They have been trying to get us out of our property. Your help on this matter greatly appreciated.
Hi Caroline. Thank you for setting out the level of detail that you did.The key to these things is always the terms of the lease itself. Therefore, if the lease requires you to carry out the repairs to the roof, then that would be your obligation. That is typically the case with long leases also.The provisions to which you referred and suggest that the landlord is ultimately responsible for the repairs to the main structure of the property, such as the Ritz and foundations, and the common parts, although you are required to pay service charge. I appreciate that, the reality is, he may not have actually made this service charge demand to you, but the issue is what you are legally obliged to pay, and do, and that is determined by looking at the actual terms of the lease itself.Therefore, any repair work done to the common parts or to the structure of the property, is not your responsibility directly, although you may be responsible for a share of the costs of that through the service charge. It looks as though, in the past, you have dealt with things fairly informally, which now causes some confusion and difficulty in identifying precisely what the respective parties rights and obligations are.If the previous payments made are effectively in relation to service charge, then there is perhaps literally can do, but the fact that they had been paid without a formal demand does create some difficulties. The answer is not straightforward.I am afraid that the best I can do at this stage is to suggest that you might be able to reclaim some of the money is paid, if they were paid under some mistake, that you may very well have a difficult claim. That said, until you get formal demands for a service charge, and strictly going by the terms of the lease, there is nothing to pay and ground rent.Dan
Thanks Dan, you have been a great help. The Lease is very old and not even in my name the date is also incorrect as to when I bought the property, and took over the old Lease. A lot of work needs to be done to rectify this situation.
Hi Caroline. It does sound like some serious legwork needs doing on this! It would be well worth you speaking to a solicitor now, sorting things out properly, and having a solid foundation from which to work on moving forwards. You do not want any bigger issues to come up later on!I hope this answers your question. If so, please do rate the speed and quality of service by leaving me a rating. It only takes 1 second to do… If you would like more information, then please let me know and I shall do my best to help out! Thank you!Dan
Experience: JustAnswer
Thanks Dan,
Our Lease is very old and even the Landlord is somewhat confused. He has also stated that the wording of the Lease is very unsatisfactory!!!! I am just trying to abide and live our lives in peace, without the disruption & distress these people are trying to cause us. The Freeholder of the property next door has dug out foundations without permission into the shop below (Cellar) which is now ajoined, has unauthorised buildings on their own land, and now wants to extend the shop on land registed to No 33. Joy oh Joy... I have had my Back Gate removed without permission i.e, stolen (Criminal Damage) My Mains Water Supply was cut off without permission (becaue they had a Flood and could not identify the cause of problem - unfortunately our electric supply, main water & gas are all fed through the basement which I do not have access to at all - the Landlord is responsible for this mess) we called the Water Board who told the Landlord that this is against the Law. No apologies. I will fight this rest assured... We have aslo had to call the Police on several occassions due to unresonable behaviour. I am strong but getting very tired of this harrasement. Please help Caroline
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Many thanks again Dan
The Police are fully aware (I even have my own personal Officer with a Ref Number!!) however they are powerless unfortunately. Rather than go to Court (as I know full well they will not turn up - as they have done a bunk before and now living in Spain - Yeah right!!!) Please look up Bournemouth Echo "Owner Quits Owing Thousands" I will not have anything to do with them. The Landlord wants me to discuss this situation with them - I will not under any circumstances.. I believe the Landlord is totally ignorant of the reputation of this situation as he lives in Surrey. These people are total con artists and if I have to use the sentence "trying to extract money through extortion" would be true. Well I am going to go through the right route, but it is very stressful having to be in this situation in the first place. Best Regards, Caroline