Our freeholder - who is also the leaseholder of the ground floor flat - is doing building work and has taken a bit of the hallway to our surprise mid build. It’s only an encroachment of the size perhaps of a very large cupboard, and it was dead space not being used, but is under common parts in the lease and we are worried it sets a bad precedent not to be even asked! What are your thoughts on what we should do. Thank you.
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This is likely to depend on the specific wording in your leases.
Some leases contain clauses that can allow the freeholder to use common areas, or parts of common areas, or potentially even to demise common parts to an existing, or new, leaseholder.
What they won't be able to do without your consent is to take away any of the rights that the lease gives you (so they can't, for example, remove your right of access to common parts that the lease specifically says that you can use, or where you have the right to 'pass over' common areas to reach your property.
If you don't have the right to use the corridor, other than to access your flat, and the access to your flat has not been restricted in any way, this might be allowable, but it could cause problems in the future if the extent of the common area is shown in the plans in the leases, and a buyers solicitor picks up on this when you try to sell. It's also important to consider whether the area that has been taken would need to be used if, for instance, large items of furniture needed to be manoeuvred into, or out of, any of the flats. -
It would be regarded as a derogation of your rights and if it affects the value of your property, and that can be substantiated, then you may have a claim for damages.
In most cases the amount awarded would be far less than the costs of the claim
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