Dear all
This is my first post on these forums so please go easy on me!
Myself and my wife own a property in a block of three purpose built flats. We live on the ground floor and own the freehold to the property as well as having a long lease on our flat. The two tenants above us (who both have long leases of over 150 years) have served a notice on us using the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993 Section 13, stating their intention to purchase our freehold in it's entirety. They have also stated that they are willing afterward to negotiate cutting us in on a share for the freehold but that would be a separate process.
To be honest, we're gobsmacked that this is even possible but more to the point we are extremely reluctant to give up control of the freehold on principle. I have a few questions that I wondered if anyone can help me with....
1) We have sole use of our garden although there is a fire escape at the rear of the property which the leases of the above flats allow access to in the case of an emergency. Should they gain complete control of the freehold, would we potentially lose our right to exclusive use of the garden? Could they grant themselves access to it?
2) Is it legal that they can seize the freehold without offering us a share during the enfranchisement process? Like I said, we are leaseholders as well so I would have thought we were entitled to be offered this.
3) Our upstairs neighbour continues to use the terrace at the rear of his property (which is also our kitchen roof) for recreational activities such as barbeques, despite his lease stating that this area is for access only in the event of an emergency. When asked to remove furniture from this area and to cease using it as such, he flatly refused. This request was made verbally but there were witnesses to his refusal. He has also been observed sunbathing on our flat roof (including putting a sun lounger up there) when this area is not for this purpose. Can such behaviour be used as leverage in some way to derail this process?
4) We have been advised to seek a valuation of the freehold as in their notice they have offered a laughable amount of £350 for the entire freehold and it's associated premises (meaning the front and rear garden). We shall be doing this after our solicitor has checked that the notice served is valid. Are there any other processes and tactics we can employ to put up a struggle, delay and test their resolve? Our suspicion is that they may not have the stomach for a long fight nor wish to dig deeply into their pockets so we're looking for any angle that we can work to fight back.We intend to exercise every right we have which invokes costs on their part (legal or otherwise) whilst doing our best to run up a huge legal bill ourselves. Tips on such rights would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, my apologies if I come across as mean, that's not the intention. Since we bought the property, we have tried our best to accommodate the wishes of the leaseholders, to get on with them and be decent people but it seems we have been played somewhat. We thought we got on with our neighbours up until this point so we feel aggrieved at this sudden turn of events.
Many thanks for any advice on this matter
Ron
This is my first post on these forums so please go easy on me!
Myself and my wife own a property in a block of three purpose built flats. We live on the ground floor and own the freehold to the property as well as having a long lease on our flat. The two tenants above us (who both have long leases of over 150 years) have served a notice on us using the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993 Section 13, stating their intention to purchase our freehold in it's entirety. They have also stated that they are willing afterward to negotiate cutting us in on a share for the freehold but that would be a separate process.
To be honest, we're gobsmacked that this is even possible but more to the point we are extremely reluctant to give up control of the freehold on principle. I have a few questions that I wondered if anyone can help me with....
1) We have sole use of our garden although there is a fire escape at the rear of the property which the leases of the above flats allow access to in the case of an emergency. Should they gain complete control of the freehold, would we potentially lose our right to exclusive use of the garden? Could they grant themselves access to it?
2) Is it legal that they can seize the freehold without offering us a share during the enfranchisement process? Like I said, we are leaseholders as well so I would have thought we were entitled to be offered this.
3) Our upstairs neighbour continues to use the terrace at the rear of his property (which is also our kitchen roof) for recreational activities such as barbeques, despite his lease stating that this area is for access only in the event of an emergency. When asked to remove furniture from this area and to cease using it as such, he flatly refused. This request was made verbally but there were witnesses to his refusal. He has also been observed sunbathing on our flat roof (including putting a sun lounger up there) when this area is not for this purpose. Can such behaviour be used as leverage in some way to derail this process?
4) We have been advised to seek a valuation of the freehold as in their notice they have offered a laughable amount of £350 for the entire freehold and it's associated premises (meaning the front and rear garden). We shall be doing this after our solicitor has checked that the notice served is valid. Are there any other processes and tactics we can employ to put up a struggle, delay and test their resolve? Our suspicion is that they may not have the stomach for a long fight nor wish to dig deeply into their pockets so we're looking for any angle that we can work to fight back.We intend to exercise every right we have which invokes costs on their part (legal or otherwise) whilst doing our best to run up a huge legal bill ourselves. Tips on such rights would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, my apologies if I come across as mean, that's not the intention. Since we bought the property, we have tried our best to accommodate the wishes of the leaseholders, to get on with them and be decent people but it seems we have been played somewhat. We thought we got on with our neighbours up until this point so we feel aggrieved at this sudden turn of events.
Many thanks for any advice on this matter
Ron
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