Can freeholder give dispensation to one leaseholder and not the others?

[Raine55]

I would be very grateful for any opinions regarding the following question: I am a long leaseholder living on a small estate of 11 properties. According to the lease terms, the exterior painting of the exterior is due this year and the estate management company are due to send out the second consultation notice shortly. The freeholder has given permission to one leaseholder to defer his obligation until next year (the leaseholder claims he cannot afford the cost this year) but not to the other 10 leaseholders. This surely cannot be right and the same terms should apply to all? Thank you in advance for any help with this.

[leaseholdanswers]

Well the obligation is of the freeholder to paint and the lessee to pay. Might he be persuaded to defer the entire project to next year so that people can save?

What condition is the paint and timber in? can it be deferred?

If there are common areas to paint such as soffits fascias fences gates common entrances etc, the other leaseholder should still be contributing to that.

You could challenge the freeholder as being in breach as the outside should have a uniform appearance and state of repair and that the costs can only be apportioned as spent under the lease ( see above over common area costs) and if the project is more expensive than it ought to be.

[Raine55]

Thank you for replying. The project has been deferred for 2 years since 2011 when it was due according to the lease terms and yes it does need doing now. Your comments are very helpful and I hadn't thought of a couple of things such as uniform appearance (which it does state in the lease) plus he shares the costs towards scaffolding etc. Thanks again.

[leaseholdanswers]

Nothing to stop the freeholder doing the work and making a loan to the person or taking a charge.