Q: Lease Variation Now that we have reached the 80 year threshold in the unexpired term of the leases, we are being asked by leaseholders (or their solicitors) about an extension to the term when carrying out a sale or re-mortgage. Our normal response to this is that because of the ‘Share of Freehold’, the […]
Q: We are six leaseholders who recently became freeholders. Although our property will be professionally managed by a managing agent, since none of the Freeholders has the time to do this, we have had to put in place insurance ourselves for the first time for the building, but as none of us are insurance experts we do […]
Q: We have read recently about sinking funds. We wonder whether our lease enables us to create one? We may need to save for a long-term project of replacing our block of garages, and wonder whether we could do this by having a sinking fund. If we had a sinking fund, if someone sold their […]
Q: Are we required to serve a Section 20 notice for works that will be paid for out of our reserves fund? In other words, if we are not asking the shareholders for additional funds to pay for the works, do we need to serve the s20? Is the requirement based on the spending of […]
Q: We are an estate of 24 properties. The landlord has his own management company and they in turn use a managing agent to handle the day-to-day maintenance of the estate. The service charges are paid to the management company via the managing agent. The estate has an on-site bio-digester sewage treatment plant that outputs […]
Q: Over the last three years, one of our residents, who is a leaseholder, has been having heated arguments within their flat including shouting, banging of furniture, slamming of doors at all hours of the day and night. On one occasion the lady of the flat commenced cleaning her bathroom with petrol at 00:30 am to the extent […]
Q: We live in a ‘mixed tenure, retirement village’ occupied from June 2014 and managed by an RSL. Leaseholders’ Contracts of Sale included a pledge that “the Seller will build …… in accordance with the standards of the relevant new house warranty provider (NHBC.)” For almost a year now, we have been requesting that our […]
Q: Our latest query is regarding use of underfloor high acoustic insulation. As our flats were built in 1970s we are not sure ceramic tiles fitted over this would be practical for other lessees in the block. Do you have any experience or info to help please? Really we want to know of another block […]
Q: Do you have a template/draft letter as we want to write to the mortgage company of a leaseholder who has not paid their service charges and has failed to answer any correspondence on the matter? FPRA Committee Member Colin Cohen replies: There is no draft set letter to mortgage lenders, just a normal […]
Q: The managing agents called a meeting of leaseholders on 24 August 2016 and in answer to a query re the proposal to reapportion the service charge on a building by building basis instead of site wide, answered that the freeholder would do this via Clause 5.3 in our lease and would enforce it by […]
