dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

[smsecker]

I have an on-going dispute over a demand for roof repairs on my lease hold property.

The property in question, a ground floor flat of a two story building, was viewed by me in January 2015.
At the time of viewing the roof tiles had been clearly replaced and after contact with the neighbours, I discovered that many properties along the same road where owned by the housing partnership and had their rooves repaired way before the Christmas of 2014.
At the time of roof repair the previous owner of the lease was in residence and I would assume accountable for the repair costs.
I completed on the purchase of the lease at the end of February 2015 but it wasn’t until May 2015, a whole three months after I had moved in, that I was sent a demand for payment of Section 20 roof repairs.
These repairs included the bill for the work and admin charges from my housing partnership, calculated to the unaffordable sum of nearly £4,000.
The cost of the repair charges wasn’t discovered by my conveyancing solicitor during their search before completion, nor was it made aware to myself or my solicitor by the housing partnership at time of completion.
This dispute is still on going as I am not excepting liability for this invoice because of the errors from my conveyancer and the lack of communication from the housing partnership who assumed I knew about the invoice at the time of completion. The housing partnership also assumed that I would have settled the repair costs at time of purchase by reducing the purchase price accordingly.
After a recent telephone conversation from the housing partnership I came to the conclusion that they hadn’t even calculated the invoice amounts to their leaseholders until the April/May of 2015, so how could I have known about them at time of completion?
My conveyancer hasn’t contacted me recently after numerous calls and emails to her and my housing partnership have now demanded the payment, in full by the end of April 2016.

These issues are causing me a lot of anguish and I wish to ask you for guidance to whom I can contact to settle this.
Kind Regards

Simon

[Ripped-Off]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

By section 20, I presume you are referring to the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 (as amended by the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002)? For the purposes of my response I shall presume that you are.

Did you receive a Notice of Intention to Carry Out Works?
Were estimates of the work supplied to you after the 30 day consultation period?

[smsecker]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

Morning

Thank you for your reply

Yes, You are correct I am refering to the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985. I should have made that clearer in my message.
I didn't receive any Notice of Intention or supplied with any estimates as I wasn't in residence when/if they were sent out to the previous owner of the lease.

I am considering to apply for a freedom of information (FOI) request from my Housing partnership to gain some information from any correspondence sent to this property about the roof repairs before I moved in.

Thanks again for reply. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future

[Ripped-Off]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

Does you lease contain a service charge clause or do you pay into a sinking fund? If so, please describe how it is supposed to work. It may be that you are being asked to pay for the recent roof repair because you derive a benefit from it. I think it works like this....

A roof costs £200k and lasts for 20 years. That's £10k per year. Divide by 10 tenants, each will pay £1k per year or pro rata to the term of their lease.

I'm not saying that you are liable to pay, but your lease may be worded in such a way as to impose the liability on you.

[smsecker]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

I do pay a service charge but the roof repair is over and above that. The building is a two story dwelling converted into four flats, two are rented from the housing partner ship and two are leased.

My issue is with the subject of liabilty and the lack of communcation at time of purchase, to be suddenley sent a demand for nearly £4,000 for the repairs which were done at a time when I didn't even own the lease.

Do you know of any legal bodies to which I may gety help from to? I have sent details to the housing ombudsman, the complaints department of the housing partnership in question and the regulation body the solictor is a member of.

[Ripped-Off]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

You could maybe take a look at this......https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/...operty-chamber

For complaints about solicitors go to the Solicitors Regulation Authority or visit http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the...t-a-solicitor/

When you say that two flats are rented from the housing partnership and two are leased, do you mean that there is a landlord who lets two flats to the housing partnership (who in turn have sub-let one to you) and two flats privately?

Can you perhaps attach a copy of the demand that you have received after removing any personal or private information beforehand?

[Openlaw15]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

I do pay a service charge but the roof repair is over and above that. The building is a two story dwelling converted into four flats, two are rented from the housing partner ship and two are leased.

My issue is with the subject of liabilty and the lack of communcation at time of purchase, to be suddenley sent a demand for nearly £4,000 for the repairs which were done at a time when I didn't even own the lease.

Do you know of any legal bodies to which I may gety help from to? I have sent details to the housing ombudsman, the complaints department of the housing partnership in question and the regulation body the solictor is a member of.

Leasehold is a right to use another's land and the tenant pays the landlord x amount of money for the duration of that lease. The Lease will have certain rights and obligations, ie 'covenants. My view is that the previous tenant should have been liable for roof maintenance if there were covenant clauses to that effect right up until the lease was terminated. You should only be liable from the date of your leasehold. The landlord (Housing Partnership) where a relevant covenant applies can only charge you any roof maintenance from when your leasehold commenced. You simply cannot be charged retrospectively in contract or on land contracts, as the contract/ covenant would be illegal. You could argue this term or covenant clause amounts to a breach of contract (whilst the rest of the leasehold contact is intact) by the Housing Partnership at a land tribunal, or court possibly. You can claim damages against the landlord for breach of contract. The court has the power also to imply terms ie landlord to act reasonably. The landlord can claim damages from the previous tenant for the time the tenant held the leasehold. As it is land he has up to 12 years to make a claim for breach of covenant. You could also sue the former tenant for your losses through their personal tort (ie a wrong requiring compensation) possibly. You could also sue the solicitor for your losses based on contract, ie breach through negligence.

[smsecker]

Re: dispute with roof repair invoice to lease hold flat

Hi All

I have recently contacted my housing associations complaints department. They have replied stateing that the housing association had acted in a lawful manner by issuing me with the invoice for the roof repairs that were completed before I owned the lease. This didn't suprise me at all. So I have contacted the housing ombudmen, to see what they have to suggest. I've also contacted my convayencing solictor to get in contact with the housing association and to contact the previous lease holder for a possible small claims summoneds.

I don't really know whom else to contact to help me with my issues. All this has only happend due to the slow accounts department of my housing association.