Your rights on repairs to flats
THERE has been much coverage in the newspapers about flat tenants being charged large amounts of money for post Grenfell fire precautions.
In this article I want to look at the rules governing recovery of these sorts of costs from leaseholders. Also if there are alternatives that might give tenants some control.
The most basic rule is that recovery is governed by the type of lease you have. There is a very big difference between a lease in a social housing block of flats and a lease in a block of flats where the flats are privately owned, which will have some service charge recovery. Express terms If you rent your home from a social housing landlord then they are responsible for dealing with most repairs. If you have a written agreement it may set out the landlord’s obligations and this type of term is called an express term. Your landlord can’t include an express term that would reduce their legal obligations or pass on responsibilities to you. Implied terms An implied term is a term that can be read into the tenancy agreement even though it is not stated. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies a term into your tenancy agreement.
Generally it means that a social landlord is responsible for repair of the structure and exterior of the block and the social landlord isn’t allowed to pass on the cost of any repair work to you which is their responsibility.
Social landlords will therefore try to recover the cost of Grenfell type works from parties other than the tenants. The most likely candidate is the contractor who may have not done the original work properly or possibly the team that specified the cladding, for example. Private terms I will now look at recovery of costs in a block of flats where the flats are privately owned. By this I meant that the flats were sold on a long lease for a term of usually 99 years or more. The first and most important thing is that recovery of repairs is governed by the service charge clause in the lease.
Service charges usually cover the costs of repairs to shared areas such as the roof and exterior walls, building insurance and the freeholder’s administration and management charge. You usually have to pay a share of everything. For example, even if you live on the ground floor and never use the lift you would still have to pay towards its maintenance.
If your lease does not have a service charge clause then you don’t have to pay for anything that isn’t specifically mentioned in the lease.
You don’t have to pay service charges until the freeholder sends you a request for payment and summary of your rights and obligations.
Your freeholder has to consult with you if they are going to set up a service that would cost more than £100 a year or if they are going to carry out a repair or improvement that would cost more than £250. Before arranging these repairs and services the freeholder must tell you what work they plan to do and provide an estimate of the costs. You have the right to comment on what is proposed and can usually suggest alternative contractors. If you were not properly consulted then you can take legal action.
So, the recovery of Grenfell type works from private flat owners depends to a great extent on what an individual lease says. If faced with potentially large costs you need to take legal advice. Right to manage There is one other possibility that private flat owners can consider and that is the Right to Manage. Much of the frustration of private owners of flats is that they do not control the management of their block. The Right to Manage was introduced in 2002 and gives leaseholders the statutory right to take over management of their property from their landlord by setting up a special company – a right to manage company. This brings with it duties and responsibilities and it would not be appropriate for some blocks of flats, particularly large blocks with many leaseholders.
The requirements of Right to Manage are quite technical and the Right to Manage does bring rights and responsibilities to all leaseholders. If the Right to Manage is of interest it is best to get advice from a specialist solicitor.
You can also get more information from the: Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE). Tel: 020 7832 2500 (leasehold advice) or email: info@ lease-advice.org or through a form on the website - www. lease-advice.org.