QUESTION
I'm chair of a management company looking after 35 flats. We are going to replace our flat front doors which are non-compliant with fire regs.
Do the doors belong to the individual flat owners and if so, what rights does the management company have to replace them? The board of directors is made up of 6 flat owners. We'd like to change the style slightly but want to have all the new doors the same style. Can individual flat owners demand to choose a different style for their own door?
ANSWER
Thank you for your email enquiry. What does the lease state in respect of responsibility for the flat doors? Without sight of the lease it is unfortunately not possible to advise you. If the lease demised the flat front doors to the individual leaseholders, then sadly, the doors are the leaseholders responsibility and the landlord cannot “force” any change to them should the leaseholders not wish to effect a change.
If however the landlord is responsible for the doors, the landlord should check the terms of the lease to see if the cost of dealing with the doors is actually a cost that can be put through the service charge account for the development.
Unfortunately, without sight of the lease, this question is really difficult to answer.
Yashmin Mistry, Partner at JPC Law
