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Roger Hardwick

Roger Hardwick

Brethertons LLP | Partner

Biography

Roger is recognised as one of the UK’s leading experts in residential leasehold property law and has over 17 years’ experience.

He has played a key role in the development of leasehold case law and legislation. His work includes statutory lease extensions, collective enfranchisement and right to manage claims; freehold acquisitions; ground rent portfolio sales and purchases; residential service charge disputes; applications to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and appeals to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), including applications to determine service charge liabilities, applications to appoint a manager and applications to vary leases.

A Flat By Any Other Name

The distinction between a “house” and a “flat” is an important one. Subject to satisfying a variety of complex qualifying conditions, leaseholders of houses have the right to acquire the freehold of their house and/or a 50 year lease extension; while leaseholders of flats have (again, subject to certain qualifying conditions) an individual right to a 90 year lease extension, and a collective right to acquire the freehold of their block and/or the right to manage, among other things (the right of first ref

Who is going to pay for the removal and replacement of the cladding on your building?

In the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, on 14 June 2017, the Department for Communities and Local Government (“DCLG”) issued initial written guidance on cladding testing. The initial tests, conducted at the British Research Establishment on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government, consisted of a screening test to identify which panels contained fillers (in the core of the panels), which were of limited combustibility (Category 1) and which did not (Category 2 or 3).

Q&A - Water Bills

QUESTION We are leaseholders in a block and the issues we are currently battling are large and numerous and like many others, we find ourselves in a ‘David vs Goliath’ situation. Our immediate issue is as follows: a resident noted a 60% increase in 2014 in the water bill vs. all previous years. The freeholder and managing agent ignored all requests to investigate so the resident followed up and after 3 years, Thames Water admitted to a mis-connection of a new water pipe meaning one part of the estate was

How Permanent is Permanent?

Leaseholders who exercise their collective right to acquire the freehold of their block of flats often do so, at least in part, to rid themselves of their freeholder, with whom relations have deteriorated beyond the point of no return. In fact, it’s not necessarily the case that the freeholder’s influence will be removed entirely. For example, the freeholder may seek to exercise its right to acquire a 999 year leaseback of any unit which is not let to a qualifying tenant of a flat in the building. This mi

Q&A - Right to Manage Company

QUESTION Briefly, I am a director of a company which owns both the freehold (from 1996) and head lease (from 2010) of our block of 114 flats. Some seven years ago, when we acquired the head lease (still over 120 years to run) we wanted to change the managing agents. However, they refused to resign as they said they were one of the three parties to the tri-partite leases and had a 'beneficial interest'. At that stage we felt we had no choice but to form a Right to Manage company to enable us to force the c

Clearing up the issue of consultation

If a landlord wishes to carry out work to a building which exceeds the applicable limit (currently £250 per property), then the contributions will be capped at that limit. That is unless the landlord has either complied with statutory consultation requirements or can demonstrate that the consultation requirements have been dispensed with by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). However, this becomes complicated when there is a freeholder (the superior landlord) and a head lessee (the immediate lan

The clock that strikes 13: The use of hedonic regression in enfranchisement valuations

Leaseholders who exercise their right to acquire a new (extended) lease of their flat under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 must pay a premium to their landlord. Where the existing lease has an unexpired term of less than 80 years, that premium will include ‘marriage value’. To calculate marriage value, it is necessary to determine the value of the interest of the lessee under the existing lease and the value of the interest of the lessee under an extended lease. That differen

Following the contractual process for recovery

It can be tiresome to keep repeating the phrase “read the lease”. But that does not make it any less correct. In Clacy v Sanchez [2015], the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) considered the contractual procedures for the recovery of service charges, which fall to be observed under the terms of a lease. We saw the importance of following the contractual mechanism for recovery in Southwark L.B. v Woelke [2013], where the landlord had billed service charges for major works separately from routine or annually re

Enfranchisement case law roundup

It has been an exciting year for leasehold enfranchisement practitioners. There is not enough space in this one article to summarise all of the important reported decisions over the last twelve months, so let’s look at three recent cases. The first concerns a lease extension claim under Part 1, Chapter 2 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 (“the Act”). It is not uncommon for a claim to be issued in circumstances where there are several landlords (e.g. a freeholder and intermedia

Managing Agents’ Fees Now Recoverable In Enfranchisement Claims

In a decision that will undoubtedly be applauded by the property management industry, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has found that a landlord may recover the fees of its managing agents, in connection with a claim, by leaseholders, to collectively acquire the freehold of a block, under Part 1, Chapter 1 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing & Urban Development Act 1993. The case concerned a block of 63 flats (and four commercial units) in central London. The leaseholders in the block served a notice on t

Know your lease!

Whether you are a leaseholder, a landlord, or a manager, your first point of reference will often be the lease. The lease will tell you what expenditure can be recovered as a service charge, how that expenditure can be recovered and what proportion of that expenditure the lessee is liable for. Most modern leases will contain a list of recoverable expenditure, either in a separate schedule, or by reference to the obligations of the landlord or RMC. If the lease does not clearly and plainly specify a part

Know your limitations

Under s.20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985; if any of the costs taken into account in determining the amount of a residential service charge were incurred more than 18 months before the demand for payment is served on a leaseholder; that leaseholder shall not be liable to contribute towards those costs. That sanction does not apply if, within the period of 18 months, the leaseholder was notified in writing that costs had been incurred and that they would subsequently be required to contribute toward

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