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QUESTION I had a leak caused by an Housing Association tenant, living above my flat. Do I have to repair before I can claim, I have sent them an invoice but they are doing everything not to pay up. Should I repair and then ask for the refund.   ANSWER I will deal with some general legal points first, before answering your specific question. Although this will depend on the specific facts of the case, which are not clear from the enquiry, it seems that you may have a claim against the Housing Associat

QUESTION Can my landlord charge me for work he did for cash and no receipt was shown to us? Can my freeholder charge me for Directors liability insurance? ​The freeholders have a very large loan with the freehold as guarantee​.  Can my freeholder charge me for work they did personally (gardening) with no invoices or receipts. I have a 125 year lease, I live in a group of 6 and 4 of the leaseholders own the property as a freehold. ANSWER 1.    Can my landlord charge me for work he did for cash and no r

QUESTION Following receipt in 2007 of a Section 5 Notice under the Landlord and Tenants Act 1987 on a mixed tenure estate comprising thirty leasehold flats and thirteen freehold houses twenty of the qualifying leaseholders decided to purchase the estate freehold. They became shareholders of a company set up solely for the purchase, but not management . With the split of ownership and contentious freeholders, however, the task of being landlord has been one long story of strife. We, the Directors, now wis

QUESTION ​W​ith foreign owners now subject to capital gains tax over the valuation of the property after April 5th how should these properties be valuated? Is there any specific process or evaluators picked by the UK tax authority?​​ ANSWER The Tax Office looks for a formal valuation under the Red Book by a Certified Valuer. That Valuer must  determine the market value of the interest in the property as at the relevant date incorporating any tenancies, licensees or any other factors that might influenc

QUESTION Can the directors' insurance referred to below as featured in ‘25 Things Every Flat Owner Should Know” be charged back to the service charges account? “11: The risk of personal liability can be protected by purchasing the appropriate directors’ and officers’ insurance policy."   ANSWER The short answer to your questions is that it depends on the terms of your individual lease. Each lease will set out the expenditure that can be recovered from the service charges. Some leases will allow for

Homeowners who are planning to commision building projects must now ensure they use a contractor that adheres to new construction rules. Changes to the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) come into effect on April 6. This piece of legislation aims to reduce accidents during construction projects via good design, planning and co-operation, and also specifies legal requirements on site safety standards and for the provision of welfare facilities such as access to toilets. If homeowne

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRFSO) 2005, which came into force in October 2006, charges the responsible person in control of non-domestic premises and the common areas of a House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) with the safety of everyone in the building, whether working, visiting or living there. This duty of care includes the provision of emergency lighting. Legally every block or building needs emergency lighting. The appropriate standards have to be adhered to, but what often gets overloo

We complain about the short day length in winter but in many ways we are immune to the seasons as we move through our 21st-century, technological lives. Yet light and day lengths remain important to our state of mind. The seasonal fluctuations have an impact as the actual wavelengths present and daylight varies from one day to another. They also vary depending on latitude, meteorological conditions and the seasons. SAD syndrome is definitely a reality for many people in winter. That’s just a part of its

It's human nature to want to find a bargain. Who doesn’t want to think they’ve got one over on a world that seems to forever want to rip us off in some way. On the other hand, how many times have you thought, ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!’ Our industry sector is no different and is, unfortunately, not immune from the ‘cheap as chips’ fraternity, much to the detriment of us all. The drive is on for estate management service charges to become more competitive. Consequently we’re seei

The Upper Tribunal’s recent decision in the case of Merie Bin Mahfouz Company (UK) Ltd v Barrie House (Freehold) Ltd dealt principally with a freeholder’s entitlement to claim leasebacks of units within a building which were not in existence at the “Relevant Date” (being the date on which the Initial Notice was served) and which included common parts. The three units subject of the appeal and in relation to which the freeholder was seeking leasebacks were known as flat 1A, the basement office and the por

Royal assent has now been given to the Insurance Act 2015, which is due to come into effect in August 2016. This is to allow brokers and insurers ample time in which to update their paperwork and policies to facilitate the new measures. The act will affect all insurance and reinsurance placements and renewals. It will be possible to specifically contract out of the new act - but only if any terms less favourable to the insured than the terms of the act are drawn to the insured’s attention in clear and un

Everyone understands the importance of insuring buildings against the risk of damage or destruction by fire or flood. What is less well understood is the importance of an accurate assessment of what it would cost to restore or rebuild the building if the worst were actually to happen. An insurance policy will be of little help if it is based on an underestimate of that figure, and the Association of British Insurers advise that 20% of householders are in fact underinsured, while one study has put the fig