Thanks Mita.
My conveyancing solicitor just got back to me after reviewing the lease and said whilst the demise does not include the terrace itself, I am responsible for all the coverings of the floor including the tiles and the leak proof membrane. I am confused why the lease says roofs are part of building structure and now I have to pay for the leak of the roof. But since this is from my conveyancing solicitor I will have to respect that .
Its possible that an application was made at some time in the past to use the flat roof as a terrace and that in exchange for this being granted, the then leaseholder agreed to have the lease altered to take on the liability for maintenance of the terrace floor/roof covering.
The lease does not say anything about roof covering. It only says anything under the said surface is not included in the demise. The previous owner did pay for the leak proof membrane themselves without having this disputed with the other freeholders in a kind gesture . I am still confused by my conveyance solicitorās view.
Is it possible to ask your solicitor? Here we can only guess.
If the previous owner paid for the leakproof membrane ,then that implies responsibility. But there must be already a membrane under that? before the top was tiled
Your solicitor must have seen something in the lease that made him advise that.
That was what I thought. The previous owner should not pay for the leak proof membrane as it was part of the roof. But my conveyancing solicitor seemed to think if the previous owner installed it then I am also responsible for it.
She said this is the covering my terrace is responsible for. Although itās not in the lease, but as I told her the previous owner paid for the membrane as they had the terrace redone . So she thinks I am also responsible and said a terrace is different to a usual roof because of its use as a terrace.
Should I get a second view from another solicitor? The basement flat owners and other freeholders now agree to have all leases reviewed by the solicitor who originally drafted the leases for the building and asked me to pay for the legal cost if I am found to be solely responsible for the leak.
Basically your searches made at time of purchase were incomplete as this issue was not discovered. You still donāt seem to have searched the planning permission database which would also give you an indication as to when the lease would have been amended. If you donāt put in the effort you end up in these situations.
Hi @Colin3 , @David122 , and all,
I have just had my lease reviewed by the lease advisory council and the solicitor reviewed in great detail and informed me that it was not clear in the lease it is my responsibility to repair the terrace roof.
It appears the conveyancing solicitor was biased for some reason and insisted even though it was not in the lease however I use it as a terrace hence I have to repair it.
Hullo Helen How big is this area , say in square Meters?
hi @Colin3 , the terrace area is about 8mx1.5m=12 square meters.
The below are from the lease advisory council :
Interpretation
Whilst the balcony area/terrace may be demised to you (it is unclear from the plans as they are in black and white) and you may have exclusive access to the area, the lease is not suffiiciently clear as to repair responsibility.
Consequently the lease would be interpreted against the party that drafted it, usually the freeholder. You could therefore argue that the costs of the repair should be shared amongst all the flats. To enforce that you may need to apply to court for an order of specific performance asking the freeholder to do the works. This may be costly and create bad feeling amongst the owners. As an alternative you could try mediation.
at least it is not huge in size. I have seen some monster terraces in the past
@Colin3 , Although I have found a very good roofer who is very fair and good at doing his job and repaired it for now, I shall not going forward repairing it, although I could see the difficulty lying ahead having this accepted by the rest of the freeholders and an biased unprofessional building management hired by the rest of them siding against me. Looks like the next time the leaks happens again this would have to go to the first tier tribunal with them- but that would be their choice.
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