Notice to Rectify- does it override s.20 procedure?

[Donkin]

The flat upstairs have let their back door rot and it now lets water in. This water then leaks into my flat. This was pointed out prior to Christmas.
The guy upstairs has various renovations done but he wants a uPVC door but can't have one as we live in a Conservation area so he has told me he does not intend to repair/ replace the door.

The Lease states:-
"if the Occupiers or any one Flat or more of them shall serve a notice in writing upon the Lessee specifying the failure or failures and requiring them to be made good within a period of not less than two months from the date of the notice and the Lessee shall fail to make good such failure or failures in all substantial respects then it shall be lawful for the Occupiers or any one or more of them with or without workmen to enter upon the Flat and to execute and do such works as may be necessary for repairing the same and to recover the cost of all sums of money reasonably expended".

Now as the an Occupier I have served the notice requiring the door/ frame to be replaced.

The question is as the Freeholder does this need to follow the requirements of the S20 and give the two notices and estimates etc. so I can recover my expenditure?

[Poppy]

Is the back door an external door? If so, you (as the freeholder) will need to apportion the cost of the renewal to all lessees according to the lease.

By all means you should get a couple of written quotations which specifies the work to be done. Provide copies to all the lessees. Point out how much their share of the cost will be.

Thank you for quoting the applicable clause. Even though it specifies a provision to enter other lessees’ dwellings, I do not recommend that you barge in to undertake the work. If the errant lessee will not give you access, you may need to apply for a court order to enforce the terms of the lease. If that becomes necessary, add that expense to the service charge too.

In fact remind all the lessees of your right as the freeholder to reclaim all costs incurred as a result of this problem through the service charge.

Additionally any provable expenses that you incur as a result of damage to your own dwelling you should invoice the errant lessee for it. (Hope the difference is clear.)

Last of all. Try to keep communications open and amicable - or have you gone beyond that?

[Poppy]

I found this page interesting if rather long. http://www.lease-advice.org/decisions/other/table2.html

[Donkin]

Thanks for the advice.
It is an outside door and as stated in the Lease it is their responsibility and they alone have to pay for it. The guy made sure I knew his area of responsibility when the extension roof leaked and he made sure he wasn't liable, so he knows he has to pay for the door.

Gone well past being amicable, I would also like advice- how many Breaches of Lease is reasonable to go to LVT to worry them about Forfeiture.

Lease states - not using Fire escape, kids still using it even after Solicitor letter.
Lease - 7 days notice of work, ther gave 2 days for kitchen, 1 day for new windows, 5 days for new Bathroom.
Lease - whoever messes communal areas has to clean them, they refuse as its not part of their flat, even after their contractors made the mess for kitchen, windows, bathroom.

You can see where this is going , its just constant small things.

So my question is how many small Breaches constitute action?

[SteveP]

Although the covenants are written for the benefit of the tenants, they amount to promises made by the tenants to the landlord and the landlord should deal with breaches.

The best bet is to write to the landlord and tell him of the breaches. You can require him to take action, but at the same time he can require you to underwite the costs of doing so as it is at your insistence.

the most important issue here, it seems to me, is that your neighbours failure is causing damage to your property. You could consider making a claim for damages through the courts, not the LVT, yourself. Assuming you win the court will award you money and unless your neighbour is a glutton for punishment he will fix the problem, otherwise you will suffer damage and sue him again and it could all get very expensive for him.

Having said all that, I am a Chartered Building Surveyor and provide expert witness reports for cases like this, so i must add that my advice is bsed solely upon what you have told me. Without seeing the leases I cannot be certain that it really is the best advice, and without seeing the problem I can only assume that your judgement about the cause of the damp is correct. It may not be and it may be that an surveyor acting as expert would not agree with you. So you may want to get a Chartered Building Surveyor to look at the problem, the leases, and give you some one to one advice.

[Poppy]

... The question is as the Freeholder ...

... you (as the freeholder) ...
Donkin is the freeholder. Re-read the first two posts again carefully.

[SteveP]

In which case this part of my post is not relevant.


The best bet is to write to the landlord and tell him of the breaches. You can require him to take action, but at the same time he can require you to underwite the costs of doing so as it is at your insistence.

The remainder applies.