How can one leaseholder in block find/contact all others?

[mrchips]

Hi

I own the lease of my flat, in a block of 50. We don't yet have a residents association, and are getting seriously bad service from the Management company.

Basically, I'd like first to form a Res Assoc, then investigate RTM and Collective Enfranchisement. The flats are all on 120 year leases. 100% residential use.

My first problem is contacting the other Leaseholders. I have managed to contact about 17. The remaining flats are all rented, and the current occupiers are not passing on the letters to their Landlords (or the letting agent isn't). Is there any way I can get a list of the Leaseholders ? Is the Management company obliged to provide this (they currently claim not, under Data Protection).

Thanks

Mr Chips

[sgclacy]

I think you will have to consider spending £99 (i.e. 33 X £3.00) at the Land Registry online to download the office copy entries from the Land Registry of those properties to find the address of the owner of each flat.

It is quite likely that in many cases the owner's address will be shown as the property address.

The managing agents are correct in stating that they cannot divulge the addresses of the other lessees.

[mrchips]

Thanks for the reply.

So even spending the £3 per address isn't going to yield the contact details for the leaseholder necessarily ? But at least we would have a name.

At the moment is our only option to badger the tennants some more to pass on the details. What about empty flats ?

Someone has suggested that I serve a Notice for Information under Section 11 of the Housing Dev Act to the Freeholder. Or is that likely to start a whole pile of trouble ?

[tenant29]

1. A leaseholder has the right to inspect all the documents concerning the service charge and obtain access to inspect by written request . The managing agent is required to provide access within 30 days and you can make a copy of any document pay paying a reasonable charge for photocopying. You can get the mailing address list and the copy of competitive quotes for building insurance , and copy of service agreement for the managing agent this way.

2. You can serve a "Discovery notice" on the management company and the freehold company to obtain the names and contact addresses of all the leaseholders - for the purpose of finding out if there is 50% or more leaseholders are willing to support the collective purchase of the freehold.

3. You should go ahead and call a meeting of the 17 on-site leaseholders to form a Residents Association. Write up some some minutes of meeting and record the names of the Association Chairman and Secretary and list of members. Then write to the freehold company and ask for official recognition of the Residents Association ...... later - ask for change of managing agent.

4. If your lease has a managment company named in the lease, then consider becoming a director .

[mrchips]

Great stuff. Starting to sound like we can get somewhere.

1. We very much intend to do this. We havent seen a summary of 2006 books yet.

2. Is the 'discovery notice' a pre-defined form/document ? What should it include, or look like? Can I buy a blank one ?

3. Agree 100%. This is happening tomorrow. When asking for official recognition, should this include any specific wording?

4. I'll check. I don't believe it does, as the company changed a few years ago.

All your help is much appreciated. And I must admit, I'm finding it all very interesting :)

[tenant29]

Who are the freeholder company and managment company ?

You should get a copy of the freehold title for your site from the Land Registry and check name of freeholder is the same company on a ground rent demand. Check name of title holder against the name of freeholder ( lessor/Landlord ) in lease.

1. Audited accounts must be provided within 6 months from end of the year for reporting.

2. I was shown a copy of the "Discovery Notice" at a meeting at the Leasehold Advisory Service . its a few years ago , and so I cannot remember the wording. The Discovery Notice is part of the enfranchisement procedure under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1993. You may be able to find a copy at your main Public Library or from a solicitor's office.

3. Just write a letter to the freeholder comp[any under a letterhead "the XXXX Residents Association" c/o your flat address and send it by recorded delivery to the freeholder's address (for receiving notices ), which is shown on your demand for annual ground rent.

Keep copies of all correspondence with freeholder / management Company as they may try to ignore you.

[mrchips]

I don't know who the freeholder is just yet. Ground rent is payed to 'Freehold Manager nominees', which I guess is a nominated agent for the freeholder. I'll get a copy of the freehold title from the Land Registry as you suggest.

I think I have a copy of a 'discovery notice', there's one called 'HUD9 - Tenants Notice Requiring Information: To Freeholder' on Oyez.

Should the discovery notice and the Res Assoc letter be sent to the Freeholder, nominee company, or the property management company? The freeholder appointed the management company, as far as I remember.

Thanks for your help. Will let you know how things proceed.

[jeffrey]

"Discovery Notice" is under s.12 of 1993 Act- but it relates only to reversion(s) and not to the other leaseholds.

[tenant29]

Using the Discovery Notice is the way to get the names and addresses of the leaseholders who are renting out their property and it is the first step to organising the collective purchase of the freehold. Any leaseholder can use this Discovery Notice to contact the other leaseholders to find out it they are willing to participate in a collective purchase.
But if it turns out there is not enough support for purchase , the off-site leaseholders may agree to RA or RTM.

[mrchips]

Quick update.

We had our initial meeting, and agreed to for an RA. Paperwork is currently in motion.

We still have a lot of leaseholders who haven't responded. These are flats which are rented out, and the tenants are probably not passing the letters to their landlords.

Regarding the 'discovery notice' that I should serve on the Freeholder, is this under S11 or S12 of the 1993 act ? Does anyone have some sample wording that I should use for this, as I fear that if it is not worded correctly, it will just be ignored.

I'm despirate to get to a 50% interest, as things are going downhill with the management of the flats. The accounts are at zero, there is no reserve fund, despite service charge increases year-on-year. Things are broken, and the management company seem to be doing their own thing. We are probably about to get hit with demands for arrears, even though we're not satisfied that the last lot of money has been spent wisely, we just can't see where the money is going. 2006 accounts are due very soon. We have yet to establish whether even the 2005 accounts were properly signed off.

[jeffrey]

Both s.11 and s.12 involve Notices.
S.11 concerns superior interests (ie ranking above lessees').
S.12 concerns other matters, ie any previous initial notice claiming collective f/r (under s.13); and applicability of s.31(2) re potentially exempt transfers for IHT purposes.
Notice format is prescribed by Sec. of State under s.99(6).

[tenant29]

The Leasehold Advisory Service ( LEASE) have issued a booklet called "Collective Enfranchisement " and this could be downloaded fromthier site. Bottom of Page 7 covers " Information Notices : S11 of the 1993 Act.

Suitable forms for S11 Notice are printed by Oyez Forms and Oyez have a shop at 144 Fetter Lane London EC4