Tory council to help tenants take action against landlords

I just wonder, if councils all did their job properly, whether there would be far fewer of the type of landlords that give the rest of us a bad name? Then maybe we would all have a better reputation and there would be less anti landlord sentiment and regulations flying around. Who knows?

Is this case also including social housing which appears to be the worst type of property? Or does this council also take into account tenants not looking after the property?

• Simon Logan
• 30 June 2023 07:25 AM

My thoughts exactly, it’s the social housing in the news all the time 🤔

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The really difficult one is leasehold flats. The tenants quite rightly expect a damp free home, the landlord would love to provide them with a damp free home but the freeholder refuses to do the necessary work and threatens the landlord with breach of lease if they do work to the exterior of the building or communal areas themselves.

I own 5 leasehold flats. Two ex Council and three private sector. All 5 buildings have had water ingress issues over the last few months, two of which directly affect my flats. The Council have repaired the roof leak and repointed one building purely because the flat they still owned was directly affected.
The other ex Council one has had water ingress for the entire 11 years I've owned it. Mainly caused by soaking wet cavity wall insulation, cantilevered balconies that drain into the brickwork and washed out pointing due to balconies. Last time I saw the building surveyor he said it would be a big job as every building on the estate had the same problem. Half the flats are privately owned, half are still Council. That means there are huge affordability problems for funding required works. Council rents are ludicrously low and don't allow for an adequate maintenance budget. The owner occupied flats are mainly owned by people on relatively low incomes who don't have access to money for big repair bills. The rest are landlords who may or may not know or care about the damp. I do know and I do care but I'm absolutely powerless to get the repairs carried out. It's not for lack of trying.

One of the private sector ones has a problem with water ingress via the chimney. It needs repointing or removing. The building management company have said I should get 3 quotes and then they'll send the other leaseholders the correct notices and allow a consultation period, etc. Problem is as soon as I mention the management company name to roofers they either refuse to quote or come in with an incredibly high price.
Another building has water ingress in a newly converted flat which should be covered by a warranty.
The final one has a new freeholder who has appointed a new management company. They have found fault with just about everything. The previous freeholder certainly kept repair bills to the minimum but some of it was a false economy. It's an old converted commercial building so has its issues. About 5 years ago we had the roof felt replaced. It's now leaking again. I wanted the roof to be done properly then but no one else wanted to pay for it. So now we all have to pay twice.

I guess the shocking thing about all of these is that it is genuine water ingress, not just tenant lifestyle.

• TheMaluka
• 30 June 2023 10:17 AM

Jo, I am sure you will understand why I fought tooth and nail to buy the freehold of my block of 100 flats so that I could be in charge of maintenance. Have you thought of forming a Right to Manage company? Its not easy but well worthwhile.

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Interesting, will they be prosecuting themselves?

• Andrew townshend
• 30 June 2023 10:30 AM

And the housing assocations ?

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The Maluka
One of the buildings had RTM before I bought my flat and it was revoked as the leaseholders did nothing. One of them has addictions, health problems (physical and mental) and can't or won't pay for anything. She's actually told me she's too frightened to open letters from the management company because she knows she can't afford the contents.
I came close to buying another block last summer but a retired bloke in London just beat me to it. That one is 4 shops and 6 flats. The one with the roof. I don't think we can do RTM because of the shops. Even if we could it would be difficult as one of the owner occupiers has affordability issues. I absolutely horrified her a couple of days ago when she tried telling me we paid a lot of money for building maintenance and I pointed out we had been paying a very small fraction of what I pay in most other buildings. Last year it was about £350 for everything (insurance, electric, seagull control, repairs, etc).
The other building has a Head Leaseholder between us and the freeholder. He is desperate for us to take over the head lease but we're all landlords and can't quite see why we would want the hassle. The idea of dealing with 4 absent leaseholders doesn't enthuse me.

Jo over the last 30 years as a landlord I have learnt, at last, that we are in a business and cannot be leinent with people, owners or tenants, who will not or cannot pay their bills. Rapid and decisive action is all that people understand (another reason why S21 should be retained) and if owners do not pay their bills then a section 146 is the only option. Absent leaseholders are easy if you have the head lease; pay or have the property possessed. I have done this several times with dissident leaseholders.

I won’t pretend to know the ins & outs of this leasehold Malarkey but I suppose it can be an advantage to have to Freehold.
Possibly enfranchisement if you have a solid majority but better to have everyone on board.
Yes you could control the costs. I was going to replace gutters facias, under cloak etc for £4k max in a block of 10 where I have one to help them out, they wouldn’t have that wanted Tenders & Quotations. So that was the route they chose, they all had their say about what they knew nothing about. The Scaffolding went up and stayed 6 months end result £22k.
You will be responsible for Insurance of the Block, pay someone reliable to clean comment parts regularly, get your leases extended without paying over the odds to possibly 999 years that would be a big plus.

Michael, owning your own freehold is a must for it leaves you in control of your own destiny. It would be good to own the freehold as a commonhold but our wise government has made it so difficult that it is near impossible to enfranchise.

• Jo Westlake
• 30 June 2023 15:39 PM

Owning the freehold of a big block of flats may be OK. The likelihood is the majority of the leaseholders are people with the financial ability to pay their share of everything. The majority would probably be in favour of swiftly dealing with the minority who think they'll freeload.

Small blocks have a greater likelihood of the majority being potless. My private sector ones are all in converted buildings of 4 or 6 flats. I bought 2 of them very cheaply because the leases had dropped to 67 years and both needed full renovation. One was a repossession and the other was just desperate to off load the flat before he had to pay his share of a fire alarm system. So I've extended the leases and renovated the flats and I'm willing and able to pay my share of exterior maintenance. I have no idea why the freeholders or management companies haven't been a bit more heavy handed with unable to pay leaseholders. Maybe because both are owner occupiers while the majority of flats in both buildings are BTL? Both have leases that are only about 63 years now. Both are ladies in their 60s. While forfeiting their leases may be the best thing that could possibly happen to them I don't think either would see it that way. I certainly wouldn't want to be painted as the wicked witch who made poor defenceless little old ladies homeless.

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Jo I am intermittently in court for the next six months over a claim for disrepair, however because I own the freehold and control the maintenance I am able to prove that the flat is dry and wholesome, I have the receipts for the new roof, I have the external cladding receipts and guarantee, I can prove that the tenant and his legal aid solicitor are scumbags seeking to extort money.
As for being a wicked witch, you already are a wicked snivelling landlord so one more accolade will not hurt.

TheMaluka. My friend well done for acquiring the Freehold, as for doing battle in Court for next 6 months I would try and come to some arrangement with the lease holders. I have no doubt you will win but is it worth the stress of it.
Jo I understand your position and you are a wonderful human being which can be a problem if people take advantage of our good nature.
However life is too short to be always in a tangle.
Having been through all this Court business it took 5 years several Court appearances for the one case better not say what it cost for the looser but cost is money and torment as well, best avoided.
So we had Tribunal’s, County Courts, High Courts and The Royals Court of justice, our case became case Law.

• TheMaluka
• 30 June 2023 18:11 PM

Sorry my last post was a bit misleading, my current case concerns an AST tenant who is claiming direpair because he does not want to pay the rent. His claim is completly without merit, a fact which I can prove because as a director of the freeholder company I have all the information at my fingertips. I may win and I may be awarded costs but I will get nothing from the tenant, such is the life of a landlord.

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It is fine for everyone to expect the Highest property Standards for tenants.
But to have any chance of achieving this you can only rent to the Highest quality tenants.

I believe the Renters reform Bill, and the attitude of Councils will require many Landlords to consider moving their less than perfect tenants on, or face eye watering fines for damage done by the Tenants.

• TheMaluka
• 03 July 2023 10:23 AM

As I have said before it is only a matter of time before a landlord is sent to jail for something a tenant has done.

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