ARMA A S K T HE P R O F E S S I O N A L S
ARMA SURGERY BRuCe MAuNdeR TAyLOR,
a chartered surveyor and member of ARMA’s Council, provides answers to readers’ questions
TAcklINg UNSUITAblE TENANTS QUESTION I live in a mansion flat. Our block
has 80 flats with ten separate entrance halls.We collectively own the freehold. A buy-to-let investor owns a few flats in one part of theblock, lets them to unsuitable tenants and our company has been suing him for breach of lease. Just before our case came to Court, he bought another flat so that he now owns 50% of the flats in one part of the block. He served a Notice underthe Leasehold Reform Act claiming to buy the freehold of that part of our block, told us we cannot continue with our case now that his Notice has been served, and when he’s bought out that part of our block he’ll be able to do as he likes. Our solicitor has checked everything, I mean absolutely everything, and tells us this investor is right and we cannot stop him. Is there anything we can do?
ANSWER I am starting to receive a few letters on a similar theme to this. I have not seen any of the documents in this case, your solicitor has, and you have received specific legal advice. Let’s look at it in general. Some buy-to-let investors are a real pain: late payers, unsuitable sub-tenants, unauthorised alterations and so forth. They don’t live there, so as long as they receive their rent, they sometimes do not have the same level of care as you do. You do not like the bad effects of that so you decide to take action. You’re not really sure what action you can take, or what reaction you might provoke. You ask for advice from a professional adviser who earns his living by charging fees: the more advice he gives you, the more fees he charges you. Your rights are investigated, you are advised what you can do and a slow-burning fire is ignited. The buy-to-let investor takes advice, he is told about his rights and what he can do. The fee-earning professional advisers encourage both parties to chuck plenty of combustible material on top of the fire,
Lots of people living in one building often leads to confrontation sparks fly and a small campfire becomes a rampant, out-of-control forest blaze. Someone has to pay to douse the flames and clear up the mess. Sound familiar? Let’s set out some basic, commonsense techniques to put fire
checks in your procedures. Lots of people living in one building will inevitably lead to confrontation of one sort or another at some time. It cannot be avoided. Every board of directors, and their managing agents (when employed), should have
The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) is a trade association for firms that manage private residential leasehold blocks of flats in England & Wales. ARMA promotes high standards of leasehold management by providing advice, training and guidance to its member firms of managing agents. ARMA also produces guidance materials for leaseholders and Residents Management Companies. With almost 300 firms in membership, ARMA also campaigns for improvements in the legislation governing the leasehold sector. Find ARMA at www.arma.org.uk
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Issue 13, Winter
Flat Living
