Rights and responsibilities of Freeholders for anti social behaviour?
Can anyone advise on the rights and responsibilities of Freeholders in relation to the tenants of their long leaseholders please.
We are the freeholders of a block of flats and are very concerned about the letting agents employed by the long leaseholder of one flat, and also the behaviour of some of the tenants of that long leaseholder.
We are concerned about legal status, compliance with government legislation, antisocial behaviour, damage caused to the common parts etc.
Has anyone else come upon this problem?
Many thanks
Francesca
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Member Since February 2011 - Comments: 3453 - Articles: 286
10:52 AM, 11th July 2016, About 10 years ago
I Know it is not the same position, but when looking I found this interesting in a House of Commons paper:
2.10 Powers where the local authority is the freeholder
Where a council tenant exercises the right to buy in a block of flats and then rents the property out to private tenants the council retains a freehold interest50 and a contractual agreement, in the form of the lease agreement, exists between the two parties to the lease.
Councils may not evict the tenants of long leaseholders who exhibit anti-social behaviour; however, a number of local authorities use covenants on right to buy sales as a means of demonstrating, both to buyers and their tenant neighbours, that expectations about behaviour are the same for owners (and their tenants) as for council tenants.
Typical clauses which authorities include in covenants will prohibit:
• the use of properties for illegal or immoral purposes;
• creating a nuisance, annoyance or inconvenience to neighbours;
• failing to keep the garden tidy;
• keeping animals without permission.
Local authorities can take action against long leaseholders for breach of covenant if they (or their tenants) fail to adhere to these requirements. Ultimately a breach of covenant could result in forfeiture of the lease and repossession.
Manchester and District became the first housing association to obtain an ASBO against a leaseholder family in one of their shared ownership properties in September 1999
Member Since November 2013 - Comments: 1130 - Articles: 2
1:16 PM, 11th July 2016, About 10 years ago
The leaseholder landlord is responsible for the anti social behaviour of his/her tenant. If the problem is continuing after the leaseholder has been notified (although there is an agent, the landlord remains responsible), they are then in breach of the lease, and the freeholder is entitled to take action against them through the residential property tribunal, with forfeiture of lease being the ultimate sanction.