rapunzel

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has Donald Shannon as their landlord/freeholder

I agree on this point. I live in a one bedroom ground floor flat with a 2/3 bed flat above, should they build into the loft the negative impact below would be huge. Plus there is already only space (within the garden which is covered by the ground floor lease) for one wheelie bin per flat so unless Southwark decide to allow bins out on the pavements I am not sure where the additional waste produced by more residents will go! There are many things to consider when it comes to deciding on whether to grant planning permission that Southwark have never taken into account, hence the situation I guess they are in now. From my point of view when part of the property is shared or owned by the freeholder in the case of flats I think the impact of extending, impact on any communal areas, space for bins etc should be taken into account. Every property is different so each case should be looked at differently. Look at some of the house being converted into 3 flats, they look very smart but now the tiny front gardens are full of bins, rubbish and bike sheds that must impact on the ground floor. Personally the appeal of living in a converted Victorian terrace dwindles when they become so small and crammed into a tiny house, might as well live in a purpose built block!

Thanks Solyent Green, you have reminded me why it is not always a good idea to use the ED forum. There are certain members who like to post just to give their personal opinion rather than useful advice, often to cause some kind of friction or argument, draw attention to themselves, who knows why, maybe just nothing better to do with their time. I have spent the last 23 years dealing with problems with the other leaseholder, their tenants and the freeholder so at this stage I just want to ensure that no future leaseholder has to go through the same.

Thanks for the replies. The lease clearly states that the loft space is part of the demise of the upstairs flat, hence all my questions. I appreciate that this is not the usual case. If it was owned by the freeholders the situation would be very different. There will be slight amendments made to the current leases. We are nearing completion of the freehold purchase so have been using a property savvy solicitor, this has been going on many years as we had an absent/uninterested landlord and with the past/current legal fees plus freehold cost I literally can't afford to pay for more legal advice! Hence seeing if anyone on here had any relevant information. I think only someone who has been through a similar situation will be able to help sadly as it is very specific. I am not interested in the planning permission which I understand. More the landlords consent and if any lease amendments can make this clearer when it comes to extending within a flat, airspace/dormer windows, access using the garden for building/future repairs and any impact on future roof repairs/split of costs etc.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of loft conversions in an upstairs flat within a Victorian conversion. I am currently purchasing the freehold of the building (I own the ground floor flat) jointly with the leaseholder of the upper floor. The loft space is owned/covered under the upstairs lease (and cellar within mine). The upstairs flat will be listed for sale as soon as the freehold purchase is completed. For various reasons I am concerned that the flat will be listed with the potential to extend into the roof space, encouraging any future owner to do so. I just want to find out as much information as I can to see if there are any changes that can be made to the leases (they will be extended as soon as we own the freehold) that might protect from or make any terms of extending/permissions etc clearer In particular whether a dormer loft conversion would be possible, no mention of "air space" in the upstairs lease If anyone has knowledge of whether scaffolding/access for works using the garden (both front/back are within the ground floor lease) would have to be approved as part of any landlords consent I am always concerned by the "such consent not to be unreasonably withheld" If the lease states that access has to be given for repairs and improvements could a flat conversion be seen as an improvement rather than the leaseholder wanting to expand to fit in another room/increase value Would the fact any future repairs to a flat conversion result in access having to be granted via the ground floor flat/garden could this be used as a reason for permission not to be granted Similarly with this being a small Victorian terrace with shared communal hallway for access only, bin space within the front garden for 2 bins (so already short of space given the upstairs flat has 3 bedrooms) and a history of noise of coming/going/day to day living from upstairs could these assist with showing extending the upstairs would have a negative effect on the other flat and building What, if any, impact would installing a flat conversion have on the fact repairs to the roof are currently split between both leaseholders Are there any terms that can be added to ensure that sub-division can't take place although I think that would be pretty given the current layout of the property Neighbouring roads appear to have more loft extensions (within buildings already converted into flats) than ours so not sure if that would have any impact on planning/freeholders consent. There are a few developers cramming as many flats into the houses as possible so clearly quite keen to avoid this happening Sorry.. a lot of questions. I know most of the legal side of things on consent etc but obviously there are two sides here and with some of these points there are cases which have conflicting results so anything that can be put into our leases to make this clearer I feel would help and avoid any future problems and disagreements between the leaseholders before the upstairs flat is sold and our leases extended Any advice or experiences of this would be much appreciated, whether from ground floor or upper flat leaseholders that have gone through this. Thank you

Another recommendation for Niko. He visited us twice in one week at short notice to fix leaking pipes. Not only is Niko great at his job, very professional and reliable, always calling when he is on his way, but he is also just the nicest person we have ever had the pleasure of working in our home. Very reasonably priced too. We can highly recommend Niko for any plumbing jobs.

Many thanks. I will give them a try

Great, thank you. I will give them a try

Thanks Lynne. Out of interest was the underpinning carried out a while ago? Aviva were unable to help, even when I mentioned having a survey carried out, as the subsidence here was within the last 5 years.

As mentioned we are trying to purchase the freehold so I would have thought it was pretty obvious we would know if the current freeholder had insured the property! Thank you everyone else for the helpful suggestions.

Not 100% sure of best place to put this so it is under local businesses too - hope ok to post under both! We are attempting to purchase the freehold for our building (two flats in a conversion) so I am trying to obtain insurance quotes in preparation for this. At present the building as a whole is not insured so we would be starting from scratch. There has been recent repairs due to subsidence and underpinning was also carried out over 20 years ago. I have seen a few recommendations on here with some members recommending a different broker each time they respond to similar enquiries. I really want to find out if anyone has actually succeeded in obtaining insurance in a similar situation and any advice or information on costs that might help in my search. In particular did the insurers require a structural survey and if so was this arranged themselves and at what cost. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Does anyone locally own a leasehold property and have problems with their freeholder being absent or basically uninterested in the property. This relates to a private freeholder, not Southwark. If anyone is in a similar position or has experience of this please could you message me directly. Many thanks

A police car and another car crashed

It is common knowledge, all the local vets are telling owners that there is a sickness bug going round. They carry out blood tests to check for any other causes and also keep an eye on the dogs for dehydration, administer anti sickness medicine etc. Not sure what else the vets can do. I am guessing as a dog owner you'd still be concerned though, hence the initial post. I'd be surprised if the vet in question didn't say that it was likely to be a bug although BillyOcean didn't mention that