UK Landlord Forum / Life

I know that if you have a leasehold property you must pay the yearly ground rent but I am convinced in law you can withhold part of it with reason.
My ground rent is only £50pa but there are open man holes that the council wont fix as its private land, fly tipping, waste ground, broken fencing etc. The usual mess you can all imagine. I rang and said I would pay half til they fixed it. They have now sent me a fresh bill for £75 for non payment. This bill is going to keep growing until it is enough to take me to court. As far as I am aware as I have informed them of my actions in a reasoned way they cannot bill me and Im acting legally. Am I right??

Hello jeffo,

Is the private land owned by the same people who own the freehold of the flat?  Is the private land mentioned part of the demise of your lease?  Does your lease contain any covenants (obligations) upon the leaseholder regarding maintenance of the private land you've got a problem with?

If you can give this background info, I could help you.

Hi Jeremy

It is a house on a road of 70 others like it. There is a large 'field' beside the houses which belongs to the same plot which was formerly a school. There is a footpath through the field.
I have never seen the lease, it was part of the documents my solicitor had when doing the conveyancing. I am going through the process of changing solicitor at the moment. All I currently know is that the council and the utility companies all shake their heads when asked to do anything there and have told me it is the responsibility of the freeholder. Surely if the council say it is the responsibility of the freeholder that it must be so regardless.

Hello Jeffo,

You really do need to get hold of a copy of your lease pronto, irrespective of what you're doing with your solicitors: One of them should be able to give you a copy easily.

The council are probably correct that the freeholder is responsible maintenance of the land.  However that is not the same thing as saying you are entitled to withold a contractually bound payment to the freeholder because they refuse to tidy the land up.  If the freeholder does not owe an obligation to you to keep the land tidy then you stop paying your ground rent.

For this reason you must get hold of a copy of your lease, it contains the covenants (obligations) the freeholder is bound to offer you.

If you can get the lease then we can pick up from there.

Thanks Jeremy
I will be ringing the solicitor today. My file just arrived there and its six inches thick!! I cant wait to see how much he charges to read all that through YAY!