Reply To: Lift Works: Wood Field

#5010
WestOneTango
Participant

    Nelson, your lease sounds very similar to ours. I had just quoted extracts relating to lifts and not the full text.

    On Lease page 16 (or thereabouts) there is a Clause 4 ‘The Landlord Covenants…’ and that is where the Landlord’s obligations are stated. That is where it makes it clear that the obligation to provide a lift, and therefore the Tenant’s obligation to pay for one, depends on the Tenant named in the lease being able to enjoy and use the lift.

    You say that you have 7 non-communicating staircases in your building and that the lifts are within your building. Is it not the case that Wood Field is a terrace of seven Buildings? If so, then your “Building” is defined on Lease page 3 (or thereabouts) as “The building consisting solely of physically linked flats within the Estate and including the Flat described in the Premises and the Common Parts within the Building”. It is important to use the correct terminology.

    You say that the Council was challenged in the early 1990’s on this issue but won the dispute. Was the case decided in the LVT property court? Or did the leaseholder give up when the Council said no? Being so recent, it was probably a question of payment of day-to-day charges rather than wholesale lift replacement.

    This is not a question of fairness but of a Landlord’s duty to act lawfully in accordance with the terms of the lease and statute. It is unfortunate that leaseholders who do enjoy and use the lifts will probably face an increased contribution.