TECHNICAL BULLETIN
ISSUE 34 MARCH 2019
LOCAL AUTHORITY LANDLORDS WHEN CAN LEASEHOLDERS BE CHARGED FOR FIRE SAFETY REMEDIATION? SUSAN BRIGHT, PROFESSOR OF LAND LAW, MCGREGOR FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
This article looks at whether the costs of fixing and making safe local authority blocks can be recovered from leaseholders. The things that need fixing can include replacement cladding; fire breaks; replacing fire doors etc. but there may also be additional services, such as the provision of a waking watch. Sometimes the landlord may need to enter flats to look at what needs doing and may wish to make alterations inside individual flats; this raises other questions, not discussed here, including, firstly, whether the landlord has a right to go into the flat, and secondly, whether the landlord has the power to make alterations. 2. The landlord is under an implied covenant to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house and of the building in which it is situated and to make good any defect affecting that structure (para 14(2)(a)). Usually there will be an express covenant in the lease to this effect. 3. The landlord may (depending on the lease wording): •• require the tenant to pay a reasonable part of the costs of repairs and services (para 16A(1)(a)). •• require the tenant to pay a reasonable part of the costs of making good structural defects, except that during the first 5 years of the lease the amount is limited to the estimate contained in the s125 notice (para 16A(1)(a); 16(B)). This is the notice given to the person buying the RTB lease and includes the estimated service charges for the next five years. •• require the tenant to pay improvement contributions,
The situation for leaseholders in local authority blocks differs from the private sector because the leases will have been sold under the ‘Right to Buy’. The terms of these leases are shaped by statutory provisions in Schedule 6 of the Housing Act 1985 (amended by the Housing and Planning Act 1986, that came into force in January 1987). For leases entered between 3 October 1980 and 1 April 1986, the operative Act was the Housing Act 1980 (and the wording of RTB leases entered during that period may differ somewhat). Whether the costs can be passed on will depend on the lease wording, but some general propositions for RTB leases follow (para references are to Schedule 6). 1. The lease may include reasonable covenants and conditions (para 5).
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