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How many leaseholders know their neighbours? Not many? Not when a block is made up of a mix of resident leaseholders and non resident leaseholders letting their properties out.
Apart from occasionally bumping into one another on the stairs, the propects of leaseholders getting to know one another's opinions on a building can be fairly slim. Where there's a management company, the AGM can be useful to see who's who but they can often be poorly attended. Residents' associations can be prone to bickering.
Sometimes it's a good thing not to know your neighbours very well; your interest in your flat may be confined to its lettability and its internal repair. You don't want to be chatting to the neighbours all day. But, if you find that your block is starting to look scruffy or the management company is not doing a good job, it helps to know what your neighbours think about it.
Property Sparrow's experience this Summer with roofing repairs at a block where she has a first floor flat has taught her not to assume that all leaseholders see things the same way.
There are only four flats in this block and three of the leaseholders are non resident landlords. The roof has been repaired but the building badly needs painting. The freeholder's agent has got into a muddle with the s.20 notices and is seeking the leaseholders' agreement that the work goes ahead without a s.20 notice.
There's been an exchange of e-mails for about a month. Reading the cc'd replies from the other leaseholders to the agent, Property Sparrow feels that she has got to know them. She wouldn't know who they were if they knocked on the door for a cup of sugar but, for the first time, she knows what they think about the block. The first floor leaseholders want the painting to go ahead while the scaffolding is still up. One of the ground floor leaseholders objects, the other (strangely, the resident leaseholder) says he's not interested.
It's a messy, unfriendly situation.
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