Does a freehold invalidate the terms of a leasehold?

The wording you have supplied is very woolly and unfortunately, I think, undermines your position.

"...a fair and reasonable proportion of the proper costs incurred..." is the bit to worry about.

This does not put the square footage into the lease as a way of apportioned the costs. It says that the apportionment should be fair and reasonable.

Who decides what a fair and reasonable proportion is? Previously it was the agent, presumably with the previous freeholder's agreement.

The freeholder has now changed and from what you have said the new freeholder, the new company, have decided that the cost should be split amongst all flats equally.

Is this fair and reasonable? That is for you to disprove. There are many ways that could be considered to be fair and reasonable, on the basis of floor area is just one which was adopted by the previous managing agents.

You should take advice on this but, in my opinion, you could be on a sticky wicket in trying to keep with the old method of apportionment.

Your best bet is to say that the old method is more equitable, but you may end up having to go to court and to try to get a judge to agree with you.

Reply to the comment left by JB at 07/06/2024 - 13:20
Not necessarily so - you could agree to reduce their contribution without increasing that of the others, which would leave you with the burden of the shortfall (though why you would do that is up to you).

As has been said before, each lease is a contract that can only be varied by the contractual parties or by a court. So reducing the receipts from one lease doesn't automatically mean that you can increase those from others.

Reply to the comment left by Simon Lever - Chartered Accountant helping clients get the best returns from their properties at 08/06/2024 - 14:40
I may have stirred this conversation in the wrong direction as a result poor information from the old managing agent, my lease does not state exactly how much I have to pay by apportionment, it was the managing agent that has historically done this and on the phone, they've also told me that the apportionment method is the best method of dividing cost by Sq footage when apartment sizes varies.

Firstly, note that it is two buildings that are part of the freehold and when we use to be under a management company, I honestly had no idea that the freeholder was one person so when we bought the freehold, we bought it as one building, the buildings are next to each other. In simple language, these cost as treated as the cost from one Household.

this is google link of a screenshot for the entire flat https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sF2J4jCLPllrwr5qX_LNWAS-McDYBIgI/view?usp=sharing

Above each flat is the %, my flat is the one with an arrow on the bottom image and below my flat number is apportionment % for service charge at 11.15%. The work that is being done is across both buildings and the second screenshot is how they've pushed for it to be divided equally.

When the works came up, I largely supported it but I told them I will only abide by apportionment method but the said that a fairer system will be a flat split because everyone benefits from a roof as you can imagine the entire votes really came from the big flat.

two lots of payments is requested, the first one being, £795 and second £940, both due 12th of June, presumably. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxNey6v-_uZmrHt9GlBCZn1U0qaNJqCu/view?usp=sharing

like I have also clarified this apportionment by % is not specified by my lease, it was historically done by discretion, on the basis of fairness according to the managing agent and neither does the lease say's anything about roof repairs. I have also attached section of the lease.

In summary, I am just unsure what's my best action as the lease does not dictate this, suck up and pay or push for this to be reviewed some sort of legislation and it is worth it, the value of my studio flat is 220K

Reply to the comment left by JB at 07/06/2024 - 13:20
I may have stirred this conversation in the wrong direction as a result poor information from the old managing agent, my lease does not state exactly how much I have to pay by apportionment, it was the managing agent that has historically done this and on the phone, they've also told me that the apportionment method is the best method of dividing cost by Sq footage when apartment sizes varies.

Firstly, note that it is two buildings that are part of the freehold and when we use to be under a management company, I honestly had no idea that the freeholder was one person so when we bought the freehold, we bought it as one building, the buildings are next to each other. In simple language, these cost as treated as the cost from one Household.

this is google link of a screenshot for the entire flat https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sF2J4jCLPllrwr5qX_LNWAS-McDYBIgI/view?usp=sharing

Above each flat is the %, my flat is the one with an arrow on the bottom image and below my flat number is apportionment % for service charge at 11.15%. The work that is being done is across both buildings and the second screenshot is how they've pushed for it to be divided equally.

When the works came up, I largely supported it but I told them I will only abide by apportionment method but the said that a fairer system will be a flat split because everyone benefits from a roof as you can imagine the entire votes really came from the big flat.

two lots of payments is requested, the first one being, £795 and second £940, both due 12th of June, presumably. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxNey6v-_uZmrHt9GlBCZn1U0qaNJqCu/view?usp=sharing

like I have also clarified this apportionment by % is not specified by my lease, it was historically done by discretion, on the basis of fairness according to the managing agent and neither does the lease say's anything about roof repairs. I have also attached section of the lease.

In summary, I am just unsure what's my best action as the lease does not dictate this, suck up and pay or push for this to be reviewed some sort of legislation and it is worth it, the value of my studio flat is 220K

When you sell you’re going to have to get it sorted.
Apply to the first tier property tribunal who will determine what the lease says and who is your landlord to whom you pay service charge and what falls under service charge under landlord & tenant act 1985 section 27A and provisions in your lease.

Reply to the comment left by Kizzie at 08/06/2024 - 19:02
But now the disturbing question is do l carry on with this equal split for the current roof repair, is this in my best interest becaues the lease has not given me a solid stand with regards to apportioning the coat of the roof repair.

l am assuming your point about when l sell is that during the process of selling that l should have my lease rectified to reflect how cost should be split.

I guess have raised two questions, what is the sensible thing to do?

Reply to the comment left by WIldee at 08/06/2024 - 20:19
In my case when a levy was applied we suddenly switched to equal shares rather than apportionment according to the lease. I was in a stronger position than you as it was written in my lease but I let it go as the block is self managed and the directors save us a lot of money by not paying for a managing agent.
Can you work out the difference in what you're being asked to pay and what the apportioned amount would be? In my case it was a few hundred pounds - annoying but I agreed as the directors were suggesting they'd resign.
I hope the leaseholders advisory service can give you more guidance
Good luck with it

Leasehold advisory service will advise that the provisions of your lease as a legally binding contract is as another respondent said is KING.
Don’t know what you mean by a levy. If it’s not service charge cost in the lease in addition to Ground Rent then not payable.
If you own an equal share as in a share in the limited liability management co. then you have voting rights under companies act 2006.
I would suggest reading RICS residential service charge guide , downloadable on internet, regarding apportionment of service charge. Usually apportionment based on square footage/meter of interiors of each flat in a block and whether use of lift.

Reply to the comment left by Kizzie at 08/06/2024 - 21:07
If there's not enough money available in the kitty from the service charge and a big ticket item, such as a roof, needs replacing, then a levy can be charged (after section 20 notices have been served).
In my case some money was taken from reserves but as it was urgent there wasn't time to raise the rest.of the money from service charges, so a levy was charged

Reply to the comment left by Kizzie at 08/06/2024 - 21:07
I am reiterating this because you it appears you where responding to the comment from @JB.

The disturbing question is do l carry on with this equal split for the current roof repair, is this in my best interest because the lease has not given me a solid stand about how to apportion maintenance cost, although the service charge is apportioned by %, i.e square footage following historical practice from the management firm that we use to have.

l am assuming your point about when l sell is that during the process of selling that l should have my lease rectified to reflect how cost should be split, will this be the job of my solicitor during the sales process or what organization will rectify this on my lease?

I guess have raised two questions, what is a sensible thing to do, i.e lease does not specify percentage and secondly I am in the middle of a roof repair, at this point what will cost me less. from the equal split my share of the roof repair is £1940 X 10 flats.