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I have a share certificate, duly signed by director and secretary, for share of freehold of a flat, but due to internal conflicts between the directors, the share certificate is not accepted by some of the directors.....what is the solution

Firstly, the fees are not due until demanded in a prescribed form. Secondly there is a 6 year statute of limitations, meaning they don’t have any legal grounds to recover debts older than 6 years, they are what is called ‘time-barred’.
Consult with the leasehold advisory service in the first instance https://www.lease-advice.org/ , they have a telephone advice line. Get your solicitor to write to them to explain the limitations of their position.
I had a firm who’d purchased the freehold write to me demanding back payment of ground rent, (not using the correct form, but I didn’t bother about that), but they soon cut the bill down to six years once I pointed out the rest was time-barred.
You will need professional advice as to what they are entitled to charge for. I believe if your lease states you need permission for a thing, they are entitled to charge for the grant of that permission, galling as that is! Although, how do they know what you haven’t asked permission for if you don’t tell them? Again, it’s only things done in the last six years that are relevant, so hopefully that makes your potential bill far more manageable.
They of course have you over a barrel as you need to get their sign off on your financial obligations in order to sell & remember you don’t want to give your buyer any reason to think they are buying a problem property with a freeholder who will stick it to them at every turn!

Hi JR

As Lindsay says, you need some good legal advice, but it does sound like a try on.

You have said you own a property, but not said if it's a flat or house. In general lease for flats are more prescriptive, for obvious reasons, whilst those for houses (especially in 1996) tend to be less so. Most leases of that vintage did not include rent review provisions; if your lease doesn't allow for it then it can't happen.

Some of the items being claimed are quite unusual.

As is often the case, though, the best advice will come from someone who has your lease in front of them and can take you through the agreement, applying statute and case law, etc.

What does it say in the lease? They cannot charge for anything not provided for. Look at the LEASE website for details on what can be charged and in what time frame.

and who is the freeholder? is it a limited company in which you own a share or are a member or is it a third party?

To try to increase the ground rent suggests a lack of knowledge which makes me think it might be a company which is self-managed?

The landlord or lessor or freeholder holds the land and any communal parts of the building (generally). They can charge a fee for consents but they have to be reasonable and properly demanded. How much are they charging? Did they provide you with these consents or are they trying to do that retrospectively too?

Here is a document providing some details.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/684250/Section_131_HPA_Guidance_note.pdf

They are trying it on. These hundred year old 999 year leases cannot be increased and they cannot charge you fees. They tend to buy them in bulk at auction for peanuts in the hope that either the law will change or they can extort money out if you such as random fees or trying to sell you the freehold for more than it is worth. If you go on the land registry site you may be able to find out which others they own nearby. There are thousands of these properties in Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool. It shouldn't be difficult to find a solicitor that can deal with it if you are not confident.

The answers to most of your Qs lie in the lease wording, so it is important to get this reviewed, side by side with the demands being made.

If the freeholders have not raised any queries or objections to much of what you have done over the last 24 years, they have likely 'acquiesced in the breach' (if there was ever a breach of a term of the lease) and/or the limitation period for some or all of the issues has passed.

You must bear in mind though that the OP is in a time-sensitive situation and can’t be heading of to the FTT over this stuff with a sale pending.
All you can do is send a strongly worded solicitors letter setting out the legal position and hope they see reason and will come to a compromise with you on anything they claim you owe from the past six years (which is all that they can pursue you for with any chance of success).
You don’t want to lose a sale over this if you can avoid it.