Some blocks of flats are much better run after the leaseholders jointly buy the freehold. Other buildings are managed more badly after this big collective event, and the flat owners discover that they are an incompetent landlord.
Many buildings that have Collectively Enfranchised go through teething pains and a transitional stage. Things get bad for a while, but then the situation improves, as the new resident-owned freeholder gains knowledge, experience and confidence about how best to run the building.
Distress caused by noisy neighbours is a recurring theme when people are trying to improve building management after buying their freehold.
I get many complaints from leaseholders about loud noise. They say their quality of life is damaged because they are not able to relax and enjoy the quiet of their home.
Happily, the noise problem is one that can be solved. But addressing it properly requires focus, resolve and patience.
My blog posting on September 12 looked at one frequent source of noise complaints -- wood floors. Because that posting provides best-practice solutions for tackling the wood-floor-noise problem, I won't talk about that today.
I suggest we look at the other big source of noise disturbance -- loud music -- which presents a different kind of challenge.
A good place to start addressing a problem caused by a loud-music-playing resident is to look in the lease.
Does the lease say that loud music cannot be played after a certain time in the evening or before a certain time in the morning? It should. If the lease does not say this, then you should get this changed when you grant yourselves new 999-year leases or when you make some other change to the lease, say, in the next year or two.
Often the player of the offending music is a subletter. That should not pose an insurmountable problem. The lease -- if it's a good one -- should say that any leaseholder wishing to sublet must ensure that the renter abides by the rules in the lease that apply to owners of flats.
The trickiest issue here is one of organisation and communication.
Imagine the scenario: a young person is subletting a flat and playing loud music that is keeping the neighbours awake at night. The flat is owned by someone living on the other side of the world. A local estate agent manages the rental of the flat on behalf of the overseas flat owner.
The resident-owned freehold company and its managing agent can find this situation frustrating, because the decision-maker, the owner of the flat, is absent and might seem unconcerned with problems on the ground that are being created by the loud music.
The resident management company that owns the freehold needs to work closely with the managing agent to establish a zero-tolerance policy towards any breach of lease, including a breach caused by playing loud music. The managing agent needs to communicate in writing the zero-tolerance policy to all leaseholders, including to overseas flat owners by email.
Now you have a fighting chance to solve the problem.
Think about what matters most to the leaseholder based overseas? Because this is an investment flat, what matters most to the owner is the ability to rent out the flat and to do so profitably.
If the overseas leaseholder realises he or she might lose the right to sublet this flat altogether, unless care is taken to find a renter that is a good neighbour, then you can expect swift action to put the situation right.
The porter has a special and crucial role to play here.
If he or she carries out the caretaker job in a passive manner, looking the other way when there is anti-social behavior in the building by loud music players, then you can have a long-running disaster on your hands.
But if the porter takes a pro-active stance, your loud-music problems can disappear over night. Some porters sense they have a lot bosses, because they are hired by the freeholder, supervised by the managing agent and their salary is paid by leaseholders through the service charges.
However, as long as the porter is empowered to run the building well, including to spread the word to leaseholders and renters about a ban on late-night music, the block can quickly develop a sense of community and accountability.
One colleague said to me recently she did not understand why one had to be so many rules in a block of flats. The answer is simple: living in chaos is not fun.
Having a lease and, in some cases, a separate set of building regulations, that identify the responsibilities of the freeholder and leaseholders provides the best framework for ensuring a block of flats is kept in good repair, is well-managed and is a pleasant place to live.
Do you have a loud-music story that you'd like to share? Send it in!
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