Kent Solicitors

Leases often say that the tenant must pay for repairs carried out by the landlord. Often, an argument arises as to whether a particular item of work is a " repair " or "improvement"

What happens when a lot of roof/cladding work has to be done to a block of flats and it is sensible, taking a long-term view, to replace window frames, while scaffolding is up although the window frames might actually not need replacing for a few years. Is this a repair or is it an improvement?

The court recently held that such works could be a "repair" but left it to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide whether in the circumstances of the particular building, the cost of doing the work now compared to the cost of doing it in future, the saving being made by doing the works while scaffolding was up anyway, made it reasonable to regard the work as a "repair"

Labels: leasehold service charges repair improvement cost works