It’s one thing taking responsibility for maintenance and repairs at a building that you own, but when you’re the leaseholder of an apartment in a block of flats, the lines for liability can get blurry.

How do you know if an issue is your responsibility? How can you tell when it’s something that should be passed to building maintenance?

In this quick guide, I’ll run you through where your responsibilities lie and show you how to put the best foot forward when it comes to resolving maintenance issues in flats.

When is a problem the landlord’s responsibility?

There are a few things that can affect where responsibility falls for making repairs within a block of flats:

• The terms of the lease (as set out in the contract)
• The exact location of the defects
• What the defect is or what it’s been caused by

A simple reminder can come in handy here. Freeholders are responsible for the fabric of the building, while leaseholders (i.e. you) are responsible for the flat itself. The “fabric of the building” can be summed up as:

• External walls
• Roof
• Common parts
• Services in and out

It’s also worth remembering that in almost every case, leaseholders will be paying a monthly or annual service charge to their freeholder. The charge forms a sort of kitty that the freeholder should use to cover the costs that they’re responsible for. Speaking of…

What sorts of issues tend to be the freeholder’s responsibility?

The most common sorts of maintenance issues that will fall to the freeholder will involve damage to communal areas like the lobby and stairs, or the roof.

If that damage has clearly been caused by an individual, then the lines get blurry and it’s likely that coming to an arrangement for who pays for what will take a bit of negotiation.

But if that damage has been caused naturally, by weather for example, then the freeholder should usually be owning it. Pest control’s a good example too. Since the only way rodents can enter an apartment building is through defects to the building’s fabric (like damaged drains), liability for extermination should lie with the freeholder.

So how should you approach the freeholder to get an issue fixed?

As with most property-related issues, there’s a simple approach you should take to sort out a maintenance or pest control issue where the building management team is responsible. Put simply: act fast, bring evidence and be nice. But let’s break it down into bitesize phases to make things totally clear.

Phase one: Prepare

The moment your tenant tells you about a problem in the apartment building – one that you reckon should be the freeholder’s responsibility – start preparing your case.

Ask your tenant to email you a written statement of everything that’s wrong with photos (and videos if appropriate). Then move quickly to contact contractors and get quotations for repairs to the damage.

Tip: Make sure you do all this before you say anything to the building management team, to show them that you’re making the way forward as clear and easy as possible for them.

Phase two: Contact

Once you’ve got your bank of evidence, it’s time to get in touch with the building management team.

Start with a phone call to politely tell them that there’s an issue and that you believe it’s the freeholder’s responsibility to solve it. Let them know that you’ll follow up the call with a portfolio of evidence and quotations to help them move quickly. Email that portfolio over as soon as the conversation ends.

There might be a fair bit of back and forth during phase two until the management team is clear on what the issue is, and that it’s their responsibility. Just make sure you stand your ground throughout, and give the freeholder a realistic deadline to carry out the works.

Tip: Keep every conversation polite, friendly and upbeat, and make it clear that you and your tenant will help wherever you can.

Phase three: Meet

Arrange to meet at the property with one of the building management team and the contractors to show them the issue and get a review of the repairs that should take place.

Ask the building management team to reconfirm that they’ll take responsibility for the repairs and that you and your tenant won’t be charged anything related to the repair. Write up a report from the visit and distribute it to each party.

Tip: Don’t forget to keep your tenant in the loop at every stage.

Phase four: Execute

No, not that kind of “execute”. That would make the repair job a lot more long-winded. Just follow up and make sure the plan for repairs goes ahead. Arrange access with your tenant and get their permission to pass on their contact details to the management company.

As soon as the work’s been done, ask building management for a full report including the contractor’s details, in case you need to speak to them again in the future.

Tip: There’s no room for guilt throughout the process; you and/or your tenant are paying that service charge for occasions just like this!

So now you know how to handle a maintenance issue where the freeholder’s responsible. You’re right, it’s a fairly labour-intensive process, but the money you’ll save in the long-run will be well worth the hassle.

If you’d rather hand that hassle over and take a step back from the day-to-day running of your property portfolio, you need a property back office like Hello Owl. We love getting our hands dirty and making sure your tenancies and properties continue to run smoothly, even when issues like this one arise.

Give us a call on 020 3432 3888 to get the ball rolling.