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RESOLVED:
 
1. 
Authorised the Council to facilitate the simultaneous
surrender of the existing lease and grant of a new lease term
incorporating the loft space for 63B Lingwood Road into the demise of the new lease
demise drawing (as it is set out in Appendix 2) for the agreed
premium of £12,500.
 
2. 
Authorised the Acting Director of Legal, Democratic and
Electoral Services 
to prepare, agree, settle and sign the legal documentation
required to complete the transaction.
 
REASONS FOR DECISION:
 
Loft spaces have previously been sold on a
small number of occasions, and in the above case, the best option
is to formalise the situation by agreeing terms for the loft space
to be included into the existing lease.
 
The conversion of the loft space was completed
more than twenty years ago and inspections undertaken by the
Housing Leasehold Surveyor team since 2021 have uncovered no issues
with the structural integrity of the building.
Consideration for the sale and purchase of the
loft space plus the Council’s fees, subject to contract and
Cabinet approval.
 
The purchaser will meet the Council’s
legal & surveying costs.
 
The property was valued by a Registered
Valuer employed by the Council and
following negotiations with the leaseholders’ legal
representatives, an agreed price for the loft space was determined.
The valuation may be found at Appendix 3. As with the existing
lease, the Council will remain responsible for carrying out all
external repairs and will include clauses relating to amendment and
recovery of maintenance costs to be included in the regrant of the lease.
 
The alterations to 63B Lingwood Road had already received Planning and
Building Control approval prior to being inspected by
Housing’s Leasehold Building surveying Team.
 
DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND
REJECTED:
 
The leaseholder has refused to reinstate the
property to its original layout and structural configuration. In
the event of the Council taking no action to regularise the
situation promptly, the leaseholder could gain adverse possession
rights and the Council would forgo receipt of consideration for the
land taken. Seeking the leaseholder remedying the breach(s) of the
lease, although provided for within the lease, would be a
protracted and costly process for the leaseholder and the Council
with no obvious benefit to either party.
 
In the early stages of the Council negotiating
with the leaseholder regarding the use of the loft space, the
Council stipulated that the loft space should be returned to its
original layout. An inspection by the Leasehold Surveyor (acting on
the Council’s behalf) revealed that the leaseholder’s
layout changes which converted the loft space to habitable rooms as
well as other changes to the layout have made this request
impractical. Planning consent and Building Control approval had
been obtained by the leasehold owner who carried out these works.
This put the Council in an untenable position and rendered other
options which the Council had put to the leaseholder
unworkable.