I own a leasehold property. It's a house and the lease was originally 999 years about 40 years ago. The lease would only cost £1200 to buy and doesn't have lots of strict stipulations, if that makes any difference. I appreciate that some leases involving apartments are very strict, by contrast.
About 2 years ago my roof started leaking badly. The advice I got was it was in a pretty rubbish state of repair and to replace it. It was at the beginning of a wet winter and my life was extremely stressful so I had it done asap. I didn't notify the company which owns the freehold - it didn't occur to me to do so in all honesty, but as I said life was incredibly stressful and I struggle to keep up with life at the best of times because of having a chronic illness.
I have just read an awful story in the press about a man who adapted his leasehold flat and who was taken to court for not notifying the freeholder. (He put in a new kitchen) He was fined about £300 and it sounds as if he refused to pay. His entire 600k flat was taken off him and returned to the freeholder.
I'm now slightly panicking. Obviously that story is a worse case scenario and if the man had paid the fine nothing worse would have happened. But it's made me think I should write to my company to inform them about the roof because my lease does say I need to tell them about any major alterations to the building. I am just wondering about the likelihood that they will fine me or whether they'll shrug their shoulders and not care. They are a company who own a significant proportion of my town, I believe but my ground rent is only £10 a year and I've never really had any contact from them other than one letter telling me what I could buy the freehold for.
Thank you!