Yes, it's been a long wrangle, which caused mum to have a mental breakdown.....
We are attempting to sort it out now.
Mum thinks, based speaking with other neighbours, that the area in dispute belonged to both flats before she moved in, and that her flat had the keys at one time.
When one of the previous owners of mums flat died we think the freeholder saw an opportunity to use the area for his sole use.
Mum has also been told by neighbours, that the freeholder had access to mums flat at that time, so the keys may have disappeared then. But this is here- say.
Mum also feels that the freeholder may have done some cash deal, with the last owner of mums flat, but it never got written into mums lease nor on the property info form when mum bought it off him.
I don't condone mums risky action of making a hole in the wall and using the area for her sole use, based on an old conveyancers verbal go ahead - without anything in writing.
But my mum trusted his verbal advice - and probably based on all this history around it - and it being hatched as hers in her lease - thought it should be hers.
Once the freeholder got his solicitor involved, mum went back to her conveyancing solicitor, who re-read her lease and the freeholders lease.
In an email, his assistant stated that mums lease was unclear, but that the area under the stairs appeared to belong to her.
He then then followed his assistants email up the next day - retracting his assistants email - stating that the area under the stairs belongs to the freeholder. The conveyancing solicitor is an extremely shady character.
We don't believe he ever read mums overlying lease, during mums conveyancing. When we question this - he said as mum never paid for the full conveyancing service, it wasn't in his scope to read the freeholders lease.
I just think people who are not savvy, like my mum, must get into huge difficulties like this all the time....