Financial implications due to slow/non acting freeholder

[Wherehastodaygone]

Is there anything I can do about slow acting freeholder? I have a flat that is one of three as part of conversion. There have been water ingress issues and subsidence. In between the insurance and freeholder, there has been day after delay in addressing the subsidence and insurance won’t deal with me directly. The water ingress issues seem separate. Both have been going on more than seven years! I want to sell the flat, am paying crippling premiums and am having to keep trying to update the inside and address water damage as best I can. I don’t have access to the outside - freeholder needs to arrange that with other leaseholders. I feel hamstrung and that those responsible can sit back on their laurels, whilst I’m suffering ongoing financial implications. What can I do?

Hi - so sorry to hear that you're in this stressful position. I had a similar situation many years ago with a flat that suffered subsidence and also had rising damp from cracked water pipes that turned the foundations into a muddy quagmire. I'm sorry to say that in my case, the flat was unsaleable, due to these issues, and I could only sell after an 8 year battle with the freeholders to get the problems fixed. In the end, getting the local environmental health officer involved was the key to forcing action (due to the uninhabitability caused by the damp and mould). The EHO issued enforcement notices that forced the repairs. Good luck with sorting this out.