Freeholder wants to charge £700 to allow us to put in double glazing - is this allowed?

[davidla]

Hi,

We are leaseholders of a maisonette.

Before we moved in there was double glazing in one bedroom. We now want to put double glazing in the other rooms. I wrote to the freeholder (a company) advising that we wanted to do this. They wrote back saying that under the terms of the lease they require us to enter into a licence for alteration and we have to meet the costs of this licence which is £500 + VAT plus the client's admin fee of £90.

I have checked the original lease (when the maisonette was built) and can see nothing that mentions a payment. However, the lease does not mention the company's name who now have the leasehold.

So...

1. Can they charge us?
2. What is a licence for alteration?
3. If the person who put the double glazing in the one room didn't pay the

licence does that make a difference?

1. Would the lease conditions change from the original time it was built,

and should I have a copy of it? (I've been through our records but can see the original lease but no later one.) If I don't have it - who should I get it from?

Thanks for any help!

Sounds like they are trying it on TBH. My freeholder didn't give a monkeys when I replaced my windows.

I would write back asking them to identify the exact clause in the lease which requires you to enter into a license.

Otherwise I would go and see CAB.

Anyway, hope this bumps it for you.

Thanks - a few people have suggested CAB so I will give them a try.
I think it's that they can charge it, so because they are &%*%$#s they will do it. However there are obviously some freeholders who don't because it's really not neccessary.