Camden Council as Freeholder

[Seringaze]

I have just put an offer in for a maisonette which needs a major refurb. The property is leasehold with Camden council as freeholder. My lawyer has advised that most freehold leases say if planning for alterations is granted then freeholder usually cannot unreasonably object however Camden lease has a clause saying they can refuse any and all alterations without explanation. Has anyone else had experience of Camden in this capacity. Appreciate these are standard documents. The block I am buying into is still mainly council tenants - not sure if this has an impact also? If I couldn’t update this property would be a disaster - advise appreciated as v new to this - never bought in a London before...

I have friends who bought Camden Leaseholds in Gospel Oak and Kentish Town.Both refurbed the interiors with no problems. Moving walls , getting rid of bedrooms, relocating bathrooms and kitchens may be a problem but if you are just doing general decorating and upgrading it shouldn’t be an issue at all.
The exterior is where your solicitor should be looking. Any improvements to the building, roof, windows, lift, common areas even if you don’t use them will be billed to you.
The owners in Gospel Oak had to find £12k towards the roof being fixed for the block in 2014. The friends in Kentish Town have been billed £25k over their tenure, windows and roof, general improvements.
You can’t fight these charges, they are a compulsory part of the lease.
I would hope your solicitor would search and find out about previous works and works planned, then you can judge whether you can afford it or not.

Hmmmm. Would like to open up the space and also move a bathroom upstairs. The other flats in the row have the bathroom upstairs but really scared they will be difficult. Agree re the external charges - solicitor is on that. More the alterations stuff - don’t want to spend a fortune on a flat and it feel like a bad rental where you can’t do anything:) thoughts?

More importantly thanks!! @rubyviolet

I would contact Camden Council and talk to the leaseholders department of the housing section about your plans. They should be able to give you an idea of whether they are likely to approve them and how much it would cost to get approval. There is also a Camden leaseholders forum which can be very helpful - have a look at their website www.leaseholdersforum.org.uk/guides/

We owned an ex-council 2-storey maisonette in Camden borough (Kentish Town) and had grand plans for completing re-doing it. The council said no. But we wanted to make the downstairs completely open plan with a staircase going up the middle of the floor and it broke fire regulations. They were fine with the other smaller changes we were making (changing flooring, adding sound proofing, updating kitchen and moving washer/dryer into the downstairs loo).

I'm glad they said no! Our ideas were a bit bonkers, to be fair, and it would have cost a fortune. As it was, we sold the flat on soon after doing our lower-scale renovations and made a good profit. This was about 8 years ago

How did you get on @Seringaze ? Did you call CCouncil, maybe your solicitor could find out about moving the bathroom and the precident made by the other flats.
Good Luck.