Change in the lease

Vanbern house London NW5 3LY

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The Challenge

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After 4 years of a work in progress, Ringley helped Vanbern House get rid of a defective insurance clause in their leases. Imagine each flat had to arrange building insurance for themselves, so when there is a leak or worse each owner had to pursue another owner to sort it out. The lease did not provide for a block wide building insurance.

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The Solution

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It took a while to achieve 75% of the owner's signatures to take the case to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, under Section 37 of the 1987 Act. Before each were paying insurance of £300 +per flat, plus every time a flat was sold the buyer's mortgage company forced them to take out an indemnity policy, costing about £500. Now the block insurance costs circa £2,000 a saving of approximately £1,654 per annum or £150 per flat, not just for 1 year but every year, a great result!

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Customer Response

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Ringley explained to us at an AGM the difference between what was the current insurance arrangement and the new block insurance model. It was clear that the old one was unsatisfactory and the new one beneficial to all. Although it took a long time to complete due to changing leaseholders and difficulties in obtaining several signatures, eventually we succeeded with Ringley providing the necessary legal work and documentation.

J Higham