Daughter no help at all
Q. Five years ago I bought my council apartment under the right to buy scheme. My daughter put up £6,000 and I took out a mortgage, which my daughter said she would pay off at £105 a month. She also said she would put in a new kitchen and bathroom and double glazing. She insisted on putting a restriction on the property to protect her interests, but in fact she never contributed a penny, which put me in serious financial difficulty. Could I leave the apartment to someone else if I made a will?
A. If your daughter has made a financial contribution to the property she may have acquired some kind of beneficial part-share in it. However since you have been paying off the mortgage, and since the discount you will have received from the council was “earned” by your occupation as tenant, I would suggest that you will be able to leave the bulk of the proceeds from the sale of the property to whoever you choose in your will. If you don’t wish your daughter to get your share you should leave a note with your will explaining why you have excluded your daughter. You could ask the Land Registry to remove the restriction, in which case your daughter would have to demonstrate that she has acquired an interest in the property. The executors of your will could take the same action after your death.

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Expiring lease
Q. My property is leasehold with a term of 100 years. This either expires shortly or has already done so. I have no record of who owns the lease, and have not been asked to pay ground rent for many years. I am not sure what the position is in this situation.
A. Unless you or the freeholder takes specific steps to end the tenancy it will simply continue on exactly the same terms. Thanks to a change in the law the property no longer automatically reverts to the freeholder – once of a day you would have lost your house. However if you receive a notice from the freeholder you must see a solicitor straightaway. And in fact you should sort this out sooner rather than later since it will present a problem if you wish to sell, and certainly if you were to die. I suggest you take steps to buy the freehold. If the freeholder can’t be found you can pay the money into court.

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Haunting auntie
Q. My husband’s aunt died ten years ago leaving him her share of her house and all the contents. Another aunt owns the other half of the house and lives in it. She has now taken in a lodger: is my husband entitled to a share of the rent, and should the aunt be paying my husband anything to live there? So far he has received no benefit from his legacy.
A. It depends on the terms of the will. In the normal way of things, the deceased aunt will have left her half of the house in trust to allow her sister to live there for the rest of her life. If this is the case the remaining aunt will probably be responsible for insuring and maintaining the property, and would in all likelihood have to give your husband half the rent if she takes in a lodger. If there’s no such provision for the remaining aunt she may have a statutory right of occupation, depending on the purpose of the trust which arose at the point where the house went into the sisters’ joint names. But your husband would be entitled to rent for his half of the house until the property is sold, as well as to half the rent from the lodger.

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Charges for changes
Q. I own a property that I rent out, and have made many improvements to over the years. I pay a ground rent of £2.75 a year to a firm of landlords, who have now sent me a questionnaire asking what changes I have made and whether the property is let. They say I should have asked for permission to make changes, and that they can charge me £500 for each one. I imagine there are hundreds of people in my situation.
A. You need to get hold of a copy of your lease and see a solicitor specialising in this area. I suggest you don’t return the questionnaire until you have taken advice, since admission that a breach has taken place can invite legal proceedings for forfeiture of the lease and for repossession. Assuming you don’t plan to put the house back into its original state and remove your tenants you will have to pay your landlord something. But (thanks to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002) the charges have to be “reasonable” and can be challenged.

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Caught in a sand-storm
Q. Builders have been renovating a house next door to a friend for three years. They caused so much dust that it damaged my friend’s computer and her car needed a re-spray. They also wrecked the damp course where the houses join. No precautions were ever taken to stop the dust flying, and the builders were just abusive when she complained: is she entitled to any compensation? The house is now up for sale.
A. If your friend has good evidence, for example photographs of the dust storms, she could take the owner of the property – presumably a firm of developers – to court for compensation. She will need a surveyor’s report on the condition of the damp course. She should act quickly before the house is sold, since she could obtain an order that she be repaid from the sale proceeds. Ideally she would have taken action when the work started. She might have been able to limit the nuisance, if necessary through an injunction.

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