ASK the expert Q&A Legal
Get all your legal questions answered with our resident Solicitor Mark Hobbs, Managing Partner of Howells Solicitors
Q A
As soon as we moved into our new, recently converted ground- floor flat we knew we had made
a mistake. The noise from upstairs is terrible. We can hear them talking, walking, their television and their baby playing with her toys on the wooden flooring. The freeholder says that the lease for upstairs mentions nothing about floors having to be carpeted and therefore he can’t do anything. I have tried speaking to the people above, inviting them down to listen to the noise, which they did, yet they haven’t done anything. The noise is endless. What can we do?
Because the flat is newly converted, it would be worthwhile looking at the
planning consent for the conversion to see if soundproofing was a condition of planning. If it was, speak to the freeholder. Even if soundproofing was installed when the flats were constructed, perhaps the specification was not good enough.Even if there is no covenant regarding carpets there is
likely to be a covenant in the lease that leases do not allow noise between certain hours or cause a nuisance, and you can ask the freeholder to enforce it. You may also have a private nuisance claim against your neighbour. It is tricky to decide when noise constitutes nuisance and the courts will consider reasonable use. You could ask the local environmental health department to investigate whether the noise is at nuisance levels. If you win a claim for nuisance the court may order the neighbours to stop the nuisance and/or award you damages. Finally, you could consider sound proofing your flat, which may need the freeholder’s consent.
Q
My father recently passed away and my mother is living alone in their home. There is £23,000 left outstanding on the mortgage and I am considering buying the property from my mother for £30,000. It was last valued at £90,000. I intend to move in with my mother if we can legally do this. Is it possible?
A
Your mother presumably became entitled on your father’s death to their home, either as the
surviving joint tenant or under the terms of your father’s will, or under the laws of intestacy if he did not leave a will. The mortgage will have to be redeemed when you buy the property, although you may be able to take over the mortgage from the lender if you can satisfy their lending requirements.
If your mother accepts £30,000 from you and redeems the mortgage, she will be gifting you £60,000 - so do remember that this gift from her may have tax implications for you. Sometimes people enter into a deed of variation in order to save tax. Your mother could enter into a deed of variation to vary the terms of your father’s will if she wished to gift tile property or part of it to you – although considering the value of the property there may be no tax consequences. Finally, a sale at an under value may be seen as deprivation of assets should your mother wish to apply for means- assessed benefits at some stage.
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