Belgravia Living
Kensington apartments
Click one of these topics relating to Kensington apartments.
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Kensington apartments in the Victorian eraMost Kensington apartments in period houses are the result of conversions carried out in the 1970s or later. Many properties which were built as houses have long since been sub-divided into Kensington apartments. Throughout the Victorian period, the builders constructed ever larger family houses and did not see Kensington apartments as a market to cater to. However, by the 1890s there was a change in attitude. As a result the construction of buildings designed from the start to provide purpose-built Kensington apartments became more prevalent. |
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Kensington apartments made possible by improvements in sanitationSanitation was a major factor in the creation of Kensington apartments. In the Georgian and early Victorian periods there was little or no public drainage in the streets. There was certainly no effective drainage inside buildings. So it was impractical to divide a building of several storeys into individual Kensington apartments. But with the introduction of internal drainage and the invention of the flushing toilet, the various floors became more democratic and living in separate Kensington apartments became a practical proposition. |
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The 20th century and the rise of Kensington apartmentsIn the Edwardian period huge blocks of Kensington apartments were constructed. This trend towards purpose built Kensington apartments continued in the inter-war period. After the Second World War, large family houses were increasingly impractical. Families were smaller and fewer servants were employed. Many houses fell into disuse and were then converted by developers into the Kensington apartments of today. As houses were converted into Kensington apartments, developers wanted to squeeze profit out of every available space, so you will see many Kensington apartments with dormer windows in the gable roofs, or behind the balustrade. While certainly many of these were put in by original builders to be bedrooms for servants, a considerable number have been put in during the last thirty years as part of the conversion to Kensington apartments in place of houses. |
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Communal maintenance of a block of Kensington apartmentsFor the owners of Kensington apartments, the maintenance of the whole building has to be a communal matter. In small conversions with maybe 2 or 3 Kensington apartments, it is practical for each flat owner to repair his own area – but even so it is unfair for the top flat owner to have to repair the roof. The fairer method, which is usually adopted, is that everyone in a building shares the cost of maintaining the roof, foundations and services. Each flat contributes a proportion which is normally calculated by reference to floor area. |
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Alterations to Kensington apartmentsYou must always check that you own what you want to alter. Most leases of Kensington apartments would give the flat owner ownership of the interior of the flat – the plaster but not the walls themselves – which means that you will not be able to touch some parts e.g. structural walls and windows. Owners of Kensington apartments do not necessarily have a free hand to alter their flats. The lease probably contains restrictions and rules on what they can do. For example, many leases of Kensington apartments forbid alterations to the plan or layout of a flat without the landlord’s consent. That means you cannot knock through walls or move the bathroom. You need to read your lease for the particular provisions. The consent has to be in writing from the landlord, so you can produce it to a future buyer to prove you got the right permissions. For some alterations to Kensington apartments you will need planning permission. If the block of Kensington apartments is a listed building you will also need listed building consent. For some alterations to Kensington apartments you will need building regulation consent. This is the local council’s control over how building works are carried out. You should consult a surveyor before starting work. |
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Kensington apartments and your right to extend your leaseMany Kensington apartments have relatively short leases – less than 60 years. In some circumstances the owner can have the lease extended. Owners of Kensington apartments can only do this if their leases were originally granted for more than 21 years. The remaining qualification is that they have to have owned their Kensington apartments for more than 2 years. (People who don’t live in their flat also have this right. It’s a change from the old rule that the right only applied to resident owners.) Once that 2 year period is up they should have the right to extend their lease terms, but the rules are more complicated than this short summary, so owners or buyers of Kensington apartments must take advice on the specific facts. People who extend their leases get to own their Kensington apartments for an extra 90 years. The 90 years is added on to what remains of the present term. For Kensington apartments with 50 years left on the lease, then the new lease will be 50 plus 90, which equals 140 years. |
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Lease extensions of Kensington apartments - Diminution in valueCalculating the price for extension leases of Kensington apartments is a relatively complicated process. For qualifying Kensington apartments, the flat owner is entitled to a new term at nil rent. The landlord loses out by the amount of the ground rent he would have got till the end of the current term. So for most Kensington apartments there will be some compensation for the landlord for loss of that rent. |
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Lease extensions of Kensington apartments - Marriage ValueFor Kensington apartments with 80 years or more still to run, no marriage value is payable. For Kensington apartments with lease terms below 80 years, marriage value is payable. The marriage value is a hugely complicated issue which expert surveyors can argue over for days. But in the simplest terms, it is roughly the difference between the expected value of a flat with the extra term and the present value with its short term. This is then split equally between the flat owner and the landlord and so the flat owner has to pay half the extra value to the landlord (and therefore gets half free). This is usually the big item for lease extensions of Kensington apartments. |
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Lease extensions of Kensington apartments - Other costsWhen making claims to extend leases of Kensington apartments, the offer must be for a reasonable amount or the claim is considered invalid. That means you need to get a surveyor, expert in valuing Kensington apartments, to give you some help in working out what figure to include in your claim. |
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Buying the freehold of a block of Kensington apartmentsThe owners of several Kensington apartments can apply to buy the freehold of their building or 'enfranchise' it. It’s often called ‘the right to buy’. It’s a legal right which some flat owners in some blocks of Kensington apartments have. It’s quite complicated so this is just a very broad summary and you need legal advice on the specific facts in your case. There must be at least 2 apartments. (The existence of commercial premises in the building can remove the right to buy.) Two thirds of the qualifying flat owners must join in the application. Owners of Kensington apartments qualify if their leases were originally granted for 21 years or more. So if you are in a block of Kensington apartments and enough of your neighbours concur, you can join together to buy it. But I am not going to detail the prices or procedures since it’s more usual and easier to extend leases of Kensington apartments as outlined above. |
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