The freeholder of a Salford landmark has failed in its bid to get the former receivers of the property to pay for the maintenance of its common parts.
Judges at the Court of Appeal in London upheld a ruling by the High Court in Manchester dismissing freeholder Alma Property Management’s claim.
The building at the centre of the dispute is North Tower on Victoria Bridge Street, Salford.
With 23 floors, the bottom 10 are a Premier Inn hotel and the rest are apartments on long leases.
At 80 metres, it is one of the tallest buildings in the area.
It has a complicated leasehold structure, according to court documents: the hotel is the subject of one lease, the apartments have their own leases, and the common parts are contained on another single lease.
According to the Court of Appeal ruling, in 2010 freeholder Alma fell into arrears and receivers were appointed. By 2016 Alma had reached an agreement with its creditors, the receivership ended, and Alma was handed back the keys.
In 2017, according to the ruling, Alma contacted the receivers to “tidy up some loose ends” – specifically, the common parts lease and its associated deed of maintenance.
According to the ruling, a solicitor who worked on the receivership had left his firm, and the lease had not been reassigned.
The ruling said: “By late 2019 or early 2020, Alma had decided that its interests were best served by leaving the common parts lease vested in the receivers, and requiring them to carry out repairs.
“In March 2020 Alma duly demanded that the receivers carry out works, and in August 2020 issued the proceedings, seeking specific performance of their repairing obligations.”
The case was heard in the High Court in Manchester and in a ruling handed down in September last year Mr Justice Fancourt ruled in favour of the receivers.
Among other things, he found that the receivers had acquired the common parts lease as part of their duties as receivers, and therefore as agents for Alma. That meant that it would be inappropriate to order them to maintain the building.
The case went to the Court of Appeal in June and, in a ruling handed down last week, the three-judge panel upheld the High Court judgment.
Alma Property Management Ltd v (1) Richard George Crompton (2) Jonathan Edward Cookson
Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Arnold, Lord Justice Nudge, Lady Justice Falk)
19 July 2023
