An expert property judge ruled this week that a pair of front doors in Knightsbridge are an integral part of two flats, and not fixtures or fittings.
HH Judge Stuart Bridge, at the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), made the ruling in a dispute between the long leaseholder of two flats in a block on Walton Street, SW3, and the building’s landlord.
The leaseholder, Thierry Gilles Fivaz, had replaced the front doors. However, under a covenant with the landlord, Marlborough Knightsbridge Management Ltd, he was obliged not to remove any of the landlord’s fittings.
Fivaz changed the doors five years ago, and both parties agree that the doors are fit for purpose and comply with fire regulations. However, Fivaz, according to the ruling, is also in a separate dispute with the landlord over plans for a refurbishment funded by the service charge.
This led to the landlord making an application to the First-tier Tribunal alleging breach of covenant. The tribunal backed the landlord so Fivaz appealed to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). And, in a ruling this week, he won.
Examining both the leases and the legal authorities, Judge Bridge quoted a judge’s earlier ruling that, “A fixture, as that term is used in connection with a house, means something which has been affixed to the freehold as accessory to the house. It does not include things which were made part of the house itself in the course of its construction.”
This case, however, was not about a house, but two flats. “Each lease is a demise of one flat only, albeit with ancillary rights granted over the building as a whole.
“In that context, the entrance door to the flat assumes a far greater significance, and while the door may still not be part of the structure of the flat, the absence of a door would derogate significantly from the grant of the flat,” he said.
“Moreover… the doors had been made part of the flat itself in the course of its construction.”
He said that he had “no doubt” that the doors were not the “landlord’s fixtures”.
Mr Thierry Gilles Fivaz v Marlborough Knightsbridge Management Ltd
Lands Tribunal (His Honour Judge Stuart Bridge)
Martin Dray, counsel for the appellant
James Fieldsend, counsel for the respondent
