Case No. UKUT-273-(LC)-UTLC-Case-Number:-LC-2022-172

3.The respondent’s estate at Yarm in Cleveland contains 138 properties, ten of them being houses that have been disposed of as freeholds. The rest are flats; 31 flats are held on long leases, one was formerly used by a caretaker but has been let as an assured tenancy for some time,and the rest of the flats are let on assured tenancies. The estate was laid out in the 1970s on steep land with a stream flowing through it; the original idea of having all the outdoor areas as communal space has been compromised over the years as some residents have enclosed gardens, but the estate is still managed as a whole by the respondent.4.The appellant holds four of the long leases:134The Meadowings: lease granted in 1987, purchased in January 201884The Meadowings: lease granted in 1989, purchased in March 201667Sheepfoote Hill: lease granted in 1993, purchased in May 201623Sheepfoote Hill: lease granted in 1994, purchased in May 20175.The leases are in very nearly identical form; there are some differences in the earliest of the leases, that of 134 The Meadowings, which I need not mention because they are not relevant to the appeal, and one difference which is relevant as follows. The lease of 134 The Meadowings requires the lessee:“to pay to the Lessor annually