Chris Marriott

Hello, This seems very simple to me but Bromley council seem to be making my life difficult. I live in a downstairs flat that i own. Upstairs is owned by Mr DG and he rents it out. Me and Mr DG both own equal share of the freehold. It is considered a HMO The condition of the flat upstairs is terrible and the council have placed an environmental order on him to improve the state of his tenanted flat. Which he has ignored. The council have also put an order on me as a freeholder for fire safety issues due to no fire alarm in the communal area. I have now fitted a fire alarm in the common hallway (which is wired to my own system). But the council are saying that as a joint freeholder I am jointly responsible for the fire alarms in his flat as the entire property is a HMO. My understanding is that I am responsible for communal areas with Mr DG and that Mr DG is responsible for the fire alarms in his (tenanted ) flat. Im hoping someone can confirm my suspicion! Essentially Mr DG has ignored the council completely and they are trying to squeeze me to fit fire alarms in his flat. Which I'm fairly sure I have no legal obligation to do. Thank