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Balcony Repairs in Leasehold Flats

Who is responsible for repairing the surface of my balcony?

Balcony repairs can cause disputes because a balcony can feel like part of the leasehold flat, but it is also part of the buildings external structure. When something fails (water damage, cracked concrete, damaged floor surface), responsibility for attending to the repair will depend on what the lease says.

Start with the lease

Most leases will distinguish responsibility between:

• The landlord/freeholder – usually the structure and exterior of the building (and common parts), often paid for via the service charge.
• The flat owner – usually the internal parts of the flat and balcony surface finishes.

Look for definitions such as “structure and exterior”, “retained parts” or “maintained property.” That wording is key.

Balcony parts: structure and finishes

A balcony has different layers, and the answer often changes depending on what the repairing issue is:

• Concrete slab/structural platform. This is often treated as part of the building’s structure, so commonly the landlord’s responsibility.
• Waterproofing layer. This can be the grey area. If it is part of the building’s external waterproofing (protecting the building), it may be the landlord’s responsibility. If it is more connected to the balcony finish (for example without tiles or decking installed on top), it may fall on the flat owner depending on the lease wording.
• Tiles, decking, coverings (surface finishes). Leases will usually treat such coverings in a similar way to flooring inside the flat. Maintenance of these items will usually fall to the flat owner.

The balcony is excluded from the demise

A lease can give the flat owner simply a right to use the balcony as part of their demise, with the landlord responsible for structural and external parts. Some leases will have hybrid wording where the balcony is excluded from the demise but where an obligation is placed on the flat owner to maintain the surface area.

Remember too, that a flat owner may be liable for damage caused from breaking terms of the lease. For example allowing plant roots or plant pots to damage the water proofing surface.

Why a surveyor can matter

Even where the lease seems clear, a surveyor can confirm what has failed (slab, waterproofing, or surface finish). That factual point often decides which lease clause applies.

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Claims Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975

English law is famous for enshrining the principle of testamentary freedom, which means that people can leave their wealth on death to whomever they want. Most people assume that a valid will is final. However, this is not absolute as English law recognises that certain people should not be left without reasonable financial support simply because a will (or the intestacy rules) fails to provide for them.

The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (often called “The 1975 Act”) allows eligible individuals to apply to the court for financial provision from as estate where reasonable provision has not been made.

What Is a 1975 Act Claim?

A 1975 Act claim is not a challenge to the validity of a will, which is a separate category of claim explored in the following article: How to Challenge a Will. The will may be perfectly valid and still give rise to a claim under the 1975 Act.

Instead, the Act allows the court to intervene where the outcome of an estate is financially unfair to certain people the law considers deserving of protection.

The court’s focus is on ‘reasonable financial provision’, not equality or moral entitlement. Therefore, merely being disappointed beneficiary is not enough to establish a claim, although many such persons might be able to bring a claim under the Act.

Who Can Make a Claim?

Claims can only be made against estates where the deceased died domiciled in England and Wales.

Only certain categories of people are entitled to bring a claim under the Act, including:

• A spouse or civil partner
• A former spouse or former civil partner (provided they have not remarried and were not excluded by a clean break order)
• A cohabiting partner who lived with the deceased for at least two years immediately before death
• A child of the deceased (including adult children)
• A person treated as a child of the family
• Anyone who was financially maintained by the deceased immediately before death

If you fall outside these categories, then you may not be able to make a claim under the 1975 Act. However, it is always recommended to seek professional advice on your potential standing to make a claim and whether alternative claims such as a will challenge might be suitable.

What Is “Reasonable Financial Provision”?

The crucial question for the court to decide is: has the estate made “reasonable financial provision” for the applicant? However, there are two different standards of reasonable financial provision, which depend on the category of applicant:

• For a spouse of civil partner, the court can consider what would be reasonable in all the circumstances, which would be something akin to a divorce settlement.
• For all other claimants, provision is limited to what is reasonable for their maintenance.

The former is much more generous than the latter and ‘maintenance’ is strictly limited to reasonable:

• housing costs;
• living expenses; and
• basic financial security.

Maintenance does not usually extend to luxury or windfall inheritances, unlike claims made by spouses and civil partners. In particular, where adult children are able to provide for themselves, maintenance claims for reasonable financial provision under the 1975 Act are likely to be weak.

When Might a Claim Arise?

Common situations include:

• A long-term partner or spouse is left nothing under a will
• A minor child is excluded despite financial need
• A dependent is left without housing or income
• An estate passing entirely to distant relatives or charities

More complex situations include wills which establish a life interest trust for the surviving spouse with the remainder passing on their death to children of a previous marriage. These structures are good in theory as they can provide for a surviving spouse whilst keeping wealth within the deceased’s natural family. However, they often encounter problems in practice where:

• relations between different branches of the deceased’s family break down, such as between stepmother and step-children; and/or
• there are insufficient income producing assets to provide the surviving spouse with reasonable financial provision.

The Private Wealth Disputes Team at Quastels is adept at advising clients who feel trapped within post-death trust structures and often obtaining for clients the clean break and lump sum payment that they need to move on with their lives after a significant family bereavement.

Time Limits for Bringing a Claim

The 1975 Act claim must normally be issued within six months of the grant of probate or letters of administration. However, this is not a hard deadline like civil limitation periods, and the court has a wide discretion to allow out of time applications. However, this is far from guaranteed and should not be relied upon.

Given the short window for bringing a claim under the 1975 Act, early legal advice is essential to protecting your potential claim.

What Will the Court Consider When Assessing Claims?

The court takes into account a range of factors, including:

• The claimant’s financial needs and resources
• The size and nature of the estate in dispute
• The needs of other beneficiaries
• The deceased’s obligations and responsibilities
• Any physical or mental disability
• Any other relevant circumstances

The court does not simply rewrite the will but aims at fairness and can be swayed by strong moral claims. Each case turns heavily on its own facts and judges have a wide discretion to make awards.

However, how you present your case can be very important to its outcome and for this reason professional advice should be sought from early on to ensure a strong and consistent case is put forward from the start.

What Can the Court Order?

If a claim succeeds, the court may order:

• Lump sum payments
• Regular maintenance payments
• Transfer or occupation of property
• The sale
• Variation of trusts
• Sale of estate assets

The above notwithstanding, the court will usually be persuaded to order a clean break where relations between family members have broken down, meaning parties can expect to receive significant lump sum payments.

It is worth noting that the 1975 Act does not give the court jurisdiction to alter pensions benefits, although these can and often are taken into account when the court makes an award for reasonable financial provision.

Do Claims Always Go to Court?

1975 Act claims are particularly suited to alternative dispute resolution by way of early settlement negotiations or mediation. The majority of cases settle out of Court. Parties should seek professional advice at an early stage to ensure they understand the likely value of their potential claims, which will allow them to enter into realistic negotiations with the other side.

Quastels specialise in providing strategic advice to clients so that they can maximise their chances to settle early and avoiding the costs and stress of court.

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The End of The Zero-Hours Contract?

What the changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025 could mean for your business.

As one of the most common contract types in retail, health & social care and hospitality sectors, the proposed changes to zero-hour contracts in the new Employment Rights Act 2025 will have significant implications for businesses.

What are Zero-Hour Contracts and Where Can They Be Used?

The term zero-hour contract is often used interchangeably with part-time contracts but there are specific and important differences. Currently, under most zero-hour contracts:

• The staff are “workers” not “employees” and have less employment protections;
• There is no statutory obligation to offer or accept shifts on either the business or worker;
• Shifts can generally be scheduled or cancelled at short notice, subject to contract;
• There is no right to compensation or minimum notice required for cancelling or changing shifts;
• There is no presumption that the shifts will be available or offered again.

Proposed Changes

Under the new Employment Rights Act 2025 there are broadly three changes which will have a significant impact on the use of zero-hours contracts:

• There will be a new requirement to offer staff “Guaranteed Hours”;
• There will be a new requirement to provide “reasonable notice” when offer shifts to zero-hour workers and other staff;
• There will be a new requirement to provide “minimum notice” of cancellation or change to shifts.

Each of these are further explained below.

Guaranteed Hours

Staff on either zero-hour contracts or “low-hours” contracts who have worked regular hours over a “reference period” must be offered a contract with guaranteed hours “reflecting” those hours. Within this requirement there are a number of points which the Employment Rights Act does not define:

• What is meant by “low-hours” contracts?
• What is defined as a “reference period”?
• How closely must the contract “reflect” the hours worked during the “reference period”?

These points will be clarified following a formal consultation with key stakeholders. It is anticipated that “reference period” will be between 12 weeks and 6 months but we will have to wait to see the final proposals, likely to be ready by summer this year.

Following the initial “reference period”, businesses must offer the worker the average number of guaranteed hours that they worked during the “reference period”. This must be under new contractual terms guaranteeing those hours, and on the days/times or working pattern that were worked during the reference period.

The worker will have the option to either accept the new offer, or to keep the flexibility of their existing zero-hour contract. Businesses will have to continue to assess the hours worked by staff while they have “low-hours” contracts, after each further “reference period”. The duty to offer guaranteed hours continues at future reference points.

The changes once implemented will require businesses to inform their staff of their rights under the new guaranteed hours regime and keep them informed while they qualify.

Reasonable Notice When Offering Shifts

Businesses will be required to give “reasonable notice” of shifts when offering them to zero-hour workers or shift employees. As with the guaranteed hours changes, the following details have not been defined:

• What is meant by “reasonable notice”; and
• What are the exemptions to the notice requirement.

These terms again will be defined following consultation, expected by the summer of 2026.

The new Act envisages setting a minimum amount of time that has to be provided when offering shifts to zero-hour staff. This however is not defined in the Act and the details will be part of the consultation process.

The requirement to provide “reasonable notice” will also apply to employees who are on rota shift contract, which is where the hours of work are set but the days and pattern of work can vary at the business’s discretion.

Where businesses fail to provide “reasonable notice” for the shifts, the worker can bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal and compensation will be assessed on what the Tribunal “considers just and equitable in all the circumstances to compensate the worker for any financial loss sustained by the worker which is attributable to the matter complained of.” This could lead to claims including bank overdraft charges or credit card late payment fees which the worker faces when a shift they expected is not offered to them.

Minimum Notice of Cancellation or Change

Under the new Act, businesses will have to provide “reasonable notice” of a change or cancellation of a shift which had been accepted by the zero-hour staff. Again, what is meant by “reasonable notice” is still to be defined.

In addition to the requirement to provide “reasonable notice” of changes or cancellation of shifts, the Act introduces the right to compensation for zero-hour staff if their shift is cancelled, moved or curtailed at “short notice”. The zero-hour staff will be entitled to a payment every time there is “short notice” of a cancellation or change of shift. Further, the payment will have to be paid to the staff within a specific time frame.

As with all of the above upcoming changes, the devil will be in the detail, and the Act is yet to define:

• What is meant by “short notice” when cancelling, changing or reducing a shift;
• What exemptions will apply to the “notice” requirement;
• What compensation payment amount will businesses have to make to staff for short notice cancellation and shift changes;
• How quickly businesses have to make the payment.

The Act does specify that “short notice” for cancelling a shift will be less than 48-hours before the proposed shift start time. The meaning of “short notice” when moving a shift or reducing a shift will be set by Government after consultation.

Who Is Covered By The Changes?

Businesses can still be caught by the new regime even if they do not use zero-hour or “low-hour” workers. The new requirements will apply equally to agency workers.

With agency workers, both the end user hirer and agency will have equal responsibility for providing the worker with the necessary notice of changes to shifts. However, the changes specify that is is the agencies which will be responsible for paying the agency worker and have the ability to recoup the cancellation and short notice fee from the end user, subject to the commercial terms of the agreement between the end user and agency.

Implementation Timeline

While the Employment Rights Act 2025 became law on 18 December 2025, the Government has confirmed they will not be implementing these changes immediately. There remains a significant number of specific details to be clarified. Under the Governments current timeline, which updated in February 2026, there is to be a period of consultation on these details, with the changes likely due to come into effect in 2027.

For further information on the Employment Rights Act 2025 and how it could impact your business, get in touch with our Employment Team.

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