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Thank you again for your comments, Richlist. Of course I will honour my responsibilities according to the lease that I have signed. I have never suggested that I wouldn't. I was merely philosophising that although it is simpler to make all landlords equally responsible for all communal areas, it can also be unfair, especially when certain areas are for the sole use of some of the flats and not the others. I also am a leaseholder in a building with four flats, and we are all equal freeholders. However one of the four lives and works in the Middle East, and is very difficult to contact, especially when money is required. Recently the other three of us had to pay for work done on the water supply for the building, so I understand how annoying this situation can be. But the water supply is something for the use of all flats. I just felt that when certain communal areas are purely for the use of the some of the flats, that perhaps the lease should recognise this. This is the case in another building where I have two flats. I pay a lower service charge to the management committee for one because it has its own entrance and does not make use of the communal entrance hall for the rest of the building. This seems fairer to me, but obviously I have signed the lease as it stands for the flat we were discussing and will pay my share according to the lease.

Thanks for your advice. The lease does make it clear that tenants are responsible for work required for communal areas. But surely some communal areas are specifically for the use of certain flats and not others? If I have the ground floor flat, why would I be expected to pay for new stair carpets up to the first and second floor?

We own the ground floor flat in a house. Outside our back door is a spiral staircase that acts as a fire escape and back entrance to the first and second floor flats. This is communal to these two flats obviously. But do I have any responsibility to contribute to repairs to this staircase or to replacing it as it is quite rusty/?