Locked out of sheltered house
Discussion
My elderly aunt lives in a sheltered housing complex. She owns her flat, which is a self contained unit, but she has access to shared facilities for laundry and a communal lounge. There is a manager who lives in the complex. She pays an annual fee to the management company.
A few months ago I had to have her admitted to a care home, as she was exhibiting signs of dementia. I hold a Power of Attorney over her welfare affairs, but financial matters are dealt with by her solicitors, who are quite frankly useless. It was decided to put her flat up for sale and a buyer was found. Then came lockdown.
Since she was admitted to care I went through to check on her mail every few weeks, as the aforementioned solicitors didn't put a mail redirection in place despite me asking them to do this.
Because of the lockdown I haven't managed to do the 80 mile round trip for a few weeks, but took the chance to go through yesterday. When I got to her flat I couldn't get in - the lock had been changed. This can only have been done by the management company. I suspect that this may have been done as the yearly management fee hasn't been paid by her solicitors - did I mention that they are useless?
I won't be able to get hold of the complex manager until tomorrow. My question for the PH legal brains is basically - can the management company legally refuse access to a property which is still owned by my aunt?
We're in Scotland if that makes any difference.
A few months ago I had to have her admitted to a care home, as she was exhibiting signs of dementia. I hold a Power of Attorney over her welfare affairs, but financial matters are dealt with by her solicitors, who are quite frankly useless. It was decided to put her flat up for sale and a buyer was found. Then came lockdown.
Since she was admitted to care I went through to check on her mail every few weeks, as the aforementioned solicitors didn't put a mail redirection in place despite me asking them to do this.
Because of the lockdown I haven't managed to do the 80 mile round trip for a few weeks, but took the chance to go through yesterday. When I got to her flat I couldn't get in - the lock had been changed. This can only have been done by the management company. I suspect that this may have been done as the yearly management fee hasn't been paid by her solicitors - did I mention that they are useless?
I won't be able to get hold of the complex manager until tomorrow. My question for the PH legal brains is basically - can the management company legally refuse access to a property which is still owned by my aunt?
We're in Scotland if that makes any difference.
There are AFAIK almost no Scottish lawyers here. You may get lots of answers from people who aren't any kind of lawyer, let alone a Scottish one. This forum may have some use for speeding tickets and the like, but yours isn't really the sort of problem for a car forum. As a general pointer, much depends on the terms of the agreement with the management company. IAAL. IANASL.
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