A survey was completed by the mortgage company, but I assume like I did, they thought the door was locked to the bin area and as this was not part of the "property" only a shared area, did not peruse to find out if there was access? It was not till the bank changed the rules on holding lease and deeds several years after I purchased the property and sent me the original lease and deeds that noticed that this area was clearly defined as part shared between my flat and the one above. What if the previous owner of my flat agreed to the change with the freeholder, should the lease and deeds been altered and resubmitted to the Land Registry? What I now worry about is if I try and sell and this area is no longer part of the property, would this stop a sale going through if unresolved?

I am buying a leasehold first floor flat in a building consisting of a ground floor restaurant (leased from the freeholder) a first and second floor flat. In both the first and second floor flats title deeds there are internal communal areas defined such as the stairs to our personal front doors from the outside front door. One of these areas is defined as a shared bin storage area located in a small room at the bottom of the stairwell, enclosed by its own door from within the flats shared area. After buying the property I noticed that this door was nailed shut and after forcing open noticed a stud-work wall behind. I approached the lease holders of the restaurant and was informed the free holder of the building have given them permission to integrate this area into their restaurant. Was this legal, as this was clearly defined as a shared area for the two flats and has now left us, the flat owners, with no sealed storage for rubbish. This means either all rubbish has to stay within our own flats till collection day, or in the shared stairwell, which causes the whole of the shared stair area to smell especially during hotter months. Can we legally get the freeholder to reinstate this area as defined in the deeds to our flats?