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First Tier Tribunal Form for unfair service charge

richdeniro
richdeniro Posts: 308 Forumite
First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
in House buying, renting & selling
I am just completing the form to take the management company for my flat to a First Tier Tribunal as I believe the management fees in the service charge are excessively high.

I was just wondering if anyone might be able to help with the form.

Section 4 asks for 'Details of Respondents' and states 'this will not be the landlords managing agent unless they are party to the lease'.

Am I to assume that I just put the landlord of the property in this section and then just attach a separate statement detailing the management companies details?

Also it asks for the years that I am looking for service charges to be considered by the tribunal. I presume that I cannot ask for years prior to when I bought the flat even though I have the paperwork?

Just wondering as I am going to forward the paperwork to the other leaseholders in the property before sending it off and they might want other years looking at even though I am doing this in my name.
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Comments

  • richdeniro
    richdeniro Posts: 308 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Just a bump on this.

    Spoken to the guy who owns the flat below and he wants to come in with me for his portion of the service charge so we're going to split the £100 and challenge the service charge together.

    As he has owned his property for a lot longer he will be claiming for years further back - I presume this will be ok on the form but how far back can he claim?

    Thanks in advance.
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    I've no experience and no particular knowledge beyond some basic law. But...

    1) yes, the Respondant must be a Party to the Lease. So whoever is the Freeholder. They are responsible. If they have delegated responsibility to an agent that is immaterial.

    2) My guess is you can claim as far back as one of you has owned the lease (ie the downstairs flat owner). But there may be a 7 year limit.


    Read up on the leaseadvice website.

    And/or phone leaseadvice.
  • patman99
    patman99 Posts: 8,532 Forumite
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    What do you deem to be an unfair amount for your service charge?

    That is what the tribunal will base their conclusions on.
    I live in a 1990 development and pay £850 a year for my service charge. As the site is farely modern, it is reasonable.

    If the development consisted of a converted series of older Victorian age buildings, i would consider £1,250 to be reasonable as the infrastructure is older and more likely to require expensive repairs.
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  • richdeniro
    richdeniro Posts: 308 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    patman99 wrote: »
    What do you deem to be an unfair amount for your service charge?

    That is what the tribunal will base their conclusions on.
    I live in a 1990 development and pay £850 a year for my service charge. As the site is farely modern, it is reasonable.

    If the development consisted of a converted series of older Victorian age buildings, i would consider £1,250 to be reasonable as the infrastructure is older and more likely to require expensive repairs.

    There is a small hallway, some stairs and a front garden. None of which have had any sort of work done in 4 years - the front garden is a tip and it's a nightmare just getting the council to enter it to take the rubbish/recycling every week and the hallway has wallpaper peeling off it and the handrail which fell off before I moved in has not been repaired.

    We have set up our own management company and have been trying RTM but keep getting refused on technicalities. We have lawyers involved as we know that they have close links to the freeholder and are doing all they can to keep the management of the property.

    The breakdown of the service charge is always broken down in the end of year statement so we see things like the electricity charges, repairs, etc. £1k a year of it is always just 'Management/Supervision fees' which to me just appears to be profiteering.
  • economic
    economic Posts: 3,002 Forumite
    Who is the freeholder?

    Have you spoken to him about it? The freeholder usually has power to remove the managing agent and replace with a new one.

    also keep in mind if you do make official complaints, you will have to disclose it to future potential buyers. They maybe put off by the complaint.
  • richdeniro
    richdeniro Posts: 308 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    economic wrote: »
    Who is the freeholder?

    Have you spoken to him about it? The freeholder usually has power to remove the managing agent and replace with a new one.

    also keep in mind if you do make official complaints, you will have to disclose it to future potential buyers. They maybe put off by the complaint.

    The freeholder is a company called Resolute Property Management. They appear to be intrinsically linked to the management company. They have no interest in allowing us RTM.
  • demontfort
    demontfort Posts: 263 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Why does the RTM keep getting blocked? I've just completed an RTM for my block and despite the best efforts of the freeholder to thwart us, it was all pretty straightforward.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,405 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    edited 13 February 2018 at 12:46AM
    richdeniro wrote: »
    The breakdown of the service charge is always broken down in the end of year statement so we see things like the electricity charges, repairs, etc. £1k a year of it is always just 'Management/Supervision fees' which to me just appears to be profiteering.

    Is it just the £1k Management/Supervision fee that you think is unreasonable?

    What evidence are you presenting to show that £1k is an unreasonable management fee? For example, do you have lower quotes from other management companies?

    richdeniro wrote: »
    There is a small hallway, some stairs and a front garden. None of which have had any sort of work done in 4 years - the front garden is a tip and it's a nightmare just getting the council to enter it to take the rubbish/recycling every week and the hallway has wallpaper peeling off it and the handrail which fell off before I moved in has not been repaired.

    You might be fighting the wrong battle - your complaint seems to be more about the freeholder/management co breaching the terms of the lease by not maintaining the property properly.

    In fact, if you're saying that you want those things dealt with, it will cost money - so your service charge will probably be higher.
  • richdeniro
    richdeniro Posts: 308 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    eddddy wrote: »
    Is it just the £1k Management/Supervision fee that you think is unreasonable?

    What evidence are you presenting to show that £1k is an unreasonable management fee? For example, do you have lower quotes from other management companies?

    Yes we have had a quote for £0 management fees and only pay for what we need and use so electric, maintenance and repairs, etc.
  • richdeniro
    richdeniro Posts: 308 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    eddddy wrote: »
    You might be fighting the wrong battle - your complaint seems to be more about the freeholder/management co breaching the terms of the lease by not maintaining the property properly.

    In fact, if you're saying that you want those things dealt with, it will cost money - so your service charge will probably be higher.

    Last time they arranged to have some gardening done they arranged for a contractor based in Middlesex (where the management company is based to do it). The property is in Bromley.

    We can arrange all that stuff ourselves as it is such a small communal area.
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