apartment service charge

pirate-em

I live in a purpose built newly built block of flats, which is managed by a company called Mainstay. They are supposed to charge me around £600 per half year for maintenance on communal areas, but have recently had a bill for this year half totally £754. The past 3 invoices have been followed weeks later with a request for extra payment to cover under budgeting their end. The past 3 payments should have totalled £1800 but i have paid nearly £2500 with these extra payments.

I am sure that this is unreasonable (especially as they aren't fulfilling their end of the contract by providing timely and quality service - i won't go into that now!!) and would like to know where i stand legally, so i can try and get some of this money back. I can't afford a solicitor, and the free sites have such a backlog i can't get the matter resolved quickly.

We have a residents committee in the block, but when push comes to shove very few people are prepared to stand up as a unit against them. Only 2 residents out of about 50 turned up to the last meeting.

I feel powerless and can't keep spending out like this for such poor service. Any advise greatly appreciated!!!

cattie

When you get the invoices are they sent with details of why the extra monies have been levied?

It is common for service charges to be increased for under budgeting, especially where building/maintenance works have been needed as opposed to just the usual general upkeep of the building is concerned.

It's a great pity that your residents commitee has met with such poor response from others. Are they all owners or are a lot of flats let, only tenants are not generally interested in such things as it's not really of a great concern to them?

pirate-em

they say in a letter the reason for it, but this one doesn't have an explanation for why it's over £600. They never sent a complete breakdown so i can see how it's apportioned.

The previous over payments have been for 'underbudgeting energy supplies' to the tune of around £30,000, so not really one off maintenance works.

A lot of the flats are let in the block, with only around 10-20% owner/residents as far as i know.

The company took 2 years to fix damage in my flat caused by a leak coming from communal parts, so they aren't even worth the basic payments in my view.

I would like to contest this poor service and suggest they are in breach of contract to allow me a fighting chance of getting some money back... but think i might need backing to make the case stronger. Free backing!!!

Fire_Fox

You don't need backing as yet, you haven't got a complaint until you know what you are paying for. First step is to formally request (recorded delivery letter) a copy of the charges breakdown for each financial year you are querying. You also need to read through a copy of your long lease to find out what is and is not chargeable.

Step two is to formally request copies of any service contracts and invoices that are flagged up as suspect by your investigations into the terms of the long lease and the service change breakdowns.It's also helpful to find out what other blocks in the vicinity with similar services are paying. Also read this to find out what the Landlord-Tenant Act 1985 allows:
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=14

Once you have done this and worked out what legal basis you wish to contest the charges post back here and we can work on your case. I would recommend several letters to the management company and getting as many owner-occupiers on board as possible before you try to take the company on. You can get owner-occupiers on board by leafleting each flat; it's easier once you can demonstrate to them that the charges are not reasonable in the eyes of the law.

I know a fair bit about this area of the law as I have been contesting our service charges for two and a half years! The most important thing to do is to ask every question or report every problem in writing, by recorded delivery as you will need this paper trail if you go to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

pirate-em

That's really helpful, thankyou for the great advice!

Will get on the case over the weekend, and request a copy of these energy bills reponsible for the over charges. Will also flyer the block, and see if i can rally the troops!

Thanks again, will post back when done.

Fire_Fox

I can't help you if you don't read my posts properly.

DO NOT flyer the block until you have investigated as you may be wasting leaseholders time - they won't take you seriously if you later do have a case and need support!! You have no idea if the charges are reasonable or not until you have first formally requested the breakdown of charges and read your long lease secondly formally requested copies of any invoices. There is a proper sequence of events to follow which I have outlined for you above: homework first, questions second, collective action only as a last resort.

DRO31

I have had exactly the same experience with Mainstay and have just received a letter saying there has been an overspend on electricity by.....£5000.... yeah right. I have just sent a letter to mainstay asking for yet another meeting at Worcester and have asked for all bills and readings to be made available. They also state there has been an over spend of £3000 on "day to day" maintenence including cleaning.... Last year, the year that this bill relates too, the cleaning contractor was sacked because they weren't doing the job.... so how on earth can there be an overspend...? Personally, I think were getting ripped off.. they don't deliver on any of their so called customer charter items and never come forward with documented evidence to support their claim. I am a landlord of an apartment in a recently built development and year on year they do the same. Problem is, tenants leave and then I have to foot the bill for their incompetance and mismanagement. Be interested in talking about this in more detail.

mikeyranson

DRO31 wrote: »

I have had exactly the same experience with Mainstay and have just received a letter saying there has been an overspend on electricity by.....£5000.... yeah right. I have just sent a letter to mainstay asking for yet another meeting at Worcester and have asked for all bills and readings to be made available. They also state there has been an over spend of £3000 on "day to day" maintenence including cleaning.... Last year, the year that this bill relates too, the cleaning contractor was sacked because they weren't doing the job.... so how on earth can there be an overspend...? Personally, I think were getting ripped off.. they don't deliver on any of their so called customer charter items and never come forward with documented evidence to support their claim. I am a landlord of an apartment in a recently built development and year on year they do the same. Problem is, tenants leave and then I have to foot the bill for their incompetance and mismanagement. Be interested in talking about this in more detail.

I own a flat in a development in cardiff bay. Mainstay are our management. We have had buuilding issues and management issues. The first advice which is the most important is to make contact with all other residents/owners. You need support and backing with anythingthat you do. It took me a while but you need support. more voices the better. Keep posting flyers to every letterbox. explain who you are, why you are doinga nd what you aim to achieve. From myexperience, if your suffering, then there are others also. Knock doors if you need to. Most properties are rented so that is a hurdle in it'sself. Ask mainstay to post to every owner with your details and not giving too much info to them, just request that you have issues to discuss with owners. Keeping emailing them for confirmation that they have mailed out. keep everything as this will be evidence when required. When i requested mailout for my owners, they confirmed everytime. Nobody i was already in touch with, had received no letter from mainstay. When approached, they claimed that i requested only flats 1 to 6 out of 198. So i have asked again and stated a dummies step by step on how and who i wanted posted. See what happens.
.
Then let battle commence. Keep every email, every question and every reply. I have made contact with several other complexes run by mainstay. There seems to be a national trend that mainstay, rip you off, do not communicate and certainly do not give you value for money. I would recommend a local agent rather then a bigger agent like mainstay. They have too many overheads and this will increase your fees. There are connections between mainstay, peverel and solitaire. In cardiff alone there are 4 developments who are sacking mainstay.
There is a page on facebook that i am also a memebr off called mainstay sucks. It has 20 members so far but trying to spread the word. The more members the better. will make any court proceedings stronger for you guys
please feel free to get in touch. i can send you my contacts from other uk sites.

[EMAIL="mikeyranson@aol.com"]mikeyranson@aol.com[/EMAIL]