Lease Holder rights against notice by housing association to replace existing windows

firefox2009 · 14 November 2009 at 2:10PM

Hello

I am looking for some help and advise on a issue several leaseholders are facing currenlty at my block of flats. The management company, Guiness Hermitage, have decided in their wisdom that during a recession they will replace all exisitng single glazed windows of each flat with new uPVC, at of course the lease holders cost!!!

As far as I can see, to date they have followed all the correct procdures in this process, and we are currenlty in the second phase of consultancy whereby they have provided their minimum of two quotations and have advised us that we have until the 11th December to reply noting observations.

There are a total of 25 flats in this process and the cost per leaseholdoing flat that has been quoted based on the lowest estimate is a staggering £4,633.16 which includes cost of windows, VAT, consultancy fee and management fee's. This is an astonishing figure for a two bed flat, and I myself obtained quotes early this year for just my flat for under £2,800!!

Therefore, if any one has any prior dealings or knowledge of how to fight this process it would certainly help. The housing association are claiming they require the work to be undertaken under the 'Decent Home Standard' banner.

Any help and advise will be very much appreciated!

Thanks

blckbrd · 14 November 2009 at 3:31PM

There's a big difference between a one off window installation and a contract to do a whole block - that will be reflected in the price. Having said that, IME public sector works are comparatively expensive generally because of all the H&S/legal hoops which must be jumped through and the bureaucracy.

The recession is, frankly, irrelevant. Regardless of a recession, public sector lanlords have both cyclical maintenance issues and Decent Homes Standard works to complete within set timescales. There may be unfortunate timing for a any given sector of the community, but such are the vagaries of life/leasehold.

The way leases are written, allows freeholders to recoup costs certain works from leaseholders. This is nothing new and you should have been (made) aware of this before you bought.

You may apply to the LVT and seek to challenge both the works themselves and the costs for reasonableness. Again IME, the costs don't seem particularly high and given that the HA is required by central government to carry out the works, they don't seem unreasonable either.

However, things to consider before taking the LVT route may be:

When the windows were last replaced;

How the current windows do not meet standards and what greater efficiencies will be provided by the new windows;

If you are at Notice of Estimates stage, were there any contractor nominations and if people didn't bother - why?

You may ask questions in your observations - the HA will have to respond and document issues in a more formal way than with simple correspondence.

Try getting together with other lessees, if you can, to spread the cost of the LVT. You can request costs awarded against the HA if you win.