Leasehold flat: £1200 payment demand for exterior decoration.

clutton_2

well done tom, i hope your efforts are appreciated by the rest of the flat dwellers !! just one point i would make - ""£50 per hour to employ a painter " - if you mean just one painter, then, i think this is way way too high, depending on which part of the country you are in. What do others think ? I pay £200-£225 for a whole day for a painter.

tomstickland

Well, where I work the average cost per hour just to exist is over £50, so including overheads etc, I don't think £50 per hour total charge is that far off.
Either way, I don't think we've been massively overcharged, though if we were self manage we would have scrutinised the quote in great detail and monitored the work daily to see how much was actually done.

sanfrancisco

I hate to be a misery guts and I think you are doing a sterling job, BUT this is one of the big drawbacks of flats. We lived in a block of 8 and we were self managed, and nothing ever got done. Everyone had different opinions, one of the guys was a bully and bullied the old ladies into making bad decisions (his interests not theirs). Be very careful, self managing. Make sure everything is democratic and time limits are set. Good Luck. Its just money money money all the time, isnt it?

tomstickland

Yes, a lot will depend on the attitude of those involved. My belief is that we need a core of 2-3 keen people, then a few who approve but don't want to do so much, and overall we can tolerate 1 or 2 negatives.
I'm very much for encouraging and open attitude and discussion.

tomstickland

Great news! I've managed to contact the leaseholder for the missing flat (he's in Serbia) and he's really mad about the managing agents. He replied to the consultation letter but they never replied.
He's very much in favour of self manage.

I've also got a phone message from another elusive leaseholder. She's totally in favour of self manage.

So we have 6 yes's, one probable yes and two selling (one of whom is keen).

I've worked on this for a few hours most nights over the last week or two. I'm motivated by a sense of MSE style righteousness - I don't like paying money to rip off companies who can't be bothered to manage themeselves properly.

clutton_2

Fantastic Tom !!!! i can see you being MD of the new managemetn committee within a very short time !!

tomstickland

More good news! Note through door. We now have 8/9 saying yes and the last one is probably a yes.

We've got to form out rtm company next.

tomstickland

I've just spent the afternoon writing a news letter on how we proceed with the next steps. I'm rather enjoying this.

I've not heard back from the managing agent for 2 weeks now. Good moneysaving!

clutton_2

i love it when the little guy kicks back and wins against the big guy !!

my mate was so frustrated with Norwich Union's lawyers refusing to pay him money which a court had ordered them to pay, that he issued a Winding Up Order against them !!! the very next morning the Chief Exec was on the phone pleading with him to withdraw it !!!! - ""only when i get the cash in my bank by noon today"" he said - it was there !!!!!

tomstickland

It's going to take around 6 months to sort all of this. I've suggested that we get our money's worth from the current agents. There's a few things that need doing around the place.