Share of freehold - "as and when" maintenance charges

kmmr

I have the same - part of a block of 5. We manage it together in an informal way almost exactly as riva explains.

It's much cheaper than a management company, although there is work for someone to do. It's not a lot, but someone does need to take responsibility each year for doing the limited accounts, and if any works need doing then it can be a lot of work to organise.

At the moment we are having the exterior of the block repaired/repainted, plus the interior redone. The interior area is split by 4 (as the basement flat has it's own entrance and doesn't use the communal area), and the exterior work split by 5. There are no rules in our leases around this and probably plenty of scope for arguments if people wanted to, but I think you find that *most* people can deal with these things in a mature manner. We just agreed what seemed fair.

FYI - we got a quote from the managment company that had been looking after the freehold for the exterior work last year, and they said 'round about £80k for what you describe'. Our final cost is looking like around £15k!

hanwellmike

I have share of freehold in a block of 12 purpose built flats. Most of the previous posts are offering good positive accurate advice. We have a monthly service charge of £100 which pays for garden maintenance, cleaning and building insurance plus routine small maintenance items. There is no sinking fund. We haven't much money in reserve so when a large bill arises we all have to chip in. Everyone seems happy with that.

You should check who pays for the building insurance. That is normally done by the landlord.