leasehold flat major works demand

jemmah1983

I cant find anything recent regarding this so excuse if im asking in the wrong place etc.

i have a flat which is for sale and i have had a letter from the managment company advising of major works which they are undertaking ( not asking to but telling ). the company dont take a service charge and do no maintenance.

its the first one they have sent ever i believe looking at old deeds and stuff i got when i bought it over 10 years ago.

out of 6 flats only 1 i think hasnt done double glazing and all have been redone with new kitchens and bathrooms etc.

the items on the list from company says

"works to be carried out can GENERALLY be desribed as:
repair ti the roof tiles , fascias and soffits
repair to front and rear communual doors
repair to front and rear entrances
decoration of the internal communual parts
reapir to rotten wooden frames.

now as its expected to be over £250 a flat they are formally writting and we have till the 6th sept to respond with comments and putting contractors forwards etc....... its extremely short notice because ive only just gone and collected the post ( i dont live there any more)

now ive looked online and got a bit of info but nothing is telling we what i want to know.

it seems we cant challenge the need for works to be done.... but can we for example get and paint the communal parts do the repairs to entrance doors etc which might be just a re-putty the glass and paint?

could we for example say oh hang on a minute we have already put these issues right as we maintain the flats ourselves?
the place isnt falling down, i havent looked at the roof but most is cosmetic paint chipping off where we havent done it this year.

ive written a letter to all the flats and will be knocking and posting tomorrow morning so i hope some have the sense to get in touch and try and work out a way out of this.

i reeeaaallllyyy dont have the thousands they will ask or even the hundreds it is unlikely to be to pay it.

also would we be able to get round this by for example asking about buying the leasehold? i think its got about 85-90 years left on them?

any help would be really appreciated.

ILW

Sounds reasonable if nothing has been done for 10 years.

Chinkle

Sounds like the managing agents have been somewhat negligent in both collecting maintenance charges and subsequently doing the work. If you have got away without paying anything for 10 years count yourself lucky. But its highly likely these works are very necessary.

There is really little point whipping up a frenzy with your neighbours, you could have had things a lot worse and had aggressive penny-pinching managing agents on your back all this time.

If you want to buy out the freehold you need to get the support of your neighbours and all have the financial ability to do so. Then you all need to form your own management company, and then the work would still need to be done. Do you really want to go through all that hassle if you are selling up?

Best thing to avoid all the aggrevation is as Fridaysmove has said, be upfront with your buyers and reduce your selling price to reflect these works if they ask you to.