The Great "Leaseholders, tell us your service charge tales" hunt

propertyman

tim123456789 wrote: »

If the law is perfectly clear then why did (insert name of favourite rip off management co) waste several thousands of pounds challenging (and losing) the right of a multi-block estate to RTM as a whole?RTM pre-emtps that.

Because Tim you have not read the full post, again, the law is clear, but it is impossible to legislate for every given situation. It has to be interpreted and applied. That particular organisation may well have resisted it for commercial reasons.

If you do not understand or even begin to imagine what the estates and services provision means you really can't comment intelligently.

Try reading the case (or other cases) rather than the vitriolic and sensationalist headlines and recycle that as a post . You will begin to understand

I am not having a pop at you I am suggesting that if you are going to progress in property then take the opportunity to learn.

I am a big fan of that organisation I get to make lots of money taking away work from them, but dont imagine for one moment that what you argue for is always "simple".

.

propertyman

mucker2308 wrote: »

Now I have had a look into this and have been advised of the limitation act and landlord and tenant act and would I be right in saying they can only go back 6 years with the ground rent and 18 months with insurances and maintenance?

Also I haven't put anything in writing as of yet and was thinking of putting a letter of request and if he does not supply documents within21 days he can be fined?

Yes thats broadly correct.

With ground rent you simply offer to pay it or give an undertaking to the buyer ( which you can do for SC as well).

On service charge you write and ask for a summary of the expenditure

1 as the lease provides if it does
2 under http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?43830-Leaseholders-Right-to-Summary-of-Expenditure-LTA-1985-s-21


I would be more worried about the state of your building and that there is an absence of active management for covenant management repairs and insurance....

Lyndakelly

I had one I bought in 1988. It was still under the local council as the freeholder and it was in among private and council-owned ones in a road. However, the council would do maintenance every 5 years and I'd get clobbered with a bill in the hundreds. It was things I never needed doing like having my front door painted or fence replaced and I had to argue about it every time so they'd knock those items not needed off my particular bill and not do them. Things like roofing work or painting the outside I couldn't escape from. It was a nightmare. I was struggling enough to pay the mortgage as 1988 was NOT the best time to have bought either. Never again.

Lynda~

josordoni

We have an ongoing situation with my mother's leasehold flat. It is a retired person's flat in a block controlled by Peverel. She has been in a care home for 2 years now, and the flat has been empty, as we can't find a buyer or a tenant in the current market, but the service charges are still being levied at full value of around £2000 a year. This despite the fact that she is not there to enjoy anything that she is paying for.

Council tax is not levied for properties where the owner is permanently in a residential home, so why should the leaseholder? It is depleting her capital each year:(

Lotusmig

The freeholder to one of my buy to let's is SIMARC. They are a bunch of cowboys. They try to charge extortionate fees for sub-letting. They do nothing legitimate to chase the money. This is because they know they are charging too much. Challenge them on every level, do your homework but do NOT pay them for extras. They do not answer difficult questions. They do not itemise their 'fees'. It is outrageous what they get away with. They should be strung up. I pay my ground rent on time. I use recorded delivery as proof of posting. Cover all the angles.

mikeyeagle

My property management company at my old flat, a company by the name of Nicholsons based in Essex, who I believe cover many blocks of flats and similar, decided to hike up the annual service charge with no warning in order to resurface the car park. The cost went from about £700 to almost £1200 for two years and raised, by their figures, several thousand more than the published bill for the work.

No concession was made the following year and when I complained I was simply informed that the accounts and charges were correct. When I went through their accounts I noticed that several items were duplicated, particularly things such as gardening. A further complaint was answered eventually suggesting it was being looked into.

Later they arranged for internal decorating work without giving the dates, and I was expected to take time off work to fit in with the contractor with only a couple of days notice so that they had access to my doorway and me leaving my door open for the paint etc. to dry.

On every occasion I contacted them I had to do so at least twice before receiving any response, which on the significant majority of occasions was completely unsatisfactory. At one point when asking for time to cover the large maintenance bill they only responded by threatening to pass the debt to their legal team.

Needless to say, I had issues selling the place and have strongly recommended to friends that they avoid properties managed by this company. To say their service was poor and unfriendly is a massive understatement.

Lotusmig

propertyman wrote: »

But there for the bona fide landlrods and agent there are

1 many things landlords and their agents need to do which residents are blissfully unaware of

2 many residents fail to understand they have a lease that sets out the things that they should have read but haven't, despite being told to do so by their solicitor and getting into trouble by making assumptions

3 that unlike owning a house where you can do things yourself, often with no regard to the safety of others, or hire a man with no regard to whether they are competant insured and will discount for cash, they can't.

There are so many occasions where I have turned up to a pre trial review mediation or arbitration to see reams of complaints and rationalisations, which on discussion the residents says oh ok and wanders off with a new understanding and respect.

That said there are some right barstewards and some outrageous practices out there too from landlords to agents to the buy let and hide flat owners who leave their neighbours to pay and subsidise them.

Solicitors very rarely mention leases! Some admit they do not understand them & I have only had 1 who even bothered to go through it. Solicitors are just as bad in my experience& I have alot of experience of them.

BlaLin123

I bought my first property at the age of 23 thinking it was a fabulous investment and a huge success in getting on the property ladder....How wrong I was, why? Service Charges..

When i bought the property I budgeted for what I thought it would be a month (around £60-£70). I did not know I had to pay this up front every January and July on a estimated budget this management company had given. Since then it has gone up and up and I’m struggling to pay what is now nearly £175 per month up front! I did not even mention that every now and again I get a bill from them to say they had underestimated the budget for the year and I have additional costs I need to find.

I would not mind if the property was immaculately kept, it's not....In the 7 years I have had it, It's not been painted, locks haven't worked on the doors, leaks haven't been fixed. There was one occasion I took photos and told them I wasn't paying the charge until the issues were rectified....I got a letter to see them in court!

This is really a license to print money, I don't know what my hard earned cash is being spent on, and basically I'm stuck in a rut as my flat is one of 25 on that development that they are 'managing'.

If I knew this was going to happen I would have never bought this property, and will never buy leasehold because of this factor.

DRP

Reading this thread of (mostly) horror stories certainly makes me glad to have never bought a property with an obligation to pay service charges.

They seem unregulated with no transparency , poorly administered and just plain unfair in many cases... shocking!

Richbutz

Hi, I have only just started to look at the costs that I am charged in my flat, yet my first issue was the common area windows had not been cleaned for 2 years, it turns out that when you break it down, each flat was paying £11.68 to have a single window cleaned once a year. I have questioned this and still am waiting a response. The trouble is removing companies from your agreement is so tough..