Property Management want £1000 for shortfall in Service Charge

united4ever

Hi, Our Property management company changed recently. Got a letter stating that the service charge will increase by £20 per month. Dissapointing since it went up about £20 last year too and has doubled in seven years.

Anyway, my main gripe is this. The company state that the external decoration of the property is a concern and the anticipated cost of painting the outside of the building is almost equal to the annual service charge income on the development. This will require an additional payment from each leaseholder which is estimated to be approximately £1000 each and a consultation takes place in the new year.

I have lived here for seven years and moved into this development when it was brand new. My question is should this not have been budgeted for and money from the last seven years that I have paid service charge be used to fund this? Since the property management company has changed I guess they will blame the previous property management company. Is there anything I can do to avoid/reduce this payment?

propertyman

So in the seven years that you lived there, from new, you failed to check the annual budget to see if future major works costs were part of that charge or not?

And you are then surprised when told that the charges will increase...?

Even if the lease allows for a reserve fund which has not been collected its not going to affect the actual cost when the consultation is carried out.

I know this is not the answer you wanted but its no different to owning a car.

You have regular oil and fuel costs annual service costs and annual insurance, and know that sooner or late you will have a big bill for tyres or a new exhaust. You either put money away or deal with as it comes and the same logic should have been applied to the flat.

The fault I am afraid is yours that its a surprise.:( Sorry.