Increasing property management charges

jules_frazer

Hello,


First of all apologies for the new thread, I couldn't find anything relevant to my situation. I would really appreciate any help / advice as the CAB don't seem to offer much advice on this matter.


I live in a house on a newish property development, a management company was set up and when I purchased the property I was signed up to a deed of covenant. We pay an annual fee to ensure the upkeep of communal areas such as grass, sewage works etc. This was a mandatory requirement from the council to the property developers.


In 2013 the annual charge per property was £85, in 2014 they put it up to £115 stating that people were paying late and it cost them money to chase people, they also introduced a late payment fee of £25 to any late payers. I emailed them at the time asking as they are now introducing a later payment fee therefore next year the costs would return to £85, they didn't respond. In 2015 they have just sent out the bill at £100, stating Yorkshire Water are now taking over ownership of the sewage works, so they are able to reduce the bill to £100. However I believe the bill should be less than £85.


Does anyone know what our rights as property owners are? Can we challenge the management company? Can we opt to seek new management, or take over the management ourselves?


Would really appreciate any advice on this.


Thanks
Juliette