Possible increase to service charge

bouicca21

I have a ground floor flat with a small garden area; the rest of the garden is communal. The lawn gets cut regularly but the flower beds are very neglected. Obviously I am responsible for sorting out my bit, but the rest is a communal responsibility.

I posted about this ages ago and as a result of responses decided to call a meeting to see what the other residents wanted to do - and whether they were prepared to pay an increased service charge to cover more gardening work.

I've held off doing this as one flat was in the process of being sold and it seemed right to wait until this was sorted. It has taken a very long time but at last the sale has completed. Now obviously the new people will need some time to settle in, but I'm thinking of calling a meeting in the next 4-6 weeks. A meeting would be good anyway as there are some minor issues that I suspect people would like to talk out.

The question is, do I call all the residents or just the owner-occupiers? I think 3 flats are tenanted, the other 3 including mine are owner occupied. Before I moved in, I was renting and meetings for that property were owner occupiers only. Is this normal? Is it an established protocol?

And of course I totally understand that there may be a massive lack of interest - but I want to make sure I don't tread on any toes. I think, depending on cost, that I would be prepared to get the communal flower bed sorted myself, but others may have strong views.

G_M

Leaseholders.

Tenants
a) will not be interested
b) will not be liable for the extra costs under hir tenancies
c) will move on and be replaced

You may have to find contact addresses for the non-resident leaseholders.......

and if they live overseas or far away........

AdrianC

It's a difficult one.

The tenants are the ones living there, so have a stake, although they don't pay directly (raised charges and improved conditions may be reflected in raised rents, though)
The landlords, the leaseholders, are the ones who have a stake in the actual property, although they don't live there.

G_M's right in that the tenants may be uninterested - but they should probably have the chance to have a say. I'd be inclined to invite both tenant and landlord. When it comes to a vote, though, they should not be able to outvote the owner-occupiers. Perhaps one vote per property for the leaseholder and one vote per property for the occupants, so owner-occupiers get two votes?

So long as it's all perceived to be fair and agreeable to all involved, the actual mechanism is flexible.

Bart1

I'd say by all means invite the tennants as observers but only owners get to vote.