Barratt Homes Extra Charges for Freeholders

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moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

what happens if someone has an accident on one of those roads that is caused by the state of the road...

If there was negligence that caused a loss then whoever (or whatever) was negligent would face a claim.

This would probably be the owner(s) or their appointed maintenance company. Generally the owner would carry insurance.

So, exactly the same as where roads are owned/maintained by a public body.

bclark

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Ah right...perhaps it varies according to which Council one has then. I don't think the thought even crossed mind of my last Council - or any of us living there - of getting up to this sort of malarkey.

I watch with astonishment at the way the public sector bodies (including Councils) in some parts of the country do their darndest to say that everything possible isn't "theirs" (even when they know very well that it IS theirs) - ie as a way of trying to ensure they aren't the ones paying for upkeep.

One of the considerations that I expect doesn't occur to many people living in these "should-be-Council" roads is what happens if someone has an accident on one of those roads that is caused by the state of the road and, due to it not being maintained by the Council, might be looking round (in this Compensation Culture day and age) for "someone to sue for compensation" for that accident. I wonder what happens in those should-be-Council roads about that?

Part of the management fee pays for liability insurance for these things. The Management company is liable in the same way the council would be.

Addedbob

I live in a BDWH in Fernwood Newark.
We have Open spaces managed by Firstport.
My property is Freehold, yet i have to pay for any additions to my property from painting the outside door to changing my mortgage rate.
The fees start at £250 per request per item and run up to seversl hundreds with extentions , solar panels etc.
No where on my contract did it say we have to pay for permission, just that we have to ask for permission,the fees just keep going up and they are not on our village maintenace accounts income from the management company.
They say these fees are not part of the Service Level Agreement and go straight into their accounts as proffit. This cant be right :mad:

moneyistooshorttomention

Addedbob wrote: »

I live in a BDWH in Fernwood Newark.
We have Open spaces managed by Firstport.
My property is Freehold, yet i have to pay for any additions to my property from painting the outside door to changing my mortgage rate.
The fees start at £250 per request per item and run up to seversl hundreds with extentions , solar panels etc.
No where on my contract did it say we have to pay for permission, just that we have to ask for permission,the fees just keep going up and they are not on our village maintenace accounts income from the management company.
They say these fees are not part of the Service Level Agreement and go straight into their accounts as proffit. This cant be right :mad:

Have you (or any of the other affected householders) got legal insurance add-on to your household insurance?

What are the EXACT words used on this contract re "asking for permission"? My thoughts are that if you are told to "ask" - then all you are legally obliged to do is to say "Can I please?" one way or another. If they don't actually say - "You must ask - and we will charge you for 'asking' " then I don't see how legally they can charge you for a "request".

a. What are those exact words?

b. Have any of you asked a legal opinion as to whether a court would interpret those words as saying "ask....and we can charge you for asking"?

Think this is where that phrase "The devil is in the detail" is applicable and, from what you say, it sounds as if they haven't added words that allow them to charge for a "request".

makeitstop

Unfortunately it does appear to be a trend in new developments now.

I don't buy it for one second that the costs related to management companies "duties" are the basis on which the amount of each property's "fee" is calculated. There is going to be something in it for the developer also for sure.

It would be interesting to know, that if the management company's directors were thoroughly scrutnised, whether there were any links back to the developer / parent business. I would hazard a guess that in numerous (most) cases there would be.

In my view, this is NOT just done as an obligation to service the developed area / site, but instead, is a set up to provide a subsiduary profit stream. As apparently small as some of these fees may be, over many sites, this stream becomes very much worthwhile to the business.

RockOnZombies

More often than not the developers that build these developments do not offer the site for adoption by the council and therefore the council would not be responsible for road up keep etc. And trying to force it as someone suggested would also not get you very far as the reason the roads etc are not adopted is that they are not built to acceptable standards for adoption.

Also don't forget about surface water networks as well. Even if the roads etc get adopted the surface water network may not and be managed privately. Has anyone checked if they have an underground watercourse in their back garden because if you have it's yours?! Its very easy to get caught out.

My advice don't buy new builds ever.