Management Company - Can I sue?

simonh5676

Hi, I am new to the forum so I hope someone can help.
I am currently trying to sell my flat, I moved out about 18 months ago to move in with my girlfriend and have been renting it since. I am selling because we want to buy a house later this year. I have agreed two sales, but both buyers have pulled out after having the survey done, due to the walls being cracked all along the exterior of the building. The flat is now empty as the tenants have moved out, so I am basically paying for an empty flat, including a huge monthly council tax bill.
I am absolutely furious with my management company. They supposedly visit the flats every month to check if there are any issues, and they have missed (or rather chosen to ignore) what is a very visible problem. My issues are these:

• Why was this not picked up on / dealt with earlier?
• The management company have cost me a £77K sale and a £75K sale
• The flat is now empty, so I am not getting the £437 rental payment, on top of this I will have to pay £15o a month council tax. So that is £587 a month I am out of pocket, entirely down to their incompetence
• I now trying to sell an empty flat, which my estate agents tells me will attract lower bids as empty properties always do
• They charge extortionate management fees, yet either don’t notice something that is blatantly wrong or choose to turn a blind eye to it. If an elderly lady (the original buyer) can pick up on it why on earth have they not?

They say the repairs will be carried out within the next few weeks, but in the meantime I will be paying £587 a month for an empty flat. I am not a wealthy landlord with a string of properties, this is the only property I've ever owned and as I say I didn't buy with the intention to rent, my circumstances just changed.


My question is, am I entitled to sue the management company for failing to maintain the upkeep of the property? As in it looks like I will have to accept an offer below the £77K original offer, and I will am paying £587 a month until it sells, which I wouldn't be if the building had been maintained. I have paid extortionate management fees of over £3000 for the past three years, for what?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

dc197

simonh5676 wrote: »

I am basically paying for an empty flat, including a huge monthly council tax bill

Most councils dont charge you for an empty property. Are you paying needlessly?

simonh5676 wrote: »

They supposedly visit the flats every month to check if there are any issues, and they have missed (or rather chosen to ignore) what is a very visible problem.

They probably inspect for tenant-related problems, not structural ones. They are not surveyors.

simonh5676 wrote: »

My question is, am I entitled to sue the management company for failing to maintain the upkeep of the property?

Check your contract. If they promised they would do so and have not, then you mgiht be able to sue. But I doubt they promised to do that.

Guest101

Probably no.


It's a major job, takes time to arrange.


You'd have to show they were either negligent or behaved unreasonably.

simonh5676

Thanks for the reply. They are only arranging the repairs now that I have pointed it out, it looks like it would have just been left if I had not!

simonh5676

Hi DC197. Bradford Council do charge for empty properties, most do now.

I'll have to read the contract in full. Thanks

eddddy

if you were to say to the freeholders (management co) "Why didn't you notice the cracks?"...

... I strongly suspect their completely justified reply would be "Why didn't the leaseholders notice the cracks and tell us?"

Now you have reported the cracks, it sounds like they are taking reasonable steps to repair them.

If they were to do nothing about it, you could start taking legal action to force them to.

But be careful about legal costs - you would probably have to pay your own, and the freeholder might end up recharging their legal costs to the leaseholders - so you end up paying theirs as well.

dc197

Bradford will give you a month for free, according to this site: https://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/advice_benefits_and_council_tax/council_tax/property_exemptions_and_local_discounts
Better than nothing.

Did you move in with your girlfriend to either give her care or receive care from her? Exemptions I and J might apply longer term.

eddddy

.... and just another thought...

Cracks that are severe enough to prevent a mortgage offer might be expensive to repair. i.e. more than £250 per leaseholder

So that would require a Section 20 major works consultation, which is likely to take at least 6 months.

So you might want to think about renting the flat on a 6 month AST in the meantime (with a warning to prospective tenants about scaffolding and workmen outside their windows,)

simonh5676

Thanks DC, you're right that is better than nothing. No, we moved in together because she was renting on her own and I wanted to get out of Bradford!


Eddddy. That's a fair point, the other 5 flats are all rented so they probably didn't feel the need to as they do not own the properties. I just feel they have been aware of the problem for a while, but have chosen not to do anything until they receive a complaint.

[Deleted User]

But surely you are equally responsible for checking there is a a problem and reporting it? Obviously you weren't living there, I bet if you had been, you would have noticed the problem and reported it. Is management to blame for your absence?

mrginge

why is the management company responsible for your choice to move out of the property?