Shock Housing Association maintenance charge

RedRhino2016

I own my (ex council) house. Today I received a letter from a Housing Association asserting that, as owners and managers of the estate, they will be doing maintenance on the car parking areas - and will be sending everyone an invoice to cover the work. They intend to invoice each household between £500 and £1000. :eek:

I'm only just beginning to process this information, but I feel like there's something unjust going on.

I bought the house in the 90s and have never been asked to pay any charges before. I have never had any commercial relationship with the HA. I didn't even know they were "owners and managers".

There's no indication whether this is a one-off thing, or whether there'll be more demands in future.

It's a lot of money, and I suspect it could cause hardship for some of my neighbours.

We haven't been consulted, yet we're expected to pay!

Is this normal practice?

Is the HA actually accountable to anyone or can they levy charges at will?

How should I go about challenging them?

TIA

G_M

Do you own the freehold or leasehold of your property?
What does the lease say - I can't read it from here.
What covenants are there in th freehold - again, I can't see it.
Who owns the car parking area? You? jointly? Someone else?

If you've had free use of the area since the 90s it is not that surprising it now needs some work - what work is being planned?

RedRhino2016

Thanks for replying. I own the freehold - I'll check the deeds to see if there's any mention of it. It's just a horrible shock!

xylophone

This often comes up with ex LA flats.

http://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/why-local-authority-leasehold-owners-have-second-class-rights

Do you own your house leasehold or freehold?

Even if freehold, the can be clauses/covenants relating to maintenance of common parts.

It is vital that you check your title deeds - did your conveyancing solicitor point out any clauses regarding on-going maintenance?

eddddy

RedRhino2016 wrote: »

Thanks for replying. I own the freehold - I'll check the deeds to see if there's any mention of it. It's just a horrible shock!

You need to look for a 'Positive Covenant' that requires you to contribute to maintenance costs.

Google 'Positive Covenants' for more info.

If the covenants weren't set up correctly, there's a possibility that you can avoid paying (especially if you didn't buy directly from the HA).

But I guess from a moral point of view - you (and other freeholders) have the use of the car parking. If you don't pay for its maintenance, who do you think should?

RedRhino2016

@xylophone

Even if freehold, the can be clauses/covenants relating to maintenance of common parts.

It is vital that you check your title deeds - did your conveyancing solicitor point out any clauses regarding on-going maintenance?

Thanks for the link. I can't remember what the solicitor advised - it was so long ago. I'll check the deeds as soon as I can.

@G_M

If you've had free use of the area since the 90s it is not that surprising it now needs some work - what work is being planned?

@eddddy

But I guess from a moral point of view - you (and other freeholders) have the use of the car parking. If you don't pay for its maintenance, who do you think should?

Fair enough - if maintenance needs to be done someone has to pay for it. But they haven't given any details about what they're planning to do. Neither have they said how they came by the overall costings for the job (£162,000) or how the £500 - £1000 figure relates to that. If they're going to be spending my money I'd like to make sure they're doing it responsibly.

I'll google 'Positive Covenant' and dig out the deeds.

Thanks for all your help so far

moneyistooshorttomention

Other thought - how much notice have they given of requiring this money from you? Days? Weeks? Months? There will be/should be a legal minimum notice period for wanting money out of you - so what is it and have they complied with it?

Taiko

Was there no consultation at all? Pretty sure this would've been covered under Section 20 of the Landlord & Tenant Act would apply, but I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will confirm.

G_M

Taiko wrote: »

Was there no consultation at all? Pretty sure this would've been covered under Section 20 of the Landlord & Tenant Act would apply, but I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will confirm.

If OP owned a lease and this work was covered by the lease - yes.

But OP owns freehold, so (probobly) this is covered by a covenant somewhere in which case I'm not convinced S20 would apply.

theartfullodger

Calm down:

At this stage they've just said they'll invoice you. You have yet to read your paperwork (surely most would have read it when buying....).

See what the position is, then decide what to do next. If they have no right to your money simply tell them.

RedRhino2016

@moneyistooshort

Other thought - how much notice have they given of requiring this money from you? Days? Weeks? Months? There will be/should be a legal minimum notice period for wanting money out of you - so what is it and have they complied with it?

To be fair to them, they've probably given fair notice: the work is to be done in March and invoice some months after.