New Estate - Management Charges - getting council to adopt

ThePants999

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Crikey. 670 x £300 per house = £201,000 pa or £3,865.38 per week.

Nice little earner for someone then:cool:. There's no way it could cost that much for that little work surely?

Is there any way you could all take this maintenance over yourselves? Dont know if the law yet forces these companies to hand over maintenance contracts to residents? I'd have thought £100 per week split between the 670 houses involved (ie pennies each) would be a more realistic level of charge.

Mmmm. I used to live on an estate run by a residents' association, who outsourced maintenance to a management company. When I moved in, the trustees at the time were clearly not very energetic in getting us value for money, as when they were replaced a few years later, the incoming trustees sacked the management company, took a more active role in estate maintenance and halved our service charges.

moneyistooshorttomention

ThePants999 wrote: »

Mmmm. I used to live on an estate run by a residents' association, who outsourced maintenance to a management company. When I moved in, the trustees at the time were clearly not very energetic in getting us value for money, as when they were replaced a few years later, the incoming trustees sacked the management company, took a more active role in estate maintenance and halved our service charges.

Well that seems to indicate that the possibility is there for OP to start up a residents association and they could take this over then??

They could hardly be worse than the current lot - with their skyhigh charges.

teddysmum

We are on the main street on our estate, so have decorative verges, but the council cuts so infrequently that owners choose to do it themselves.


The next door council (excuses being financial cut backs and giving wild life a chance) , have for the last two years, refused to maintain the large grassy area behind a large development, despite parents complaining that their children are endangered by tripping over long grass and any rubbish it hides.(They were told to cut it themselves, if they were so concerned, as there was no money to pay for the work.)


Our council is in a mess because of huge vanity project spending, so it' s very unlikely that either of these councils (or any others) would voluntarily take on extra responsibilities.

tim123456789

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Crikey. 670 x £300 per house = £201,000 pa or £3,865.38 per week.

Nice little earner for someone then:cool:. There's no way it could cost that much for that little work surely?

Is there any way you could all take this maintenance over yourselves? Dont know if the law yet forces these companies to hand over maintenance contracts to residents? I'd have thought £100 per week split between the 670 houses involved (ie pennies each) would be a more realistic level of charge.

yes, the fee does seem rather high


on my estate of only 300 houses the charges for external estate upkeep is circa 100 pounds per property.


Unfortunately, all of the RTM legislation that applies to leaseholds, does not apple to freeholder charges like this

moneyistooshorttomention

Time for putting some pressure on for a change in the law by the sound of it.....

glasgowdan

I pay council tax but don't use any special needs equipment at the local library...should I get a part rebate? I work and pay for my own house so I should also get a rebate for the portion that goes towards social housing. I also don't care about the new surfacing on the local canal path as I was able to walk fine on the old one...

You won't get anywhere in this quest sadly. It's the done thing around the country. The gardening service your common areas receive will be much better than the council's and helps make your estate attractive to buyers should you ever wish to sell.

Richard_Webster

When the developer is having the estate built the Council may well either tell the developer that it wants a very large sum upfront to cover future maintenance costs (which the developer is not willing to pay) or that it isn't interested in the maintenance anyway. So unlikely that Council will be prepared to take it over.

comeandgo

We have maintenance fees too, I think all new housing schemes do but the difference between our well kept estate and the council estate is like chalk and cheese. I'm quite happy to pay both the maintenance fees and council tax.
Join your management committee, get a break down of the charges and if you can find a contractor cheaper change them. Management committees can do this.

AdrianC

lazer-zxr wrote: »

Yes, it will be additional cost, but maybe this could be funded by a minimal increase in council tax shared out across the whole borough?

Don't forget that council tax rises are capped - anything above a 2% rise (which, of course, they're all taking every year anyway) needs a referendum. Only one council's been brave enough to try so far - Bedfordshire, who wanted an extra 1.5% or so, ring-fenced for the police precept (15% of 10% of the bill). They lost 70/30...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32694166

Liverpool are threatening to have a try for 10% overall...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-37936590

On top of that 2%, they're allowed another 2% ring-fenced for adult social care.

moneyistooshorttomention

Valid point re CT rises.

Though I did see something recently about one local Council which is planning to hold a referendum specifically re having a large CT rise - in order to fund care for the elderly. It was somewhere in the region of 15% as I recall:eek:.

I just recall the gist of the article was that, if the referendum vote for that is a positive one (?dont know if it isnt?) that other Councils might do the same.

I remember thinking "That would be a huge rise on top of already paying 75% of a CT bill - and I'd have to vote against it if my Council held one".