Service charge

inacrisis

HI,

We live on a small recently built estate with approx 20 houses. Each house pays £50 per year service charge for man to come every few weeks to trim a hedge and mow about 10sqft of grass. the roads are kept by the council so although £50 per house doesn't seem a lot £1000 a year to mow the grass maybe 10 times and trim a bush a few times is extortionate! The houses are a mixture of freehold and leasehold. Do we have any rights to take over the servicing of the land? my next door neighbour has said she is happy to mow the grass when required as it is outside her house.

Regards

[Deleted User]

You could set up a Right To Manage company I would imagine if you can get enough people interested.

You may want to do some reading on this forum as more and more people are posting about problems with service charges, particulaly it seems with new builds.

always_sunny

inacrisis wrote: »

... £50 per house doesn't seem a lot £1000 a year to mow the grass maybe 10 times and trim a bush a few times is extortionate!

It really doesn't sound a lot £50 a year, sounds like a bargain!

eddddy

BBH123 wrote: »

You could set up a Right To Manage company I would imagine if you can get enough people interested.

inacrisis wrote: »

HI,
The houses are a mixture of freehold and leasehold.

Right to Manage applies to leasehold flats (not leasehold houses and not any kind of freehold properties).

However, leaseholders do have more statutory rights to challenge unreasonable service charges than freeholders.

For example, assuming the service charges are covered in peoples' leases (as opposed to a separate contract), a leaseholder would have the statutory right to see the invoices/receipts for work done by the gardeners.

If the leaseholder thinks the amount paid to the gardeners is unreasonable for the work done (e.g. based on other quotes), they can take the matter to tribunal.

cooltt

eddddy wrote: »

Right to Manage applies to leasehold flats (not leasehold houses and not any kind of freehold properties).

However, leaseholders do have more statutory rights to challenge unreasonable service charges than freeholders.

For example, assuming the service charges are covered in peoples' leases (as opposed to a separate contract), a leaseholder would have the statutory right to see the invoices/receipts for work done by the gardeners.

If the leaseholder thinks the amount paid to the gardeners is unreasonable for the work done (e.g. based on other quotes), they can take the matter to tribunal.

Not correct i'm afraid, Right To Manage does not depend on the tenure of the property.
When you pay into the pot (service charge) contractually or otherwise, you have a right to challenge whats done with that charge hence the RTM legislation.

OP
Get all residents together, explain the advantages of setting up your own RTM company and go from there. Everything you need is online, It's easy, but expect the current thieving b*stards to put up a fight.

Niv

always_sunny wrote: »

It really doesn't sound a lot £50 a year, sounds like a bargain!

Where do you live? I am happy to mow 10 square metres of grass in your garden for £1k per year

Lord_Baltimore

Highway robbery - even D-i-c-k Turpin wore a mask. Do this:

cooltt wrote: »

Get all residents together, explain the advantages of setting up your own RTM company and go from there. Everything you need is online, It's easy, but expect the current thieving b*stards to put up a fight.

Soundgirlrocks

Niv wrote: »

Where do you live? I am happy to mow 10 square metres of grass in your garden for £1k per year

£1000 / 26 (assuming a visit every 2 weeks) is £38.50, which for a private contractor to attend really isn't that ridiculous. it's not just mowing a bit of grass. Who ever is doing it will need insurance, transport to site, tools, petrol for the power tools etc. We pay £60.00 a visit for ground maintenance in London, slightly bigger plot to mow but simila.

Niv

Soundgirlrocks wrote: »

£1000 / 26 (assuming a visit every 2 weeks) is £38.50, which for a private contractor to attend really isn't that ridiculous. it's not just mowing a bit of grass. Who ever is doing it will need insurance, transport to site, tools, petrol for the power tools etc. We pay £60.00 a visit for ground maintenance in London, slightly bigger plot to mow but simila.

I would be very surprised if they are visiting every two weeks. I have never seen that level of maintenance on grassland (and I do work in an environment where I have some experience with this).


Also after a quick search Colchester council :
http://www.colchester.gov.uk/article/11817/Grass-Cutting-and-Grounds-Maintenance#How often will the grass be cut?
How often will the grass be cut?
In the growing season we have a programme for grass cutting which follows several routes around the borough. We aim to cut most areas approximately every 2 to 3 weeks depending on weather conditions. Highway verges are cut on a slightly different frequency, approximately every 3 - 4 weeks.
Grass cutting starts and ends dependent on the seasonal conditions. The usual dates are from end March to end October annually


so growing season is March to October - assuming the 'every 2-3 weeks' is actually every 2 weeks that's 12 visits which equals £83 per visit.

always_sunny

Niv wrote: »

I would be very surprised if they are visiting every two weeks. I have never seen that level of maintenance on grassland (and I do work in an environment where I have some experience with this).

They might visit as required but it's really not 'daylight robbery'; I am also around London so the price seems fair to have that small patch of green tarted up.
How much would you charge professionally, assuming you have to factor in tools, insurances, etc

Maybe they could do it 'Greek' style and pour concrete over it.

AnotherJoe

inacrisis wrote: »

HI,

We live on a small recently built estate with approx 20 houses. Each house pays £50 per year service charge for man to come every few weeks to trim a hedge and mow about 10sqft of grass. the roads are kept by the council so although £50 per house doesn't seem a lot £1000 a year to mow the grass maybe 10 times and trim a bush a few times is extortionate! The houses are a mixture of freehold and leasehold. Do we have any rights to take over the servicing of the land? my next door neighbour has said she is happy to mow the grass when required as it is outside her house.

Regards

So thats £100 per visit?

For that you get the maintenance person driving to your estate with a van and tools (that all need to be paid for), maybe a couple hours work, then driving back again, there's the petrol, the cost of the van. Oh, and then the person would no doubt like to make a living as well?

Seems very reasonable to me and that you haven't thought through the actual costs of running a business.

However, you could no doubt do it cheaper yourself, just as you might deem it extortionate for a plumber to charge £50 to change a washer, when the cost is really in the time, not the cost of the washer.

And then when the neighbour next door moves or doesn't fancy mowing the grass anymore since no one else can bothered, you have the hassle of organising someone else to do it or worse, collecting money from everyone to pay for someone else to do it (what happens when the lady next doors lawnmower breaks because shes used it far more?, and good luck when the slobs at number 14 refuse to pay and the single dad at no 5 pleads poverty.

If the charge was £500 a year I could see the point of doing it yourselves, but £50? You will be making a rod for your own back, as the saying goes.