New Build - Service charge rise of 25% (!!!!)

robatwork

MercilessKiller wrote: »

1) Employing a handyman to take care of jobs around the development rather than outsourcing to save money (but this wasn't accounted for in estimates)

What does this even mean - that they have a permanent, dedicated handyman on your estate all year? I hardly think that's likely. In which case they are outsourcing.

ThePants999

For those saying "boo, leasehold!" this is not in any way specific to leasehold properties. I owned a freehold house on an estate where everyone was bound by covenant to pay a "rentcharge" to a trust that handled estate upkeep. There were no limitations on what they could charge us there, either. Fortunately, they were competent and it was all fine. (Averaged £200 a YEAR, not a month!)

elverson

@robatwork: It is possible given the scale of Barratt developments in London - some of them have more than 500 flats on a single site.

MercilessKiller

elverson wrote: »

@robatwork: It is possible given the scale of Barratt developments in London - some of them have more than 500 flats on a single site.

That's exactly the situation - it's quite large scale and yes, this is a permanent full-time handyman at the development as apparently cheaper than out-sourcing. My confusion is why the costs weren't part of the original estimations.

Either you estimated to outsource, and decided to buy a handyman thus saving money, or you estimated for a handyman. In this case, neither were estimated so now paying heavily after the manager made the assumption absolutely no work would be required. Which is obviously ridiculous.

robatwork

Fair enough. My experience with Barratts quality put me off them for life.

@Thepants999 "For those saying "boo, leasehold!" this is not in any way specific to leasehold properties. I owned a freehold house on an estate where everyone was bound by covenant to pay a "rentcharge" to a trust that handled estate upkeep"

A covenant isn't quite the same as a lease. For example if your the estate manager tried to put your charge up tenfold, I suspect you nor anybody else would have paid it, and broken the covenant. What were the penalties for that?

MercilessKiller

Quick update - Another resident posted a letter through everyones mailbox confirming he's wanting to get a group of people together to discuss next steps. He expected a small group but has had to delay the meeting as it looks like he may have upwards of 100 residents wanting to be involved...

This is going to get messy.