Management pack - First I've heard of it?

ThePants999

futuresbright wrote: »

On further inspection of my covenants there is no mention whatsoever of any fees to be paid or management pack to be produced?

Then I'd be asking them on what basis they think you owe them anything! And I mean the service charge, not just the management pack!

NeilCr

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futuresbright wrote: »

£106 when we moved in , it's £120 now. That part I don't have a issue with, I'm concerned they seem to be able to put up their fees without consultation, could they do the same with their management pack over the years?

Aah okay. Your 2014 and 2016 figures in the previous post appear to show a drop in service charges over the two years.

As economic indicates my understanding is that charges for management packs are unregulated.

If all the properties are sold is there any interest from the builder in handing over to you all the freehold of the estate (I assume they still own it)?. We own ours and it gives you far more control

moneyistooshorttomention

Thrugelmir wrote: »

At the time you bought your property was the development complete? Councils no longer adopt open areas and often not even roads. All down to the residents.

I think that needs amending to "some" Councils no longer adopt etc.

I'm sure some Councils still continue as per normal and accept their normal responsibilities. I've never heard of that sort of malarkey going on in new-builds in my home area - so I guess it's down to what part of the country one is in.

moneyistooshorttomention

Car1980 wrote: »

Just don't tell the management company you're selling. Just keep your service charge statements. My management co got wind of my sale towards the end of the process and demanded silly amounts like you've seen so me and my solicitor just ignored them. The sale went through no problem.

As OP has now found there is nothing in writing compelling them to pay these charges - then I'd do exactly the same as you've done, ie not tell them (as it's none of their business) and, if they found out say:

"No-one asked me for my agreement to this (there wasn't a mention of it) when I bought the house and there's nothing in writing saying you can legally do this - so I didnt agree and you can't. End of...."

I'd cover backsides by checking they can't enforce this unagreed-charge on my buyer either - so I could tell would-be buyers they were quite safe from it. If I got the wrong answer back (ie that they could manage to put this non-existent officially speaking charge on my buyer - well an amount like that isn't going to put someone off buying a house...).

I'd be very interested to see what happens if a group of home-owners got together legally and fought back against a charge they'd never agreed to/isnt mentioned anywhere in writing and therefore honestly/legally cannot possibly exist. Verbal stuff of someone just trying to tell you to do something cant possibly carry any legal weight and they'd be able to stick a penalty on you legally for not paying a charge like that. Worth contacting a decent solicitor for their view on this.

aMuseMe

We're just about to buy a property (from Persimmon) with a similar set up (although 80/20 on pulling out at mo) - we're concerned about the costs increasing year on year, and the 'hidden fees'. The reason a lot of the new build companies give your solicitor all the details on a disk, is so that it's easier to miss stuff.

I noticed in our TP1 that two of the clauses regarding future adoption of the private roads were essentially mutually exclusive - solicitor had missed it entirely - when I challenged Persimmon, they agreed that I was correct and deleted the most damning of the two. This is the sort of shark-like nonsense to expect from new build scenarios as the practices are largely unregulated when you're a freeholder paying AMC.

That said, the management pack charge you mention would be standard in a leasehold scenario - and there isn't much you can do about capping/avoiding paying - if a leasehold is in place - other than the protection offered through tribunal under the Leasehold Acts. As a freeholder, you have none of the same protections.

Are you happy to name the builder/management company? I'm going to assume that it's likely to be Persimmon and Greenbelt as it seems entirely their MO, but could equally be Barratt who've had a slew of similar issues. I think it's likely that this will be the next 'leasehold/mis-selling' scandal...

futuresbright

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

As OP has now found there is nothing in writing compelling them to pay these charges - then I'd do exactly the same as you've done, ie not tell them (as it's none of their business) and, if they found out say:

"No-one asked me for my agreement to this (there wasn't a mention of it) when I bought the house and there's nothing in writing saying you can legally do this - so I didnt agree and you can't. End of...."

I'd cover backsides by checking they can't enforce this unagreed-charge on my buyer either - so I could tell would-be buyers they were quite safe from it. If I got the wrong answer back (ie that they could manage to put this non-existent officially speaking charge on my buyer - well an amount like that isn't going to put someone off buying a house...).

I'd be very interested to see what happens if a group of home-owners got together legally and fought back against a charge they'd never agreed to/isnt mentioned anywhere in writing and therefore honestly/legally cannot possibly exist. Verbal stuff of someone just trying to tell you to do something cant possibly carry any legal weight and they'd be able to stick a penalty on you legally for not paying a charge like that. Worth contacting a decent solicitor for their view on this.

These are my views exactly but it seems the new buyers solicitor requests these packs so unfortunatly it cant be dismissed.

Im going to see my solicitor this morning to see if they can shed any light on the situation.

futuresbright

aMuseMe wrote: »

Are you happy to name the builder/management company? I'm going to assume that it's likely to be Persimmon and Greenbelt as it seems entirely their MO, but could equally be Barratt who've had a slew of similar issues. I think it's likely that this will be the next 'leasehold/mis-selling' scandal...

I intentionally havent named either party as i would like to pursue this further, I spoke to a few of my neighbours last night and they are not happy either.

aMuseMe

That's fair enough - can completely understand that.

You may find the BannerBrook residents group useful - I can't post the link as I'm a 'new' user!
Also search - Advice Notice - freeholders Rounce and Evans - really useful document citing your rights (or lack of) - I gave it to my solicitor yesterday.

Good luck at solicitors!

System

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

As OP has now found there is nothing in writing compelling them to pay these charges - then I'd do exactly the same as you've done, ie not tell them (as it's none of their business) and, if they found out say:

"No-one asked me for my agreement to this (there wasn't a mention of it) when I bought the house and there's nothing in writing saying you can legally do this - so I didnt agree and you can't. End of...."

Presumably, in that case, the management company would simply reply: "Thanks for letting us know. If you don't want to purchase the management pack from us, that's fine." You'd then go back to the buyer and tell them that you're not providing the management pack that they requested. Their solicitor would probably then advise them to pull out of the sale.

futuresbright

x-caitlin-x wrote: »

Presumably, in that case, the management company would simply reply: "Thanks for letting us know. If you don't want to purchase the management pack from us, that's fine." You'd then go back to the buyer and tell them that you're not providing the management pack that they requested. Their solicitor would probably then advise them to pull out of the sale.

That's exactly what seems to be happening, the first thing the seller knows about these fees is when they are near completion and obviously don't want to rock the boat and lose the sale so the fees are paid.

I'm not thinking if moving just yet so would like answers before I start the process and need to know their plans and fees for the coming years.

I have also heard it mentioned that the management company is owned and run by the house builder, this is unsubstantiated but would be very interesting if found out to be true.