Management Fees - New UNFINISHED estate

Emmalouise264

Hi everyone,


Looking for a bit of help really - have been living on a new estate since the beginning of 2017 and was advised at the time of buying that there would be management fees to pay for the estate when it was finished. I have since been hounded by the management company for this money and I have been told the building company mis-informed me and the management fees should have been paid from as soon as I began occupying the property. The estate is unfinished and directly across from me they are still building homes, I therefore have no real road to use, instead just a patchwork quilt of different materials. I then returned home from work one day last week and directly infront of my house was all dug up (no prior warning this would be happening).


I understand this is part and parcel of living on a building site however my question is - should I be paying management fees when nothing is actually being managed yet and the estate is unfinished? I have no street lights and I have now been told my drive and pavement in front of my house will be tarmacked when the estate is finished (NEXT YEAR) and that I will have to make do with the stone/sand mix that is currently filling in the hole they have dug!






Any help is much appreciated


Thanks!

eddddy

Is your property leasehold or freehold? (You might have much stronger legal rights if it's leasehold.)

Essentially, the legal position is that you have to pay for whatever you have contractually agreed to pay for.

If the property is leasehold, the lease will say what you have to pay for. If the property is freehold, there may be a deed of transfer that says what you have to pay for.

So the best starting point is to read those documents.

Emmalouise264 wrote: »

I have since been hounded by the management company for this money and I have been told the building company mis-informed me and the management fees should have been paid from as soon as I began occupying the property.

How did the building company communicate this to you? Was it via your solicitor? If not, it's unlikely that you have any recourse.

whatdoyouthink...

Do you know if others on the development are paying the fees?

On the development where I'm buying, there is a fee assigned to certain houses for lighting in the car park they use, the builders forgot to mention this to the buyers of these houses when they were purchased. Once they realised their mistake (after the buyers had moved in), they went to ask if they'd be willing to pay the fee, it was about £20 a year, I was told the first buyer they asked said no, so apparently they couldn't charge any other buyers until all agreed to pay it. Not the same as your situation, but if you were told you don't have to pay until the development is finished, mis-informed or not, then you shouldn't

I don't know where you stand on this legally, but I personally wouldn't be happy paying fees and don't think you should be either

SuboJvR

Our development isn't finished and there is still a management fee. Quite a lot of it is done, so a lot of roads have been adopted, there's green space and a trim trail etc.

Emmalouise264

eddddy wrote: »

Is your property leasehold or freehold? (You might have much stronger legal rights if it's leasehold.)

The property is freehold - I will check the legal documents. The building company just told me about it during the reservation meeting I had with them, along with general T&Cs. I will get all the documentation out tonight and check before contacting them to discuss it in full. I am new to all of this and want to get facts right of what I can/cant do before approaching them. Thanks for your help!

Emmalouise264

whatdoyouthink... wrote: »

Do you know if others on the development are paying the fees?

I have spoken to a couple of neighbours, one started paying as soon as we moved in and the other has not paid anything due to similar reasons as I have noted above!


I am currently paying and understand why eventually these payments will need to made and what they cover, just very annoying the state of my driveway and I am expected to pay still!!