Money Moral Dilemma: Should my neighbour return my money?

John_Gray

bertiewhite wrote: »

The Communal Hallway Carpets Act 1983 states that "residents of flats, maisonettes or bedsits shall pay an annual contribution towards the upkeep of carpets, laminate and similar flooring media not exceeding £151 per annum, regardless of whether or not the carpets need replacing or have actually been replaced."

:rotfl: We appear to get a lot of Fake Dilemmas in this forum - but that's the first time I've seen a Fake Act of Parliament!

25_Years_On

I'm in a dilemma. Should I reply or not. Please help me decide.

BS_Meter

John Gray is right. There is no such Act, I would have been surprised if there was as this sort of thing, if legislated at all, would probably be by statutory instrument, which are generally made under powers delegated by principle legislation to the appropriate Secretary of State. If you are going to cite legislation give the section or schedule and paragraph, they are numbered. If it is a statutory instrument you can cite the regulation in the SI.

agrinnall

BS_Meter wrote: »

John Gray is right. There is no such Act, I would have been surprised if there was as this sort of thing, if legislated at all, would probably be by statutory instrument, which are generally made under powers delegated by principle legislation to the appropriate Secretary of State. If you are going to cite legislation give the section or schedule and paragraph, they are numbered. If it is a statutory instrument you can cite the regulation in the SI.

I'd suggest that rather than metering for BS you should instead turn on your sarcasm detector, as you seem to have totally missed it in both posts from bertie and John.

jonny7227

I agree with earlier post - your neighbour can’t expect you (and presumably the other residents he collected money from) to accept that he has lost your £150 without making any effort to reclaim it.
I would be asking him which company ran off with the money, how much he gave them (ie was it the full amount or a deposit) and what he is doing about it.
Has he sought advice from the CAB or a solicitor?
Has he contacted the fitter giving a deadline for a refund?
Has he contacted the police?
Is he starting legal proceedings?
Best of all - did he pay by credit card?

joehoover

This makes no sense, your neighbour asked you for £150 and you just stumped up? You would have either right to manage, share of freehold or a lease. In all cases you will be paying into a fund to cover expenses, if the carpets need an additional fund then that would be agreed at a meeting and additional funding would be agreed more formally than just asking you for cash. You would be able to see the tenders/quotes for the work. It would therefore not fall with one person unless they are the freeholder alone. More information is needed here.

silvercar

This is why people don't volunteer to act for the communal good. When it all goes wrong they get blamed. Next time the carpet needs replacing, you be the good person that spends their time choosing/ ordering/ contracting/ monitoring/ collecting payments/ supervising.......

Pixie5740

joehoover wrote: »

This makes no sense, your neighbour asked you for £150 and you just stumped up? You would have either right to manage, share of freehold or a lease. In all cases you will be paying into a fund to cover expenses, if the carpets need an additional fund then that would be agreed at a meeting and additional funding would be agreed more formally than just asking you for cash. You would be able to see the tenders/quotes for the work. It would therefore not fall with one person unless they are the freeholder alone. More information is needed here.

Not necessarily. This week's money saver could be in Scotland where we don't have this leaseholder pish. Flat owners actually own the fabric of the building and not just a lease.

My flat is in a building with two others. We all own our physical flats and a share of the communal areas. For example, we each own a 1/3 share of the roof. There is no factor for the building, it's probably not worth employing one for just 3 flats, so we need to organise repairs and maintenance to the communal areas ourselves. I am currently trying to sort out the door entry system, the phrase "herding cats" is appropriate.

I don't know why the neighbour in the OP would hand the money over to the contractor before the work was complete unless the £150 was for materials and there was a further payment later on for labour.

hazyjo

Well I'd just like to know how many flats. It says 'a block' so I presume there are several rather than just one up, one down. How many have paid £150? There would be quotes, invoices, receipts... there would have to be for the books. Flat owners can't just ask for money and not log it in their accounts without accompanying paperwork.


I suppose we won't ever get any answers (a) because it's not real anyway :laugh: and (b) if it was, they never come back to elaborate LOL. It's obviously way more than £150, so (again obviously) would have been passed to police to either investigate the company, or the leaseholder who took the money.

jorok

If it's true that the contractor took the money and didn't do the job, then unfortunately you have little chance of recovering it from your neighbour, who has probably lost out as well. How can you prove otherwise?

A lesson for the future - don't pay up front for jobs if you can possibly avoid it.