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Fleecehold - Helen Goodman MP: New home Maintenance charges "looking like another PPI scandal"

SOS MSE

People buying homes on new build estates are being forced to pay maintenance charges to private companies... in addition to their council tax to maintain open areas out with their actual house or garden area thanks to a shuffle of land ownership on title deeds.

You could have two identical housing estates adjacent from each other all within the same council tax bands, however one that's built 10-15 years ago is maintained by the council and all occupants pay is their council tax and the other built in the past 10 years where residents not only pay the same council tax but also have to pay additional charges to private maintenance contractors.

Helen Goodman, MP for Bishop Auckland, has presented a bill in Parliament to try and stop this practice.

This cause should be right down Martin's street (if he lives on one) :money:

video of Helen in Parliment here

This campaign is being spearheaded by the Home Owners Rights Network


https://www.homeownersrights.net

Comments

  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189
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    People buying homes on new build estates are being forced to pay maintenance charges to private companies... in addition to their council tax to maintain open areas out with their actual house or garden area thanks to a shuffle of land ownership on title deeds.
    That's not quite true...

    It's simply that the local authority has zero responsibility to maintain the roads and green areas on private developments, unless and until they're adopted.

    Have the roads even been constructed to the required standard for adoption?
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,468
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    edited 30 November 2018 at 8:34PM
    Policies have changed over the years.

    Sometimes Councils asked for a commuted sum which went towards paying for the upkeep for many years, sometimes they didn't want the liability so the developer would charge residents for upkeep.

    Either way the residents ended up paying. Either a lump sum to the developer which was passed to the Council included in the house purchase price when they bought the house, or an annual sum to the maintenance company.

    The MP is stirring it by suggesting those who pay maintenance and Council Tax are paying twice.
  • kingstreet
    kingstreet Posts: 38,690
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    Love it...

    Despite granting planning permission and screwing everything they can out of the developer (and rightly so! :D ) in return, local authorities are then helping themselves to about £1,500 a year for each property in council tax on average, but not taking responsibility for things local authorities are responsible for, like mowing grass and changing bulbs in street lights...

    Then a Labour MP, rather than lean on the elected Government for its systematic attacks on the central spending grant, decides to attack the alternative mechanism which is about the only way to deal with the problem.

    Who should pay for this then, Helen?
    I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.
  • EachPenny
    EachPenny Posts: 12,239
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    daveyjp wrote: »
    Policies have changed over the years.

    Sometimes Councils asked for a commuted sum which went towards paying for the upkeep for many years, sometimes they didn't want the liability so the developer would charge residents for upkeep.

    Either way the residents ended up paying. Either a lump sum to the developer which was passed to the Council included in the house purchase price when they bought the house, or an annual sum to the maintenance company.

    The MP is stirring it by suggesting those who pay maintenance and Council Tax are paying twice.
    This^^^

    New build buyers have a choice. You can either stump up a considerable extra amount of money on the purchase price in order to contribute towards the commuted sum paid to the council to maintain the development, or else make convenient annual payments spread over a number of years to pay a private contractor to do the same.

    Given the unaffordability of new housing already, and that the first buyer may only get a few year's benefit before moving on, the latter option makes more sense for many.

    Many new build estates have 'environmental' features and facilities that residents in the existing housing stock don't get to enjoy, so it is quite fair that a premium is paid by new build dwellers for the additional benefits they get.

    And banning councils from seeking payments of commuted sums would kill house building stone dead, as there would be very little incentive for local authorities to encourage additional development in their area, and a massive disincentive of having to take on the maintenance liability whilst the developers swan off with the profits.

    I'm not sure Helen Goodman MP knows very much about housing development.
    "In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"
  • Many will find if they buy an older property, in an older estate that grass cutting, pavements, open areas, play parks etc are maintained by the council as part of the council tax.

    However many new build owners will find that due to the a shuffle in land titles and adoption status, they are liable and have to pay private companies to maintain these.

    There may be other regional/ developer options and variations... but for many households in the UK this is the case.
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