FirstPort Daylight Robbery

sclondon2018

Can anyone have a look at my most recent 'service charge' statement. I only a property freehold by the garage is leasehold as it has a flat above it. Look at the 'management fee'?!?!? Is that normal!?

I have been asking them for over two years to explain their fees to which they just don't bother replying. I have withheld certain payments until they answer them. For example the buildings insurance in S2A... I have no idea what buildings these are and I am not even allowed to use other car parks and there aren't no buildings in my car park area apart from my garage, which insurance for that is in S3.

What options do I have to complain about them and who too. It feels scandalous.

Another one, 'account preparation fees'... £3300!!! What even is that? They either don't know themselves or cant find a keyboard because I haven't had an answer to that question in over 6 months.

Are they bound by section 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 in this instance?

--GREAT IT WONT LET ME UPLOAD THE PICTURE AS IM A NEW USER.--

Basically their latest estate bill comes to £32.154 of which over £25k is their fees and others things that they dress up as their fees.

Any advice welcomed.
Steve, Essex.

AdrianC

Upload the picture to a photohosting site somewhere, and post the URL - you'll need to disguise it a bit, but we can figure that out.

The fee may be due on the freehold house, too, because it's part of the estate and benefits from the managed common areas. You really need to read all your paperwork.

Lemme guess - you bought it newbuild, and used the developer's "recommended" solicitor?

sclondon2018

AdrianC wrote: »

The fee may be due on the freehold house, too, because it's part of the estate and benefits from the managed common areas. You really need to read all your paperwork.

Lemme guess - you bought it newbuild, and used the developer's "recommended" solicitor?

No I used my own and was fully aware about the service charge. its just now I'm in and have been for over two years, its frustrating how this crap company don't bother getting back to its [forced] customers and charge almost 80% of the service charge as their 'fees/profit/Mercedes covetable/golfing trip' money.

http s://i.imgur.com/QVkzQ8G.jpg
(close the gap :-))

AdrianC

You aren't their "forced" customer. You chose to be their customer, by buying that property.

macman

Just because you don't use a particular service doesn't mean you don't have to contribute to the maintenance and overheads. If you didn't use the garage, you would still need to pay for the maintenance and insurance. For the car park, it needs cleaning, insuring, resurfacing at some point, and presumably you can drive over it if you wish?
All this would have been specified in the leasehold aspect of your purchase.
All those fees are relatively trivial once split 100/50 ways and can probably be documented: the biggie is the management fee, which you are right to challenge.

Tiglet2

To answer some of your questions, the buildings insurance is for the entire estate and would cover all the structural parts of the buildings and the grounds, i.e. lightning damage, floods, fire, subsidence etc - looks like a separate one for the properties and garages. You may have recourse to a reduction since you probably already have buildings insurance for your own property, but it works out to be £12.17 per month (not including the garage in this) and would cover the communal areas outside your property. Your share (for the year 1st Jan 19 - 31st Dec 19) for the maintenance of the estate is £293.81 (estate communal areas, including buildings insurance) and £31 (garage insurance). With £38.88 and £26.76 for maintenance of the car parks and lighting, your share of the bill for the year is £390.45, which is payable in two instalments.

It might not seem fair to you since your property is freehold, but I am going to assume that there are a number of leasehold flats and leasehold garages on the estate and that the estate communal areas are maintained for the benefit of all, including you, who may need access over the roads and parking areas and the lighting and maintenance of planting schemes which enhance the appearance of the estate in general. I am assuming that the Council have not adopted the highways and communal green areas. Your service charge bill for the coming year is £32.54 per month. I don't think that's unreasonable.

Lots of new build estates will have this set up and I believe that freehold home owners do not have the same rights as leaseholders to request an account summary from the management company/landlord via Section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.