New Build Maintenance Charge

HayleyB26

After a bit of advice -
We are currently looking at a Redrow development in Droitwich which will incur management/service charges. The company that will take over once the site is complete is Trinity. The charge starts at £277 but from my understanding this is unregulated which could mean we could get charged the earth in following years.

Has anyone had any experience with this management company? What are people’s thoughts on this?

From my understanding I have no rights as a freeholder. Redrow have said the council are adopting the roads but how true this is? If the roads are adopted, does this mean the annual charge is reduced ? I understand it will go up but will this ever be regulated ? How can we fight this ? Is there a national petition to fight this scam? Can we change service management company and get the council to adopt in the future ? We've been told that we will have to pay certain fees for extensions etc because of the NHBC warranty, but read here it's a forever charge under this scam.

I don’t want to commit to a property and end up paying stupid amounts for management services!

Unicorn_cottage

I would advise you to avoid any management company on any new build estate.

missile

Is that £277 a month or year?

If you get agreement from the majority of owners you can remove the Management Company.

Unicorn_cottage

missile wrote: »

Is that £277 a month or year?

If you get agreement from the majority of owners you can remove the Management Company.

Not sure that that is quite correct. You would need to check the contract as the relationship with the management company may have been written into the deeds. Also yes if the majority of owners agree to removing the management company but what are the realistic chances of that happening? A percentage of owners are going to be landlords/ladies who don't give 2 toots because they pass on that cost to the people renting the property, some owners don't care and when you actually get down to it the cost of legal fees to try and oust the management company would put most people off.

middleclassbutpoor

Good luck in getting majority of freeholders together. The rely on your inability to organise this but will tell you its easy to 'fire' them if you want.

Avoid management charges as previously stated.

HayleyB26

missile wrote: »

Is that £277 a month or year?

If you get agreement from the majority of owners you can remove the Management Company.

How many or what percentage of freeholders would be needed in order to remove the management company? If this were to be possible, where would this leave us in terms of the upkeep of areas?


The £277 is the price the developers charge prior to site completion. Once the site is completed, this is when the site management will be transferred to Trinity.


Does having a service/maintenance charge devalue properties? Will it make the ability to sell on the property harder?

Unicorn_cottage

You could need to engage another company to carry out the work. You would need to form a resident's committee and collect the money from other residents - imagine the nightmare that would be!

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.trinityestates.com

You need to look into what is included in the maintenance charge. Developments that I have knowledge of many people believed they were just paying for grounds maintenance but they didn't realise that they were responsible for infrastructure as well such as crib walls, water features, bridges etc etc.

HayleyB26

Unicorn_cottage wrote: »

You could need to engage another company to carry out the work. You would need to form a resident's committee and collect the money from other residents - imagine the nightmare that would be!

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.trinityestates.com

You need to look into what is included in the maintenance charge. Developments that I have knowledge of many people believed they were just paying for grounds maintenance but they didn't realise that they were responsible for infrastructure as well such as crib walls, water features, bridges etc etc.

What does the TP1 deeds refer to? If there is no contract between us and the management company are we obliged to pay the charges?


We received a detailed copy of all charges, which include sinking fund etc. from our developers. Altogether between each property over the entire development - the total cost is around £22k for all charges.

Unicorn_cottage

Yes you are obliged to pay the charges as it is part of buying that property. As your solicitor to look over the paperwork and advise you.

What happens to the sinking fund if you move?

£22k is for how long?

HayleyB26

I’m not sure what happens to the sinking fund when we move, good question!

I believe the £22k is for the first year but can’t be certain of that.

Unicorn_cottage

£22k for the first year :0 :0 :0 :0 :0

PLUS DON'T FORGET YOU WILL ALSO PAY COUNCIL TAX!