Freehold House but Service Charge for Parking Bays

Glover1862

SallyAnneBooth wrote: »

Hi Glover,

Yes that's correct, but I want to fix both elements.

So essentially Service Charge for Year 2 = £300 (Fixed) *1.02 (Fixed) , and then
Service Charge for Year 3 = £306 * 1.02

At least this way I can plan my budgeting and if selling on I can definitively say what the SC will be.

I appreciate this can only be agreed through the generosity of the Freeholder and any additional costs will have to be picked up by those who do not have the benefit of this agreement (i.e. been fleeced already!).

Sally-Anne

I don't think you will get a bespoke agreement, can you imagine the fuss when your neighbours find out that you are contributing less. The management companies are setup to make money, they won't give that up or agree to something that limits it.

I would get your solicitor to do an honest assessment, on the plus side (well sort of) lots of others in the same situation and there has been questions raised in parliament even yesterday, no idea how long it will take to get something done or if they will limit it in any way.

The issue I had, new builds tend to have the right council tax applied because they are clearly not based on estimates done in 1990's, my council tax is £2600, my brothers £1500, his 1960's house is worth £75k more than mine!!

Now, say for example you buy a property with a council tax of £1500 (approx band C), £300 additional now is not too bad, if it goes up to £600 additional then I'd think twice about buying a freehold band c property with £2100 charges....and rising and unlimited at that! you are buying a hybrid freehold really, all the downsides of a leasehold without any of the protection.

SallyAnneBooth

Hi Glover,

Thank you for your thoughts, really appreciate it.

So you think even if I do get the deal I want, then it could still be challenged by the other residents? I would have thought once its in the Contract/Deeds then it cannot be affected.

And yes I'm aware its been raised in Parliament too, the first reading of the Bill was in Nov 2018 and then the Second Reading was supposed to be in Feb 2019 but got postponed for some reason. It is a huge issue but as you say its impossible to say if anything will be done.

davidmcn

SallyAnneBooth wrote: »

So you think even if I do get the deal I want, then it could still be challenged by the other residents? I would have thought once its in the Contract/Deeds then it cannot be affected.

It couldn't be challenged, the point is more that you've got no chance of getting it in the first place.

Thrugelmir

Perhaps the initial annual service charge has been set to build a sinking fund. In the years ahead the road/parking bays will no doubt require maintenance. Is the the area tarmac or brick paved?

SallyAnneBooth

Hi David,

The local builder in Sheffield studied and lived with my best friend back in their uni days and have since remained good friends. So I've got slightly more chance than no chance at all, all depends if he can be convinced to give mates rates

Sally-Anne

SallyAnneBooth

Hi Thrugelmir,

Yes possibly, I've not received the full breakdown yet - the car park is tarmac.

Sally-Anne

OldMusicGuy

Here's what our annual service charge includes for the maintenance of a single private road to our development:

- Ongoing maintenance (mainly of landscaped areas)
- One-off costs
- Insurance
- Health and safety inspections
- Audit fees
- Management fees

In addition, like Thrugelmir says, there is a contribution to a reserve fund which is building up to cover major repairs/replacement of the road.

If you have gates you will have to pay for repairs and maintenance on those plus an electrical safety inspection (I know because we were recently charged for both of those, even though we don't have any gates! It was a nightmare getting this corrected).

Sally-Anne, best of luck getting a unique agreement. If this is a small development and you know the developer, you might have a chance (a very small one though IMO).

What you need to find out urgently is who is responsible for managing the parking bays and other common areas. If this is a residents' management company, that's great because you will be in control of costs. If this will be a third-party property management company, find out who it will be and Google them. You might find a lot of horror stories associated with them.

[Deleted User]

I'd walk away.


There are some absolute horror stories about leasehold parts and at the end of the day you have no control over your parking bays. The developer is keeping them leasehold for one reason only and that's to make money. He may just wait until the houses are sold and then sell the Freehold to someone else, usually some ubiquitous off shore company.

NeilCr

SallyAnneBooth wrote: »

Hi David,

The local builder in Sheffield studied and lived with my best friend back in their uni days and have since remained good friends. So I've got slightly more chance than no chance at all, all depends if he can be convinced to give mates rates

Sally-Anne

I have to say, as stated earlier in this thread, if I was another resident on this estate and I found out (and someone will trust me!) that you'd got a "deal" on the service charges I'd be pretty p""d off. Particularly, as it was because you were mates with the builder. And I was paying more than you for the same thing.

Contractually, I am sure that davidmcn is correct and there would be little they could do about it. But, you'd have to live with these people in close proximity. And, it's going to be a running sore - especially if there are large increases.

While I understand how you are thinking sometimes it's not just about the money

davidmcn

SallyAnneBooth wrote: »

The local builder in Sheffield studied and lived with my best friend back in their uni days and have since remained good friends. So I've got slightly more chance than no chance at all, all depends if he can be convinced to give mates rates

It's not going to be his problem long-term - he'll want something he can easily dispose of i.e. with the service charge fully recoverable from the residents, rather than some weird arrangement where one house thinks they're special. More likely outcome is that you get some discount off the price (or another freebie) in return for putting up with the standard service charge wording.