Maintainance covenant

toadstretcher

Hi all


A couple of years ago myself and the family bought a new build.

As many new/all newbuilds do nowadays, i'm tied into a covenant on my deed to contribute to the upkeep of the local area as the roads are not adopted by the council. This is currently run by a company called Chamonix.

So far this has averaged at about 14 pounds per month.


yesterday, a letter arrives saying they need more money for they year as their budgetting was incorrect, they are after an extra 30 from every house on the estate.

The letter came with a list of a bunch of numbers on what things were costing.

This whole thing irks me and is the one thing (two if you count help to buy) that scares me about our home..


Am I within my rights to request copies of invoices to prove their spending? They could be making any old number up and claiming whatever they want from residents.

I'd pressume as residents are all joint liable for upkeep we could (altogether) choose to chage who did the work, should there be a commitee or some such?


many thanks.

FTBAngst

That info should be in your TP1. You don’t always get a choice in who can manage your estate and there are currently in legislated rights for you to view the invoices

da_rule

toadstretcher wrote: »

Hi all


A couple of years ago myself and the family bought a new build.

As many new/all newbuilds do nowadays, i'm tied into a covenant on my deed to contribute to the upkeep of the local area as the roads are not adopted by the council. This is currently run by a company called Chamonix.

So far this has averaged at about 14 pounds per month.


yesterday, a letter arrives saying they need more money for they year as their budgetting was incorrect, they are after an extra 30 from every house on the estate.

The letter came with a list of a bunch of numbers on what things were costing.

This whole thing irks me and is the one thing (two if you count help to buy) that scares me about our home..


Am I within my rights to request copies of invoices to prove their spending? They could be making any old number up and claiming whatever they want from residents.

I'd pressume as residents are all joint liable for upkeep we could (altogether) choose to chage who did the work, should there be a commitee or some such?


many thanks.

You need to check the wording if your covenants for the answers to both. Some will say that you can request invoices, others say that you are only entitled to accounts.

In terms of picking who does the work, this would depend on whether you, as owners, are also shareholders in the management company. If you are then you could, depending on how the shares are split, seek to appoint a new managing agent.

NeilCr

Who owns the freehold of your estate. They will appoint the Managing Agent who will have overall responsibility for the provision of services.

If the freehold is owned by the owners of the properties then, yes, you can change agents. If, however, you don't then it is the freeholder who hires and fires

I am afraid service charges are hard to predict. We own our freehold and we strive very hard to keep service charges down but, sometimes, budget or no budget, the unexpected happens.

ETA. Posted at the same time as da_rule