"Management Company"

stragglebod

TELLIT01 said:

Latest response:-  "A question our Solicitor was perplexed by too, as the management company was unnecessary. But the builders sol insisted.  There is no maintenance on the road, but if it deteriorates the management company says costs to be split 4 ways.

No deed for the road, it only shows on the title deeds for the 4 houses"

Who at the management company is saying that? Because earlier you said it did nothing and the secretary was the only officer.

TELLIT01 said:

Thanks Ectophile.  The more 'information' that comes through about this setup, the less sense it seems to make - and it didn't make much sense in the first place!  Why my friend, or any other others involved, hasn't simply gone the route of speaking to a solicitor is beyond me too.  I'll pass on this on and try to step back.  Thanks to everybody who has tried to make sense of this.

I'm no legal beagle, but would have thought that a simple legal document drawn up and agreed by all parties, that the owner of each property is liable for 1/4 of the cost of any repair/maintenance work would cover it. 

Any repair work or maintenance? Who gets to decide what work is needed? What if three houses want something done, the other doesn't? What about 2/2 splits?

And why didn't your friend's solicitor sort all of this out at the time of purchase?

And what does the road 'showing up' on the title deeds of the houses mean? The letter R shows up on the title deeds for my house - that doesn't mean I own the letter R and can charge license fees from anyone who wishes to use it. Who actually owns the road?

Your friend doesn't really sound that bothered about finding out the answer or he'd stop drip feeding you half information.

flashg67

I have same on my estate of 21 housed and I actually ran it for a while charging neighbours (shareholders) a small fee now and again to ensure the company could pay filing charges. I got fed up chasing people for money and engaged a property management company to run it. When people actually saw the cost of this, another couple of neighbours took it over promising it would be cheaper and better run by a resident - it's not! Peoples own lives get in the way
 I would suggest that you will find it difficult to sell if the company is struck off - I used to get solicitors contacting me to confirm the company was still going before they'd complete a sale/purchase as it was part of the deeds that the company was kept going for 80 years. 
Your estate is nice and shiny now - mine is now 15 years old and fences have rotted, been replaced, weeds have grown etc - I 100% guarantee that your neighbours won't all be willing to contribute to the upkeep down the line. It only needs one to refuse and you either let everything get scruffy, or pay a bigger share, Be careful closing the company - it's a pain, but less of a pain to keep it going!

TELLIT01

stragglebod.  No idea why their solicitor didn't sort it.  At a guess, the vendor's solicitor was more determined to get what their client wanted.

flashg67.  I can see the sense of the setup for an estate of that size (21 properties), but it does seem excessive for a group of 4 properties IF it's possible to set up something which is more simple.

In the end I have said to my friend, that if they want to change things they do need to get proper legal advice. 

I do need to stress again - this is genuinely a question of behalf of a friend.  Why they didn't want to join MSE and ask the question themselves is unknown to me.  They live about 100 miles away so I can't pop round and ask.   It's something which can only be sorted out by the owners of the 4 properties.  Why it wasn't sorted prior to purchase is a very valid question, but I ain't going there with him on that one.