Resolved to satisfaction 👍

Jjay

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anselld

My daughter lives on the ground floor of a block with a lift.  It is just one of those things.
Service charges are usually specified as a percentage split of the total bill.  It gets too complicated to split things out individually as to who uses how much of whatever.  It just doesn't happen.  I would think the terms of your service charge are already agreed in the Lease anyway so it aint going to change now.

anselld

Jjay said:

It's a private property, freehold. I didn't make that clear, sorry. The agreement is a separate entity to the ownership of individual properties.

OK substitute "covenant" for "lease" the end result is the same.

flashg67

Unless your agreement specifically specifies exemption, you may be out of luck, but perhaps only a solicitor could advise properly. . My street of 21 houses has a management co to maintain shared parking areas and communal fences. In 16 years, I've never used the parking as I have a garage and 2 car drive, which most others don't, and the fences are on the other side of the street - I can't even see them, (although they do contribute to the overall look & security of the estate).Unless the fees are excessive, I'd probably pay up to keep the peace! 

eddddy

Jjay said:

The copy of the management agreement provided by my solicitor when I purchased seems pretty standard - annual fund for the upkeep of a bit of grass and drive serving the houses etc. 

Isn't the plan to carry forward all the agreements that you all the house owners originally agreed to?

Did the agreement say that you would pay towards the pump (even though your house isn't connected to it)?

If so, it's unlikely that you have the ability to change that agreement now. The argument would be that you shouldn't have bought the house, if you didn't like the obligations that came with it.

NameUnavailable

It's a bit like living on a private road, being the first house, should you pay towards maintaining the whole road when you only need to drive along a few yards of it?

I expect the pump was included in the estate management prior to now and therefore will continue on that basis (guessing you have been paying an annual charge up until now?).

princeofpounds

Any court would, I think, take 'drains' to mean 'drainage system'. It is the only reasonable interpretation of intentions when the covenant was signed. Otherwise you'll get arguments about manhole covers not being drains, kerbs not being part of the road etc. 

Your liability would be defined by the language of the covenant, which you have not actually posted, so it's hard to be too precise, but it's very likely that you are all required to contribute even if you are not a direct beneficiary of the work.