Maintenance on freehold property’s legally binding in deeds

Jasond

Good afternoon all, 

I wasn’t sure where to post this as it’s a bit of a rant but also a warning along with house buying issues.

I bought my house (new build free hold) in 2018, recently had a bill through from first point property management for £87 every 6 months... 

this I have to pay and I’m not too happy with it tbh so I’ve raised a petition with the government here as I think it’s outrageous they are getting away with it.

If you could please sign this petition if you believe the same then it would be helpful for all who have found this to be the same when they’ve bought a house 

Petition: Ban house builders including service management for freeholds in the deeds

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566132

jon81uk

Would you be happy to pay additional council tax instead so the council can mow the grass, maintain the playground and the driveways instead?
Or potentially on shared driveways and car parks just have joint ownership with neighbours and have to work together if large amounts of work is ever needed to those areas.

I'm not the biggest fan of the management fees, but I think a lot of the issue is councils not having big enough budgets for management of areas any longer and therefore the councils are pushing it to management companies via the planning system.

JamoLew

And i bet the majority % of that is "Admin Charges" as well

The whole thing is a racket

MovingForwards

Did your solicitor not make you aware of the charges? 
Did you use the builders recommended solicitors?
Did you not read through all the paperwork?

Your charge is a portion towards the upkeep of the whole estate, not just the tiny patch of grass by your house.

IvanOpinion

We would need to understand the full coverage of such a charge.

daveyjp

The concept of central management charges is well established and accepted.

The problem with them on freehold properties, as opposed to leashold, is there is no established legal process for disputes and the remedy for non payment is draconian.

 Establishing a legal framework for disputes would be a more useful petition to start.

GrumpyDil

The only answer seems to be that if you don't want to pay these management charges don't buy a house affected by them.

Oh and OP if you were not aware of the charges before completing your purchase you need a lengthy discussion with your conveyancer

JamoLew

daveyjp said:

The concept of central management charges is well established and accepted.

The problem with them on freehold properties, as opposed to leashold, is there is no established legal process for disputes and the remedy for non payment is draconian.

 Establishing a legal framework for disputes would be a more useful petition to start.

Agree with this

steveb_123

Afraid I tend to agree with the observation that you really needed to read the paperwork (I'm guessing you must have signed up to this somehow) ...
I'm afraid that in todays world there are just too many companies too willing to take advantage of the incautious ...  before signing up to anything we have to go through the 'small print' with a fine toothcomb ...