Housing Association and Sinking Fund

denniswj

I live in a over 55 shared ownership apartment development, my question is are the Housing Association required to pay into the sinking fund for all the unsold apartments until those apartments are sold?
Does anyone know? is there a law governing this situation?

cattie

I shouldn't think so as the charges only take effect once the properties have been sold. It would be no different for non age restricted properties being marketed by the developer.

denniswj

surely it who owns the apartment pays the sinking fund in which the housing association are the owner until sold in which case is it not fair and reasonable for them to make the payment, in our case it took several years before all the apartments were sold.  

eddddy

Do you definitely mean sinking fund, or do you mean service charge? Is it a charge you pay each month / 6 months / year?

Or are you talking about 'event fees' - like a chunk of money you have to pay into the sinking fund when you sell?


In general, this should all be explained in your lease. As an example, if there are 20 apartments in the block, your lease might say you have to pay 5% of the service charges, and pay 5% of sinking fund contribution.


So if, for example, 2 apartments are unsold, the housing association are effectively paying 10% by default - because there is nobody to charge that 10% to.

But maybe check your lease, to see if it says something different.

denniswj

Hi it’s definitely a sinking fund, in addition we pay a service charge also