Management company and my rights

PawelK

Hello.

I have been meaning to write this for a while but often keep forgetting or had hopes it will get resolved.

I had a rain leak from outside through the cracks into my apartment. No flooding or anything like that but it left nasty yellow brown stains. The first one happened and was shortly after reported in August 2018. Couple of promises of looking into it and using building insurance to fix it, from a man overseeing the building, but nothing happened. The stains were minor and some time later I had to change the layout of the wardrobe in my bedroom meaning new one was open type behind the bed and it covered the cracks and stains which I forgot about for some time.

Then, back in October or early November 2021 I got much worse stains in the cracks of the living room, above the bay window. This time severity was to the extent that some of the brown water dripped down onto the sill (inside the property). I reported this again and after a visit from the same man (he never visited the property after the first leak reported, despite numerous emails) in November last year, he checked both, bedroom and the living room and used damp detector. He said the one in the bedroom is dry but the one in the living room has some moist inside and he would come back the following month and check again if it dried up and send his men to repaint it or fix if the moisture is still there.

Guess what, not a single reply to my emails and I am genuinely fed up to the point I don't even want to call them to discuss it.

In my last email I did mention that if no one attends this issue soon, I will repair it myself and send the costs back to claim from the building insurance. But to be honest I don't even know I can do that? It's already the end of May and I worry that if this is not repaired, autumn comes and another heavy rain may cause even deeper and long lasting damage. 

On top of that, I also reported another issue which relates to a leaking ceiling of the fire exit staircase which runs outside of my kitchen door. The leak, during heavy rain, creates a big paddle on the doorstep of mine and is a big nuisance when I want to step outside. Not even to mention that it may be dangerous if the ceiling cracks one day and a chunk falls off. 

Can anyone advise what can I do to enforce that repair? I am up to date with my service charge and seriously don't know if there is any independent body I can ask for assistance in this matter.

Many thanks for any helpful reply.

Bendy_House

Can't help with how to force this issue, I'm afraid, but it is certainly the freeholder's/management's responsibility to sort it.

Where to get advice? I dunno - CAB? Do you have LP on your contents insurance?

Time to 'put them on notice', perhaps, of the increasing damage being caused - especially the consequences of the leak outside in the staircase; if the ceiling does come down, it could have consequences beyond cosmetic.

What does this ceiling look like - worth a photo?

eddddy

So it sounds like you have a leasehold flat.

Typically, the freeholder (or their managing agent) will be responsible for repairs to the outside structure of the building - your lease would confirm this.

But I suspect the freeholder (or their managing agent) would have told you if they weren't responsible. So your freeholder is breaching the lease by failing to do the repairs.

FWIW, gradual rainwater leaks won't be covered by insurance. This is just general repairs and maintenance that the freeholder will have to pay for, and re-charge to the leaseholders.



You can contact LEASE for advice. See: https://www.lease-advice.org/case-study/disrepair/
(LEASE is a government funded organisation.)

They also have things like template letters that you can send to your freeholder.

You can book a free 15 minute call with LEASE here: https://clients.lease-advice.org/#/

PawelK

eddddy said:

So it sounds like you have a leasehold flat.

Typically, the freeholder (or their managing agent) will be responsible for repairs to the outside structure of the building - your lease would confirm this.

But I suspect the freeholder (or their managing agent) would have told you if they weren't responsible. So your freeholder is breaching the lease by failing to do the repairs.

FWIW, gradual rainwater leaks won't be covered by insurance. This is just general repairs and maintenance that the freeholder will have to pay for, and re-charge to the leaseholders.



You can contact LEASE for advice. See: https://www.lease-advice.org/case-study/disrepair/
(LEASE is a government funded organisation.)

They also have things like template letters that you can send to your freeholder.

You can book a free 15 minute call with LEASE here: https://clients.lease-advice.org/#/

Thank you for this website. I will check it later as travelling right now. Do I understand correctly that the cost of repair will be passed onto me, a leaseholder? 

Bendy_House

PawelK said:

eddddy said:

So it sounds like you have a leasehold flat.

Typically, the freeholder (or their managing agent) will be responsible for repairs to the outside structure of the building - your lease would confirm this.

But I suspect the freeholder (or their managing agent) would have told you if they weren't responsible. So your freeholder is breaching the lease by failing to do the repairs.

FWIW, gradual rainwater leaks won't be covered by insurance. This is just general repairs and maintenance that the freeholder will have to pay for, and re-charge to the leaseholders.



You can contact LEASE for advice. See: https://www.lease-advice.org/case-study/disrepair/
(LEASE is a government funded organisation.)

They also have things like template letters that you can send to your freeholder.

You can book a free 15 minute call with LEASE here: https://clients.lease-advice.org/#/

Thank you for this website. I will check it later as travelling right now. Do I understand correctly that the cost of repair will be passed onto me, a leaseholder? 

Do you pay a regular sum towards a maintenance fund? If so, depending on the cost of the repairs, that should/might help cover it.

How many leasehold properties are involved? The cost should be shared.

I understand FHs should obtain three quotes for significant jobs. If you suspect they are (deliberately) inflated, you could challenge it.

But, yes, upkeep,  maintenance, and running repairs are paid for by all the leaseholders, either as required, or via a regular charge. Only the usual stuff - fires, storm damage, etc - is covered by the FH's buildings insurance.

eddddy

PawelK said:

Thank you for this website. I will check it later as travelling right now. Do I understand correctly that the cost of repair will be passed onto me, a leaseholder? 

As above, if it's the freeholder's responsibility to do the repairs, it will probably be shared across all leaseholders.

It will be paid for from Service Charge funds. (When all the leaseholders pay their Service Charges, it goes into the Service Charge fund.)

If there's already enough money in the Service Charge fund that's fine. If not the freeholder could send a bill to every leaseholder requesting a top-up.

If the work is major, and the work will cost each leaseholder more than £250, the freeholder has to do a "Section 20 consultation". That means they have to inform all leaseholders what is happening, and invite comments, etc.

PawelK

Thank you for the replies. Yes, it makes sense as I know I hold one share of the freehold and there are around 75 flats all together. As far as I know, the management company also holds a sinking fund which i understand is a surplus of service charges collected, for any urgent or unexpected repairs. But I do not know what's the balance of that find right now as the company doesn't inform is about it.