Housing association - Service Charge Not Justifyable

Bartmanekul

Hullo,

Will try to keep as simple to read as possible.

My situation

A shared ownership house, bought the remaining some years ago, so own 100%. I'd be very happy to name the 'charity' it is, but unsure if I'm allowed on here.

We still pay a service charge, which I fought to get reduced as they were going to charge the same.

However, we receive a 'summary', which is, quite frankly, a joke. It has headings such as 'Management', and 'Maintenance' along with some others, but doesn't break any of them down.

I've previously asked them to clarify these, but they have always failed.

I've had enough, they are not maintaining the area, and I'm not paying anymore. I've no objection to paying for services, but they are milking it and have quite often lied (latest example being a fence which they insisted, and later backed off on ownership).

So, after reading some of the information on here:

• Requested under the landlord and tenant act 1985 to inspect documents for the last summary given - and that they have to provide within one month
• Under the leasehold reform act 1993, a full management audit
  

I've had an auto response, but nothing else yet. I've said they must tell me within 1 week if they cannot provide this within one month and the reasons why.

My Questions

I've gone through all the gumpf, but.....how do I go about this? I'm guessing I need to gather evidence and such because I very much doubt they will roll over.

Soooo...

• What are they likely to do next?
• What can I reasonably request? To establish that they are lying, I want detailed maps showing exactly what areas they are responsible for, what maintenance is scheduled, what has been done and when. I want an accurate breakdown of the costs they put, i.e. where all the management goes (it's the second highest charge apart from maintenance!!) 
• What else should I be asking for?
• How should I build my 'case'?
• What's the next step if they keep giving crappy things (as they have done before) - poor maps, vague maintenance schedules, etc.

Any other advice would be great too.

Thanks for any help given.

TheJP

Why would the service charge reduce when you gained 100% of the property? The amount will always be the same regardless if you owned 25%, 50% or 100%. 

Brie

I quite get the idea of objecting to pay for things that haven't/aren't happening.  

It's possible that being a charity they may not have really competent people in charge of the admin.  (seen this myself previously)  So I would expect you will have to push and push for any sensible reply.  Ensure that you get that in writing, by snail mail preferably or in a non editable pdf otherwise.  You want to have proof of what they have said in case they go back on their word (again).

eddddy

The law says that service charges must be 'reasonable' - but doesn't define 'reasonable'.

Perhaps angles you can investigate include...

• The management charge... Check whether leaseholders on other similar developments/estates are paying a similar service charge to yours. If your HA is charging a higher management charge than other HAs/management cos doing a similar job, that's likely to not be 'reasonable'.

• Is the HA paying too much for contractors/services? For example, if they're paying £200 per week for grass cutting when other contractors would charge £100, that's not reasonable. Or if they're cutting the grass once a week, when once a fortnight would be sufficient - that's not reasonable.

• Your lease should specify what the services the HA should be providing, and therefore what they can charge you for. If they're charging you for any services not mentioned in your lease - that's not reasonable.

NameUnavailable

TheJP said:

Why would the service charge reduce when you gained 100% of the property? The amount will always be the same regardless if you owned 25%, 50% or 100%. 

Yes, just to clarify for the OP, shared ownership doesn't mean shared costs - you were and will always pay 100% of the service charges.