Property maintenance charges devaluing my property hugely

DullGreyGuy

dell12 said:

As others have said, you need to find out what exactly your money is paying for. But it feels like alot on the face of things. There are flats in a block near me in Croydon going for similar to what they were going for in 2009 with annual one-bed service charges of £4k and two-beds paying £7k.

There's a good service charge index here, although I guess there's a pretty wide distribution of charges.

Your first statement was truer, it very much depends what you are getting. 

In the recent thread of "what's the most expensive home for sale within 5 miles of you" I discovered that the most expensive place near to us came with a £161,000 service charge. Never going to claim thats reasonable but it does give you access to the gym/spa of the neighbouring 5* hotel and "room service" to your apartment from their two Micheline star restaurant... not sure I'd want it even if I could afford it but you can understand why it'd come at a very high cost. 

Our service charge isn't too bad but all we have is a lift and regular cleaner. The neighbour to our old block is about double ours but they get 18 hours of Concierge 7 days a week, a gym, a heated swimming pool with sauna and jacuzzis and have multiple lifts (think a higher per unit ratio). The pool is actually nice and not much used (though a bit odd seeing people walking about the development in a bathrobe)

RHemmings

I've not got time to research in depth, but I believe that nobody (apols if I missed it) has recommended the building residents taking over the management of the flat. I believe that fault has to be shown for this to happen. And, that would require looking carefully at accounts to see what has been spent on what after what process. Is there a reason why the OP contacting other flat-owners to discuss potentially (if possible) taking over management of the flats is not a reasonable idea? It will be a lot of extra work, but it seems possible that the existing company is being paid quite a bit for that work. Depending on what it is that needs to be done. 

All this is, as above, assuming that this isn't a retirement complex but a 'normal' block of flats. 

eddddy

RHemmings said:

I've not got time to research in depth, but I believe that nobody (apols if I missed it) has recommended the building residents taking over the management of the flat. I believe that fault has to be shown for this to happen. And, that would require looking carefully at accounts to see what has been spent on what after what process. Is there a reason why the OP contacting other flat-owners to discuss potentially (if possible) taking over management of the flats is not a reasonable idea? It will be a lot of extra work, but it seems possible that the existing company is being paid quite a bit for that work. Depending on what it is that needs to be done. 

All this is, as above, assuming that this isn't a retirement complex but a 'normal' block of flats. 

The leaseholders can take over management through 'Right To Manage' - and they don't need to show fault by the freeholder or current management company (or anyone else).

But the first step would be to find out what the estimated £6,000 service charge is being spent on. It might turn out to be legitimate and reasonable.

Or if the service charge isn't reasonable (in the legal sense), the OP can challenge it at tribunal - which will be much simpler than taking the Right To Manage approach.

snowqueen555

eddddy said:

RHemmings said:

I've not got time to research in depth, but I believe that nobody (apols if I missed it) has recommended the building residents taking over the management of the flat. I believe that fault has to be shown for this to happen. And, that would require looking carefully at accounts to see what has been spent on what after what process. Is there a reason why the OP contacting other flat-owners to discuss potentially (if possible) taking over management of the flats is not a reasonable idea? It will be a lot of extra work, but it seems possible that the existing company is being paid quite a bit for that work. Depending on what it is that needs to be done. 

All this is, as above, assuming that this isn't a retirement complex but a 'normal' block of flats. 

The leaseholders can take over management through 'Right To Manage' - and they don't need to show fault by the freeholder or current management company (or anyone else).

But the first step would be to find out what the estimated £6,000 service charge is being spent on. It might turn out to be legitimate and reasonable.

Or if the service charge isn't reasonable (in the legal sense), the OP can challenge it at tribunal - which will be much simpler than taking the Right To Manage approach.

I have very rarely seen RTM happen, it's just a lot of work and money required. The main issue is that most residents don't really want to take on the burden of all the admin, and the legal costs are quite high to the point that the financial incentive is often not as clear cut.