Management Company failing in their lease obligations

Mark_d

I'm a leaseholder in a small block of flats.  Within the last couple of years other leaseholders/residents have taken actions that I'm not happy about:

1. One leaseholder has installed a keysafe on the entrance to the building.  Maybe this is for convenience when letting out the property (AirBnB).  Maybe it is to allow friends/family to visit the property whilst the leaseholder is away.  Whatever their reason, all leaseholders could benefit from keysafes however these make the building look untidy and it would be impractical to have 12 keysafes at the entrance to the building.
2. One resident uses the communal hallway as an extension of their flat, for storing a pushchair. This looks untidy and gets in the way.
3. One resident constantly uses one of the visitor parking spaces for their second car.  This means that when there are visitors to the building, they occupy leaseholder allocated parking spaces and hence inconvenience the leaseholders.

All these actions are expressly prohibited under the lease.

I have raised these issues with the Management Company who, under the lease, are responsible for enforcing the lease conditions.  They have sent notices advising all leaseholders of the lease conditions, and that the above issues should be rectified, however nothing has been done.

I have tried contacting the freeholder who, under the lease, is required to step in where the Management Company fail in their lease obligations, but they are not interested in any more than collecting their ground rent.

Any thoughts how best to progress this?  I don't want to fall out with all leaseholders but I do firmly believe that everyone should play by the rules of the lease agreement.

flossymcfly

When you contacted the Management Company was it a formal complaint? If not, this would be the route to go in the first instance.

Are the Management Company aware the issues are ongoing? There will always be a 'warning' process first of all but they may be under the impression that their notices have solved the problem.

Mark_d

Thank you for that prompt.  I'm often reminding others to go the formal complaint route however I seem to have missed it this time.

Yes I have updated the Management Company every few months, providing evidence of the ongoing issues.

eddddy

Mark_d said:

One leaseholder has installed a keysafe on the entrance to the building. Maybe this is for convenience when letting out the property (AirBnB).  Maybe it is to allow friends/family to visit the property whilst the leaseholder is away.  

Operating a AirBnB is likely to be a breach of the lease as well.

But it might be worth trying to find out why the keysafe was fitted. Keysafes are often used by elderly and/or disabled occupants who find it difficult to answer their door, to allow carers, health workers, etc to get in to visit them.

Your complaint might be seen as a bit heartless, if that's the reason.

Bradden

Mark_d said:

Thank you for that prompt.  I'm often reminding others to go the formal complaint route however I seem to have missed it this time.

Yes I have updated the Management Company every few months, providing evidence of the ongoing issues.

I often see this mentioned but I've no idea what the difference is between a "complaint" and a "formal complaint"?

Could you please explain what you mean

Thanks

Hoenir

Mark_d said:

1. One leaseholder has installed a keysafe on the entrance to the building. 

Discreetly remove it. 

BarelySentientAI

Hoenir said:

Mark_d said:

1. One leaseholder has installed a keysafe on the entrance to the building. 

Discreetly remove it. 

Commit theft and potentially prevent access by a carer or support worker? 

Very neighbourly.

T.T.D

Hoenir said:

Mark_d said:

1. One leaseholder has installed a keysafe on the entrance to the building. 

Discreetly remove it. 

Do not do this, it would be illegal and if caught and police informed you could end up in front of the local magistrate court for damage to property and or theft.

A key safe would need to be opened in order to access screws and as you don’t have the access codes they only way to remove them would be to cause damage to them or the wall
or both. 

Plus if you are the only one to make a complaint of the their unsightly presence the other leaseholders will know it’s you anyway and trouble could come your way if someone take their anger out on you.

Why do people advise such stupidity. 

BarelySentientAI

Bradden said:

Mark_d said:

Thank you for that prompt.  I'm often reminding others to go the formal complaint route however I seem to have missed it this time.

Yes I have updated the Management Company every few months, providing evidence of the ongoing issues.

I often see this mentioned but I've no idea what the difference is between a "complaint" and a "formal complaint"?

Could you please explain what you mean

Thanks

Ringing up a helpdesk to say "I don't like X" is a complaint.

Communication with the appropriate documented complaint-handling address, using the procedure in the Management Company's contract, titled FORMAL COMPLAINT, is a formal complaint.

It often matters, because for things like the Ombudsman the first version doesn't start any timers or require logging and the second version does.

Albermarle

Considering some of the horror stories you hear, these issues seem pretty trivial. e.g.

One resident uses the communal hallway as an extension of their flat, for storing a pushchair.

user1977

Albermarle said:

Considering some of the horror stories you hear, these issues seem pretty trivial. e.g.

One resident uses the communal hallway as an extension of their flat, for storing a pushchair.

Indeed. I wonder how many hundreds of pounds in freeholder legal fees the OP wants to spend in order to get a pushchair moved?