AIBU to be absolutely devastated by this?

First port by any chance?

The property tribunal can be a tricky court to deal with at the moment. These management companies have grown a lot in the last 12 years and have deeper pockets. They are unscrupulous and will use scare tactics that they will build up fees.

If anyone does plan to take them on, make sure you have safety in numbers in the block and take them to court together. Also, make sure to use representation. It's no court for a litigant in person.

@Moll2020
This is what our block are trying to do at the moment. We will be holding residents meeting after the TV programme has aired.
our Managing Agent don’t even answer the phone or emails from our house manager, who is employed by them.

Someone I know lived in an apartment block with a crap management company. The owners got together and set up a residents association and managed it themselves with a committee, they got legal advice etc, is this worth looking into. It wasn’t easy at first but worth it.

I am sorry that you had that awful comment. I also feel sad for you and the way you are feeling. Sending a virtual hug. Just remember there is always a way out, it may just take some time Good Luck being sent to you and your husband 🍀

I feel for you. I had a property with a service charge. The company that ran it did the same fee increase year on year for them to do absolutely nothing. One of my neighbours actually did take them to court and won! He even represented himself and did all the paperwork. It was found that the fees were unreasonable and were reduced and the court told them the maximum they could charge. Now this is 12 years ago but it’s worth getting a solicitors to look at it

@Haveyouseenthischicken have you considered taking this to the media / Martin Lewis etc?

I have not read the thread but am just posting here to say it is not true management companies can charge whatever service charges they want or that you would necessarily have to pay the man cos/landlord’s fees if you lost a legal battle. The first tier tribunal is predominantly a costs neutral venue and service charges are regulated by statute- they have to be reasonably incurred. The Leasehold Advisory service is really good on residential service charges.

I cannot offer much advice but only say that I also had a nightmare flat with similar issues and many times I prayed it would just burn down. I finally got rid of it after 15 years. The way service charge companies operate is absolutely scandalous. You can contest the charges but you'd probably need several people in your building to club together to tackle it, especially if you are paying to recitfy issues that were the developers mistakes (eg dodgy cladding). No excuse if it was built after the Grenfell disaster to have dodgy cladding or not have the right fire certificates.

Can you switch to a buy to let mortgage on it? Then mortgage new flat got yourself?

I feel like any mention of the media is a nono on mumsnet. But go talk to the media about this. And your MP (check their interests first though). And as someone said before Shelter.

I’ve just had to sell an apartment belonging to an aunt of mine. They are a block of 4 and one of the tenants took over the management company there and signed as director. I’m not sure of the ins and outs but they all now have no fees and just work together on anything needed. Hope it all works out for you x

I have not RTFT so apologies if I'm adding nothing, but I live in a block of 28 flats and we had a similar issue some years ago. Luckily one of the residents, despite being nearly 80, had had enough, especially as two residents had had no option but to sell as they couldn't afford the extra 'one-off' fees the management company kept dropping on us.

We took on RTM, and by 'we' I mean six of us residents, most of whom had zero idea what we were doing at the time. We gave notice to our managing company, who needless to say tried to scaremonger all the residents with 'what might happen if we didn't have a management company', not helped by the fact Grenfell had just happened, but we kept re-iterating the same message - that we had zero confidence in them to manage our interests and rights, and would be undertaking RTM.

We had to have an accountancy firm - I think for auditing purposes but cannot remember for definite. This was a fraction of the management fee.
Once we'd got rid of the management company, the service charge was reduced SIGNIFICANTLY and a pledge made never to have 'one off' charges again. This was nearly 8 years ago, and since the change, we finally had one very small increase (less than £400/year) this year, which given our maintenance charge includes communal boilers and therefore our hot water and heating costs, is entirely acceptable to all residents here.

TLDR: RTM feels daunting, but it is so worth it. You don't need to have all the answers, you just need a group of you who are willing to take it on, and be in charge of getting quotes and instructing any works, and you won't be alone as the accounting firm have been so helpful.
Management companies are mostly scum with zero regard for the people they're meant to be taking care of. Good luck.

You've had good advice already, I just wanted to send a virtual hug. I've been there with crappy managing agents and quickly rising monthly fees. I also found communicating with the company really upsetting - their invoicing/billing system was the most confusing thing I've ever seen in my life and I just could not get hold of a human being to explain it. We did manage to sell in the end and will never go leasehold again. You WILL get out of this and the sense of freedom will be epic. Just keep going. x

Sorry, I haven’t read all the replies but we are in a similar but not as expensive (yet!!) situation with shared ownership. You can request a copy of invoices for the service charge. If you do see a solicitor it will help. Our landlord is taking out service charge and not paying the service providers. It’s unbelievable that it’s so unregulated and such a tough battle. You have my sincere sympathy

OP I think I’ve seen this post on the National Leasehold Campaign fb page?
I can’t offer any useful information apart from understanding your questions as my father owns a leasehold retirement flat and my daughter a three bed flat with right to manage - she’s the director in charge (whatever the correct terminology may be).
Those folks on the fb page are total gems; if they know an answer they will tell you and if not they will know how to find one.
stick with them and see what advice they give.
And always remember- this will pass. It might take a while and be tough, but it will.

I am so very sorry to read of your plight.

There are some very experienced posters on the House Buying, Renting and Selling Forum on www.moneysavingexpert.com who may be able to offer some advice.

OP I'm also in a leasehold and am part of the residents committee which has been battling similar issues for years in terms of unfair service charges and major works. (it's the same story with so called managing agents up and down the country). Luckily we didn't have cladding so it hasn't been so costly, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. There are changes coming with the Leasehold Reform Act but currently leaseholders have very little power. But they do have some, you can go to the First Tier Tribunal to challenge charges without having to get an expensive solicitor. I recommend calling the Leasehold Advisory Service for expert advice on your specific situation. Good luck

I’m so sorry you are going through this, it really is incredibly unjust. You’ve had some great advice already, definitely speak to the agent, see if maybe you can get a man initial free consult at a solicitor and Martin Lewis is a good shout. However gutting it maybe, however unjust, and even if the right thing to do is to fight the greedy grabby management I do think the course you are taking is probably the most sensible, to get shot of it asap at whatever loss needed, or it could cost more money and time in the long run. Especially if family planning is held up by this, I fear you just need to get rid and start a fresh. I’m so sorry though

So sorry you're in this situation. I experienced similar with my partner (a leasehold flat unsellable due to the cladding crisis and ground rents) and it's held us back years in life, which I've been quite bitter about as we've been stuck renting elsewhere while letting the flat.

Just to give you some hope, we finally sold it a month or two ago without even having to put it on the market (a friend of our tenant bought it) and we have just had an offer accepted on our dream house, so we are hoping to move on with our lives in the next few months.

I hope some good luck comes your way very soon.

No advice to give just wishing you , your husband and all your co-tenants the very best outcome to this awful situation .
I too have experienced the depressing misery of unaffordable and unsafe housing .
Also ...well done for standing up to the bully on this thread .

@Haveyouseenthischicken
Sorry I tagged the wrong person