Querying bill

[lurkerspeaks]

I am not sure if AIBU or not. Feel free to tell me I am (but gently!).

I live in a modern block of flats. We have a factor. They arrange all communal repairs etc. Shortly after I moved in 5 years ago they arranged a repair to a particular part of the building which my flat has no responsibility for (it is clearly stated on the deeds that responsibility for that part of the building lies with those who benefit from it's amenity - think communal garage block, only paid for by those who have a garage).

As I had recently purchased my flat and had the deeds explained to me by my solicitor I was very aware of this and questioned it with the factor.
Initially they replied that they had always divided bills that way (ie all flats paid for all areas) upon further prompting they consulted their in house solicitors and the bill was recalculated (my share of the repair was several hundred pounds).

Ever since then I monitor my bills and question items I am not sure about - the most recent bill contains a charge for repair to the hot water system. The building does not have communal hot water. Therefore I have questioned it.

I am doubting whether this is reasonable behaviour as one of my friends has criticised me for doing this saying that it is controlling behaviour. I simply don't want to pay for work that is not my responsibility and the fators past behaviour suggests that they don't always attribute costs appropriately.

are there communal radiators/heating in the building?

Factor has now replied (very speedily).

Repair was to the communal cold water system (there isn't a communal hot water system as I stated above) however their invoice generating software apparently only has limited inputs hence incorrect statement on invoice.

No, I don't think you are BU. You've had a mistake in your bill in the past and so you check it carefully now. I can't see how that is controlling to be honest and agree that you don't want to be paying for something that isn't your responsibility. If you do pay then the managing agents might use that as an argument in their favour if more expensive works are needed (e.g. "well you paid for this item in the past so you should pay for it now" sort of argument).

Glad this is all sorted...all you need to do now is show your friend his/her arse. Your behaviour is totally reasonable. Controlling? Bugget that for a game of soldiers!

I wish you could see our factors! Expensive, inaccurate and useless are three of the nicer words.

Make sure the work has been done and that its for your building.

This thread has reminded me of why I'd never buy a flat again - bloody factors!

We had to do this when we lived in a shared block and the freeholder was Hackney - one year they wanted us to pay £400 for cctv maintenance. We didn't have CCTV. We had an estimated service charge and then would top up at the end of the year. It always needed topping up. It was actually more than our council tax.

Mind you, the last straw was when we had to pay £10k for our share of a new roof. The old one was only 15 years old, they put scaffolding in our garden for six months, we couldn't open the curtains without seeing a builder (or rather a builder seeing us), they broke our patio slabs, trashed our garden fence, damaged our windows and then £2k of that bill, that's 20 fricking percent, was administration charges. FUCKERS. We sold the flat to a social housing company and I really hope they're screwing Hackney Council into the ground over their 'service charge'.

Totally not unreasonable - you are checking your bills to make sure they are accurate - what's wrong with that??

Unless you're emailing the factor saying 'You dirty thieving bastards! We don't have a communal hot water system and you're trying to charge me for repairing it! At least Dick Turpin had the grace to wear a mask!'

Then you might just be being a tad unreasonable

Completely reasonable; in fact I think it would be foolhardy not to check bills such as these, which relate to large amounts of money and may be complicated to understand due to the legal issues involved.

Well yes it's controlling. And why shouldnt you control what your own money is spent on?

I have no idea what a factor is though

'Tis a Scottish thang, Stealth, someone who looks after the property for the landlord (see here)

Sorry, not just for landlords, but in communally-owned properties too - can be a useful in that the residents don't have to take on organizing communal repairs.

Factor = managment company over the border.

I have to say the Scottish one is much better than my English experiences although it still isn't as good as organising stuff yourself. But then who wants to be responsible for extracting cash from all the neighbours?