I have lived in a new build estate for 5 years, and as with such estates it is not enough that we pay council tax, but are made to pay a fee to a management company to look after the streets as apparently our council tax isn't enough.
All the houses pay around £120 a year for things like public liability insurance and maintenance of the shared borders. I probably wouldn't be quite as bitter if it was obvious they were being maintained BUT so far there have been 2 different companies involved and both have been rubbish.
The estate is starting to look really run down, and I don't recall having seen a gardener in over a year. Last time it was because we complained about the state of the flower borders that anything got done at all.
The parking spaces and pavements are growing moss and weeds, it's really frustrating and turning me into a bit of a grumpy old lady! This is our biggest investment and we're paying for the surroundings to be looked after and they are looking rougher by the day.
Around 6 months ago I went to a public meeting with the company who faced a lot of critism on how awful they're maintenance has been. They openly admitted that they hadn't paid the gardeners because they hadn't done a good job, so there was a surplus of 4k in the accounts, but that this would be rebated to us in our next bill in the form of a reduced bill. That they had new gardeners scheduled to start. Have they heck.
Anyway the bill came through again. It was for the same amount. In a pissy mood I wrote an email to vent my frustrations and to query the rebate. Response was that the amount had been reshuffled to cover the areas which had gone up so no rebate would be issued. One of these areas is cost of management 
.
Again more promises of new gardeners starting.
What would you do? It's sooo convenient that the rebate has needed to be swallowed up to cover other rising costs. I can't help but think they are robbing our estate blind and it's completely legal.