I own a leasehold flat in a big block where the leaseholders formed an RTM company and appointed a new management company around the time I bought it, 10 years back.
I haven't had problems with maintenance before but now that I do I'm losing my marbles. The management company isn't doing their job but I don't know how to put pressure on them, how to make a formal complaint that they're failing, or what to do next.
NB The Freeholder is useless and borderline criminal. I understand that this was the reason the RTM was formed in the first place.
I reported damage from water leaking into my flat's kitchen from an outside wall more than 3 months ago. It turns out that the management company decided not to install a temporary drainpipe while waiting for a new cast iron one (old one fell off in a storm). So, water had just been running directly down my wall from the gutter for up to a year. It took two months to even investigate, sort out a temporary pipe and get a surveyor to inspect the damage. I had intended to get the (old and damaged) kitchen re-floored and then install furniture and cupboards. As the surveyor said all the plaster will have to be knocked off the wall back to the brick and dried out before replastering. This sounds like a major undertaking and I don't feel able to go any further with my own interior renovations until this is done.
I had only just moved back in after living overseas and have lots of stuff in storage pending renovation and buying furniture. The initial cheap storage deal in the UK has finished and this delay is now costing me a lot of money. I'd also planned to rent out the spare room from January 2020 for some extra income and haven't been able to do this.
I feel like I'm I'm losing my marbles with the ignored emails and unanswered phonecalls. They just fob me off with messages promising to update "in due course". If they had told me last autumn that they would take no action for 4 months, I could have made different decisions. For my sanity, if they're going to do nothing for another 6 months, perhaps I should just try to sell it regardless of the damage and the value this will knock off.
I'm also wondering, should the RTM be having regular meetings and inviting or consulting leaseholders on management issues? Should the decision not to install a temporary pipe have been flagged to affected flats? Who is it that is actually responsible for either action or coordination? I'm groping in the dark.
Sorry this is such a ramble. I have no idea what to do next on this and I'm very tired.