WE HAVE TO FIND £20,000

[Putthatbookdown]

we have owned a flat in a large block for a number of years We have been aware that we have been underpaying on the maintenance and the place needs renovating on the outside We have always asked them about this for years and the Management agents kept saying they were doing something: we thought they should have been asking us for money over the years to stop the place deteriorating and we wrote letters went to meetings etc Now at last they are demanding £20,000 per flat for the work It is quite reasonable as we should have been paying £1,5000 a year anyway but it is a lot to find in one go. any ideas?

Additional mortgage?

Doesn't seem acceptable. Presumably they aren't going to spend flats*20k in one go?

Contact the leasehold advisory service here they can offer advise and if needs be help you through a leasehold valuation tribunal to challenge the decision by your management company.

It doesnt sound right and all the better for your case if you have copies of the letters you sent and minutes of meetings where you raised the issue.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on

Presumably they would have to provide a breakdown of what the 20k covers? If you are getting a lick of paint that sounds ridiculous but if you are getting new windows, new roof, wall insulation, lead pipe removal, new fire alarms/emergency lighting, lift refit, asbestos removal etc etc then it starts to look more worthwhile.

Really annoying to have to pay all in pne go because of their incompetence tho!

What happens where people have moved? They can't expect the new owners to pay for previous years and no chance of getting money from previous owners I'd have thought

First, they have to give you quite lengthy notice and go through a consultation process for works of this size. That should buy you a little more time to raise the money. I can't remember the dates exactly but the Lease Advice website will probably have them.

Second, make sure you (perhaps in conjunction with some other leaseholders) get your own quote done for the works, from a recommended building company. It is a common scam not unknown for managing agents to use expensive building firms who overcharge the leaseholders and in return give the managing agents a kickback. If your quote is much lower, you will have a valid argument that their price is unreasonable and they should use your builder instead.

Third, you do not have to pay unreasonable charges and can go to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal if you think their charges are unreasonable - even if you would not actually want to go to the LVT, a threat to do so often works wonders on spendthrift landlords.

Fourth, do check the scope of the works. Make sure they are only doing what needs doing and not some questionable "improvements" that may not be necessary (eg our managing agent wanted to install fluorescent tubes everywhere in our early victorian house, finally got them to agree it wasn't necessary and shouldn't be done).

On the plus side, a spruced up block will improve the value of your flat no end. If you've been there many years, do you have quite a small mortgage relative to the value of the flat, could you remortgage to cover the £20k?

merci yes they can I'm afraid.

Forgot to say - good luck!

Omg minipie, so you can be held responsible for previous owners non payment? I know our solicitor had to check out the leasehold - is that why? So you could sue a solicitor who didn't notice? Flippin' eck

Everything minipie said. Managing agents are notorious for this sort of thing. I lived in a lovely mansion block for nearly 20 years and would have been sad to leave it except the managing agents were doing my head in. They were rude, corrupt, incommunicative. Worse, the Chair of the Residents Committee was as bad as they were. Everytime works were needed, there was basically a big fight between the MA and the RC over whose builder would get to do the work (and thus, who would get to pocket our money). The residents were stitched up in ethnic and tribal loyalties and it was impossible to get things to change.

merci - yes, they absolutely can, and when you buy into a block like this you have to research the history of works on the building and think about what is likely to come. When we sold our flat we had to supply every statement, demand and communication from the MA going back a decade, and written into the contract was that we weren't hiding any upcoming major works from the buyer.

Usually they won't receipt a sale if there are arrears from the previous lessee, but the debt travels with the lease so your solicitor definitely should have checked to see if there were service charge arrears or any deficit to be charged out.

Your managing agents have to go through the Sec20 process as enshrined in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. If they haven't, it could limit your liability to £250 per flat. You should have been given the opportunity to nominate a contractor to quote for the works, you should be able to view the specification and associated tenders and you should have been told why they're going with the quote they've chosen.

Unfortunately, you are liable to pay the costs for the maintenance of the building. Whether or not the agent or residents committee have been negligent in not having the work done for so long is sort of a separate issue. It may also be that your lease doesn't allow the collection of reserves for future works.

Also, if you think that the agent is using an affiliated company, getting kickbacks or not setting out their fees transparently, I would strongly recommend investigating getting an ARMA approved agent who follows the RICS code of conduct. If your agent is placed by your freeholder or is part of the freehold owning group then you and your neighbours could look into forming a Right To Manage Company, which essentially gives you the freeholder's rights and will give you the right to oversee the works directly as the RMC would then choose their own agent and become their client. Alternatively, you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to employ an alternative agent.

I'm a property manager, and it makes me really angry when I see it done badly. It's not surprising that agents have such bad reputations when things like this go on, particularly in cases where you get large freehold opening companies who self manage and think it gives them the right to bend lessees over for fees.

The managing agents started talking about the repairs some 6/7 years ago but I gather no one wanted to pay Meanwhile most seem to be let by their owners so the tenants do not care. We tried to extend the years ago (it has about 60 years left now) but they wanted £5000 even then. To remrtgage we will have to extend the lease as well. It is a mess.Basically we should have been putting money aside for this I think

the place was managed by a co until 2 years ago and the freehlders got rid f them as there were so many complaints Now the new co say they are not responsible for the mess left by the previous co. They left things in such a mess that the roof has had to be repaired 3 times as an emergency and once glass was in danger of falling frm the top floor There are 28 flats.I am sure there isa valid case against the previous co but not all the flats are prepared to fight together some are fighting individually others paying/not paying etc