freehold house but pay services charge

[LINDAHOAD]

can anyone help and advise

live in a freehold house one of 5 an d pay a service charge for gardening, fencing, electric gates etc to management company - not happy with service we have been receiving but have been told we cannot go to the tribunal because it ii a freehold house and does not come under the tribunal. does anyone know and where we go to to complain. thanks

peter

Surely if you own the freehold, you (i.e. all the freeholders together) appoint whoever you want to provide these services? That's the situation with MIL's home which is similar to yours by the sound of it. Who appointed the service company originally?

How much do you pay?

Agree with pp - change management company.

We have this, except it's thousands of properties. We can as residents sack them and appoint new but they have a 25 year contract (thanks developer) so compensation means it's unaffordable

Yes. If you are not happy with the management company just sack them! But you will have to all agree or have a majority or whatever your articles of association say.

Yep, we have this, a group of 12 houses with shared gardens and parking areas. You'd just need to check what contract your residents' association directors agreed with the management company.

Ours is mediocre but fairly cheap and we can do most things ourselves, we just need them to keep us compliant with laws and regulations. We never trust them with any tradespeople quotes. They don't shop around and just have rip off people on their books. But at least they are responsive.

My parents are in thus situation, you band together and firebthe managing agents. You can then do it yourself or hire a new one. Talk to a solicitor

Until recently it was the case that freeholders in this situation didn't have the same rights as leaseholders do vis-a-vis management companies (indeed they had no rights whatsoever) but the Leasehold and Freehold Act 2024 has changed this. Not all of this Act comes into force this year. Try to speak to a property law solicitor (not a conveyancer) who is up to speed with the new legislation.