21% service charge raise - what can I do???!!!!

[Captainess PCBM]

In March last year myself and my partner bought an apartment from a housing association. We bought it outright and the only advice I can find regarding housing associations seems to be about the part buy part rent schemes which do not apply to us.

 

We recieved a letter this weekend (well my partner recieved the letter because for some reason they refuse to recognise that I also own it!!!) anyway - werecieved a letter saying that the service charge would be going up by 21%! I called the assistant manager of the HA who spent an hour going through exactly what we were paying for (although he didn't technically answer any of my questions!) and more or less told me they can charge us whatever they like and theres nothing we can do about it.The following is more or less what he told me we were paying for p/a between 6 apartments:

 

Insurance - £720 decreased to £540 - Obviously I have no problem with this as it is actually a decrease and I can see the benefit of having building insurance.

 

Manageing Agent Fees - £1428 increased to £1614 - this apparently pays for letters / accounts and wages of the HA staff (including and I quote "this conversation with me" - maybe I should ring him for an hour every month so that I get my moneys worth!) . Although this seems abit excessive to me for sending an average of 6 (most of the time pointless) letters per month, maybe less - I do understand that employees have to be paid and I would be extremely frustrated if there was no one there to answer the phone if I had a problem. So ok I accept this charge (although I would be greatfull if someone could advise me if this is a reasonable amount as I am fairly new to this homeowner game)

 

Block Cleaning contract - £500 increased to £660 - This I do not accept! we have a cleaner who comes for around 20 minutes every 2 weeks and just runs a vacuume around (not very well I must add). If it is reasonable to pay a cleaner £55 per month for 40 minutes work then I think my next step will be to jack my job in and start a cleaning business!!! The answer I got from the HA about this was that this is how much they have to pay so thats how much I have to pay and if I had a problem with the cleaner then I needed to put it in writting and provide proof!!! (because I have nothing better to do than supervise their contractors!!) What frustrates me more with this is that I clean the halls more than they do even though I seem to be paying over the odds for it!

 

Block grounds maintenence contract - £500 increased to £725 - again I do not accept this - as this was a new build when we first moved in the grounds (a large communal patch of grass and im guessing the car park)were well kept and tidy with freshly planted plants. In the year that we have been here the only thing that seems to have been done is that the grass was cut about 3 times in the summer. The car park is now full of weeds and all the plants have died (i am aware that it's winter, as the HA kindly reminded me, what with all this snow there was me thinking summer was well on the way! but these plants are dead or trampled or pulled up) The explanation for this was exactly the same as the cleaner - this is what they have to pay so this is what I have to pay and if have a problem with the contractors I need to put it in writing.

 

Block Electricity - £250 doubled to £500 - I find this completely ridiculous! I pay £25 per month for the electricty for a whole apartment, and im in credit! so I really dont understand how it can cost £200 more pa to light 3 hallways and apparently 1 communal light that is shared by us and 7 houses in the car park! again I was told that this is what they have to pay so this is what I have to pay! I really dont know what to do about this one!!

 

Day to day repairs - £500 remaining £500 - although this hasn't increased I still challenged the HA about it as we have called a number of times over the last 6 weeks about a faulty lock on the front door to the block which means teenagers are getting in, in their words "because its cold" and smoking weed in our hallways and scratching their tags into the plaster in the walls. as yet this has STILL not been repaired. Also when we had a faulty loft hatch in our apartment that had to be repaired they simply replaced ours with the one in the hall and still havnt fixed that one that was about 10 months ago- when I asked what exactly had been repaired he couldn't tell me which leads me to believe that they havn't actually repaired anything. So here I am paying for someting that isn't getting done!

 

Audit fees - £30 decreased to £25 - this has decreased but he couldn't actually explain to me what exactly "audit fees" were

 

Contribution to block reserve fund - £1500 increased to £1575 &

Contribution to Car park reserve fund - £571 increased to £600 - this is a fund we pay in to so that if any major repairs ever need doing they can be paid for out of this. Apparently this has increased inline with inflation but considering that in the 2.5 yrs since the estate has been built they have not spent one penny of this fund and considering that the total increse of the service charge is 21% and considering that they set the amount of this charge in the 1st place I would have thought that this increase would have been disregarded? In the current climate I thought this would have been a resonable thing for a provider of "affordable" housing to do. Maybe i'm wrong?

 

Estate service costs - £228 remaining £228 - after going through this I still have no idea what it is!

 

Pumping station maintenence - £0 increasing to £570 - I am absolutly fuming about this! over the last year we have recieved 3 letters (which I believe were paid for out of the managing agents fees!) advising us that they have had to have repairs on the pumping station (which is shared by about 85 homes which are a mixture of half rent half buy, rented and full ownership apartments and houses) because someone keeps throwing nappys and rags down the toilet which creates a blockage (how someone gets a nappy down the toilet I dont know!) they have therefore added this charge to the service charge - I was informed that because they cant prove who is doing it they have to charge everyone - I dont even have a baby!!! and both me and my partner stopped wearing nappies about 25 years ago!!! What I need to know here is do the houses that are owned outright also have to pay a service charge and if they dont am I paying for their share aswell? I also need to know if the rent on the rented homes have also gone up to cover this - the HA would not tell me this - do I have a right to know???

 

Im really sorry to have gone on so much but this increase seems extortionate to me in a recession where we all have to save as much money as we can how can they justify such a raise? the impression that I got after an hour on the phone seems to be that that is what it is and there is nothing I can do about it. But is there anything can do about it????? what will happen next year and the year after that and the year after that when it goes up again can they just carry on charging us unlimited amounts?

 

Im sure this will have reduced the value of my home as no one would want to buy a 2 bed apartment with such a high service charge. Also, is this high? Being new to this I'm not sure, it is currently £86.49 and will rise to £104.68 per month.

 

I would also like to know what would happen if we refused to pay - I know have the backing of all of the other residents in the block but would it have any effect other than us getting bailiffs banging on our doors?

 

Any advice on this would be greatly recieved!

[catzeyes79]

Captainess PCBM

 

If you ever got any resolution from your HA please contact me. I am in the same boat and it stinks.

[andydd]

Hi there.

 

Firstly Ill mention 2 sites that are very helpful..

 

http://www.lease-advice.org/default2.asp - Leasehold Advisory Service

 

and

 

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?11-Long-Leasehold-Questions - LandlordZone

 

 

 

As a leaseholder you have many specific rights to challange the amountsn of service charges, there is a special court called Leasehold Valuation Tribunal which is (supposed) to be an informal/low cost court (I say supposed as some may argue it can be complex and pricey).

 

Have a look here at how to apply > http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/tribunals/residential-property/#leasehold

 

Its often useful to view past LVT decisions (youll find that most are similar to yours !), see the Decisions links on the above Lease Advice and RPTS sites.

 

LVT's can decide on whether service charges are reasonable and reduce amounts if not (it may also be that nothing is payable as landlords/freeholders must comply with many laws and many are ignorant of them)

 

At an LVT you can dispute (for example cleaning costs, did cleaners really visit x hours per week, is the cost of x £ per hour reasonable, did they do a good job ?)

 

Ultimately the service charge is for the landlord/freeholder/management company to recover its costs, no more, no less, at an LVT they will have to supply invoices, etc of costs incurred.

 

Do you pay these charges in advance or on a monthly basis ?

 

Also go find your lease (You'll need it).

 

If you want to get involved, most of the relevant laws are in Landlord & tenant Act 1985 > http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70

 

and Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002 > http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/contents

 

A few years ago I was paying huge amounts to my freeholder and had various legal threats but Ive since wised up and now taken him to LVT and Court a few times and have forced him to refund me over £2000.

 

Use your rights under S21 and S22 of LTA 1985 to ask for invoices/info/viewing documents.

 

Andy

Edited November 10, 2011 by andydd

[45002]

Captainess PCBM

 

If you ever got any resolution from your HA please contact me. I am in the same boat and it stinks.

 

Captainess PCBM Post is from 6th February 2009 !

[andydd]

Captainess PCBM Post is from 6th February 2009 !

 

Ha..oh yeah..thought was new, well guess advice is for catzeyes79 !

[catzeyes79]

andydd

 

Thanks for the reply. I am uncertain if your advice and the LVT can help me and my fellow householders as we own our properties on a housing estate and the service charge comes from a covenant. One other member of our group has taken legal advice and we are informed we have no legal rights!!

 

In your case is it a house?

 

Do you own your property or do you rent?

 

Is it freehold or are you leasehold?

 

 

Many many thanks for your help.

 

I can see this being a long battle.

 

Catzeyes

[andydd]

Hi.

 

My property is a flat that I bought, it is one flat within a building containing two flats. It is rare that there are leasehold houses, for obvious reasons, when someone owns a whole house or building they normally own the land and freehold as well, clearly if there are 2 flats within the building or house, who would own and have responsibilty for the land and repairs, the answer is normally someone else own the freehold, although there are other commonhold options (more common outside UK).

 

It is possible to have leasehold houses though (where someone else own the freehold).

 

It is leasehold, which means there is a freehold who owns the land and whole property (in theory although I bought the property I am actually renting over a long period 199 years and I pay ground rent of £30 per year).

 

If you are sure that in your case that you own the freehold and there is no landlord then its true most of the various regulations and option to appeal to a LVT dont apply BUT instead there will be strict contractual regulations taht apply, you need to find and read the covenant/agreement and see what it says.

 

Andy