How much service charge for flats

Hi, We have recently bought a piece of land on the edge of a golf course and built a house. We were told on purchasing the land that a small community change would need to be paid to the golf course for the use of a access road and maintenance of green areas surrounding the housing. Whilst we agree we should pay something towards the maintenance of the road which belongs to the developers the green areas belong to the golf club and should surely be their responsibility.

The developers have also told us we will need to set up a Management group. Is this really necessary and can we argue to include in the management fee those elements that effect the residents only? Your guidance would be greatly appreciated. The block is in a state of ruin and the company charges service charges only to selected owners like me. I was forced to pay pounds since and sadly no refurbishment. I bought the flat with solicitor and there were few millions ready for refurbishment but the corrupted managing agents split it among themselves.

HML group collects money only from selected residents.. I am a landlord and my freeholder — i have been looking on line and my Freeholder is charging me ever time a tennant renews the tennancy agreement , is this correct and what should the cost be?

Also if there are collapsed drains in the Garden is this the Free holders responsibility? The development of about 40 dwellings all have to contribute towards the upkeep of a small amount of shared ground. Most of which our garden and 5 other properties back onto. No one else gets the benefit of the space. I have asked about trees planted too close to our garage and could have an impact on the foundations and when I enquired, I was told the whole estate would need to contribute although the tree should not have been planted that close in the first place.

In an ideal world I would want to procure the space behind our house to keep as our own property but I doubt the management company would allow this as it would reduce their revenue.

Our question is, why should we pay a penny? I have owned my leasehold flat for over 15 years. There are 3 flats in a converted house, and three leaseholders. In our freehold was sold without our knowledge.

We are now buying the freehold, and, due to freeholders refusal to communicate we are awaiting a FTT hearing. We pay ground rent and a third each of the communal buildings insurance. Any advice would be very much appreciated!! I live on a new estate where the houses were sold leasehold. We pay grounds maintenance charges to a management company. We were told when we purchased the house that after 2 years we could change the company or arrange maintenance ourselves. I need to know how we would go about this.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I live in a flat which is leasehold I have had an invoice from despite being in credit at the beginning of this year, am I obliged to pay this? Usually building sites take a while before footpaths landscapes etc. Can you put me in touch with a solicitor that can advise on such matters as our TP1 states that our estate management company Chamonix has to have their accounts certified by an independent accountant.

That any increases in the charges has to be agreed with the Landlord Countryside. Appreciate any help you can give with this. I bought a new build 2 years ago and have just received a statement of account and charge demand which covers non-existent facilities.

Can I withhold part of the charge. I would like to ask for some advice? I bought my house in My husband and I bought a new-build property on a small development of 10 freehold detached houses and 3 leasehold semi-detached houses in As no one wishes to take on the roles of lead Director and Company Secretary, we would like to enlist a Managing Agent to run things on our behalf.

However, I am struggling to find a company that only deals with the external areas, such as grass cutting etc. Please can anyone suggest possible companies that could help us. The freeholder of a converted block of about 20 flats is intending to sell the freehold in December.

The management company has now given an estimate of repairs including roof repairs and external redecoration which my portion will be about 10k. The management company is normally pretty good in terms of responding to issues but they have only been in place for about 3 years and have been working through a backlog of remedials left undone by a previous company. I live in a new build mixed Estate of 8 houses and 6 apartments.

The apartments were unhappy with their maintenance charge bills, the houses had a minimal charge. The apartment directors unilaterally called an EGM and only invited the apartment owners. The appointed themselves directors and changed maintenance company. Our bills went up 4 fold. I am a resident flat owner at a large residential development. I am one of the many frustrated neighbours wishing this development. We pay huge amounts of service charge, at present a month which seems to be not enough as they are demanding more.

The level of service is poor to the point of being embarrassed. Communicating and financial information is not transparent. I feel stuck. I have emailed the management company on several occasions demanding explanations about my latest payment request which came out of the blue but I am not getting replies.

All neighbours are talking to each other, making comments but nothing happens. I feel their accounts should be audited, how can we do this? When the freehold was bought i was not able to participate. I found out already that a plumbing job which was quoted by a plumber to cost ca.

Pounds 3. I would some very negative review about the company but no addresses of the buildings. I would appreciate to hear from you.

Do you have any information about Private property maintenance companies. We are buying a new house in a development of 44 properties. We all have to accept a Deed of Covenant applied to the Land register of our property.

I am concerned about the extent to which the deed controls us, the owner but it gives the company free rein to do what it wants, or not. I have researched a bit on-line and have misgivings about the company operating the contract as they have a very significant number of bad reviews. I also learned that this policy is well established but this does not seem to be a fair deal for the owners.

They can charge what they like and potentially do as little as possible. This charge will often include insurance, lighting, cleaning and repairing of common parts, maybe gardening, the cost of estate staff as well as a possible contribution to a reserve fund.

How to challenge service charges. You have the right as a leaseholder to challenge a service charge or services provided. First announced during Budget , around , households are eligible for the rebate.

Depending on the flat type, each household will get rebates worth 1. If the owner of a retirement village flat died and their family inherited the property, they would have to pay this fee from the proceeds of the sale.

We hope you found this informative. Hostels, nightshelters and foyers are types of temporary accommodation for homeless people. The SP Services sets the rate each quarter. As shown in the chart below, the SP Group tariff has fluctuated over the past 5 years. Some cell phone companies offer roadside assistance for a small monthly fee, billed to the wireless account, but often there are additional charges.

Our service charge and fees. What do service charges cover? You can ask a tribunal to appoint a new manager, although you must prove bad management, which can be a high hurdle.

Charges too high? What you can do If you are a leaseholder who is unhappy about high service charges, there are things you can do. What is a service charge. Not paying enough service charge. While almost all investors raise the service charge question, and more often than not, naturally want the service charge to be as low as possible, I am often as nervous about a service charge which is too low as I am with one which I consider too high.

Much of this, as with anything comes with experience. In my early days as a graduate surveyor I had the benefit of managing a property portfolio in amongst the other work I was doing valuing properties, and completing my studies for RICS.

One particular development stood out to me with regards to poor service charge management. The company I was working for had recently taken on a development which had significant issues. The property itself being see front had started to have significant erosion issues with the windows, primarily due to the salt water.

Another property I owned near Manchester had a similar issue with the roof. Most of the tenants were older and as the management company had not saved up enough money, the roof which was a flat roof had problems which were simply being patched up, rather than adding a full roof over the block. While modern management companies have improved this significantly, as with any property there will be issues arising which need money spent on them. The benefit of a new property is with a 10 year build warranty which you should expect on any recently completed property along with a good service charge.

So, what is too low for a service charge cost?