Chit Chat
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Does anybody have any experience of having to pay a maintenance charge on a new estate. The charges are primarily concerning communal areas and their upkeep. This is on top of our council tax, we never use the facilities of a couple of benches on a grassy area and a pond. They want just over £23 a month from each of the 70 ish dwellings. Do I have any recourse as this is just scamming money for nothing. Cheers chit chatters.
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Replies: 35
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They have got to get the money from somewhere to pay the bailiffs when they evict you
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Cheers Leopard, ;-)
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think from hearing about this on the radio 15-20 years ago
the only way around this is for all properties to get together and do the required work themselves(prob have to pay off the Maint comp aswell sure someone will know a lot more |
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Not sure of legal position but probably no choice unfortunately, so ...
get a dog, teach it to cr@p close to benches every day. try to set fire to benches every day. spray round up on grassy areas. plant japanese knotweed near pond. pour diesel into pond. At least when maint company clean up, you know what you're getting for you £23. |
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Cheers, just don't like the idea of having to pay for something every month, when I will never have any benefit from it. If they want to put these features in great but nobody asked for it. Just a bright idea to make the developer about £10,000 a year for nothing.
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You do all that and the charge will go up to £123 a month.
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sorry Vatour, I just won a lay bet and was being frivolous.
Shirley your solicitor can help |
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£1,610.00 per month! Divide that with a generous hourly rate of pay, say £8.00 per hour, so they are saying it will take 200 man hours!
Divide that by an 8 hour day, and it comes to 25 full days of action!!! |
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You will have to pay the management company and from experience there will be other things they do too. Maybe not much but the danger is if you don't pay you will have real problems trying to sell if and when you move because the management company will need to inform your solicitors that all dues have been paid or your sale cant complete (if the buyers solicitors are decent). The only way around it is for all the residents to get together and take over responsibility for managing the area,that requires a sub committee of residents prepared to take on the responsibility of coordinating across all properties and if some are flats or houses rented out to tenants with landlords living away it is a nightmare.
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Aren't you just describing a service charge? do you rent from a housing association ?
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New redrow estate, the charge is on top of council tax. I think the only way is for the residents to take over the upkeep as suggested. Bought not rented, which i would say is the case for all of the others.
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Bought not rented, which i would say is the case for all of the others.
I'm doubting that, as all new housing developments have to contain an amount of "low cost", houses which invariably are bought by housing associations. |
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Presumably you knew about this maintenance charge before agreeing to buy the house? Agree it's a nuisance, though. What would happen if you simply refused to pay?
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As said this should all have been explained by your solicitor when buying.
If a house I assume its a freehold? Service charge is usual with Leasehold flats but that usually covers building insurance. |
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We moved on to new build last year, we have voting rights on who does the work. £123 pa think there is plans for 2/3 hundred houses.
might put my own name forward. |
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There are housing association houses, but I didn't think they would be involved in this.
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I pay about a pony every quarter. The service they provide is very good. No complaints here
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Did your Solly point it out to you when you signed up for the house.
I had the same situation and the Solly forgot to inform us of this extra cost- I asked a barrister friend and he told me to tell them to get fxxd. He wrote them a letter for me and hey presto, no maintenance charge. I also took great pleasure in informing the neighbours of our position |
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^^^The builder also forgot to inform me as well
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I hope they are all truly solly!
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The thing is that, as others have said, it must surely be within the sale particulars, along with any extraordinary covenants!
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What sale particulars exactly?
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If you are not living in a building with a no. of different flats there are no communal areas, a house and garden are the extent of your responsibility, anything outside your own garden area is the councils problem.
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some have to pay a charge on our estate,its mainly for the upkeep of the parking area and some gardening work
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We did pay £200 when buying house, for first years maintenance. Had to pay as stipulation of buying the house, they finished the site over a year later and now want more money. I'm not giving them anymore money as for the last 18 months it's been a building site, we probably have no legal recourse though as everyone paid upfront when they bought their house. I think the residents taking over the upkeep is the only way forward. Unless we all refuse to pay, what's the worst they can do?
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Gardening work?...there is no gardening work that concerns anybody outside their own garden...never heard of a parking area either, are there no driveways...what exactly are people paying for here?
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their garages and parking bays are together in a courtyard and the front of the houses have a privot type bush which i have seen these maintenance firms cutting
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Fine, the garage is the owners responsibility...no need for a parking area assuming there is a driveway or street outside house...I would also consider cutting my own hedge or paying someone privately to do it.....now what is the maintenance fee for?
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Council tax should be enough to take care of it. They've built benches and put down wood clippings. Then you have a grassy area, not sure why this isn't cut by council. Then the pond, which is about 200 yards away down the bottom of the estate, which if I live to be 100 years old, I will never see as I live at the top and there is only one way in and out. Problem is most people will just pay, as the thought of not paying a bill that came through the letterbox is alien to them. Why do people just pay?
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For the upkeep of the communal areas.
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A pond is lovely, not your responsibility.
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My sentiments exactly.
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when they bought the house they must have agreed to this charge to have these jobs done,they have a garage and a parking spot in a courtyard so it must be for the upkeep of that and the bush runs along the front of the estate which i assume is so that they are not looking out onto the road but i have seen the maintenance men trimming this
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Gazo, we cut the hedge out the front and have no need for anyone else to keep things maintained. It just annoys me that someone has had a bright idea to make a few quid on a regular basis. Haven't redrow heard of betfair.
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Probably be a negative when you come to sell.
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