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When the freeholder neglects
services and maintenance
 When
a friend bought an investment apartment for investment, she thought nothing
could go wrong. It was in a brand-new block by the sea, and the building
was going along to schedule. But as it neared completion, the developers
disappeared, leaving work unfinished in the common parts.
A few months later, they surfaced briefly to
offer the fourteen flat owners the chance to buy the freehold.
Unfortunately, not enough of them were willing or able to fork out the £4000
each that purchase of the freehold would have cost.
So the freehold was sold over
the residents’ heads to a property company who still did not carry out the
work needed on the building. |
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Despite this, each of the residents received a bill for over £300 for
‘retrospective’ service and maintenance from the new freeholders, and were
told that the charges would ‘go up more’ in future. One of the items was a
charge of over £1000 for ‘changing light bulbs’. No services, apart from
occasional cleaning of the common parts, were ever provided. No maintenance
of any kind had been carried out.
The
residents formed an Association and requested documentation to support these
demands, only to be told that the original developers ‘left no paperwork.’
What could they do now?
LEASE,the Leasehold Advisory Service, SAYS:
A big
worry for residents in cases like these is repossession, another is that
interest will be charged on late payments. But they need to be aware of the
following facts.
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Liz Hodgkinson is a prolific author
and journalist contributing to many publications. She has written over 40 books on a wide
variety of topics and has a background in national newspapers. She now falls into the
'later-life' age category and in recent years has started writing for this 'older' market,
and contributes to Saga magazine, among others.
Liz has two sons and four grandchildren. She is divorced and now
lives in London and on the SouthCoast. She has written three books on property matters and
her interests include snooping round other people's houses and viewing showhomes.
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