Q: I have a question about certain costs which have been passed to our service charge by our freeholder. Our development opened in 2013. Every 12 months since then a fire safety review has been performed by a private company. As a result of these assessments a number of recommendations have been made due to […]
Q: In my two-storey Edwardian mansion block of 12 flats, four flats lead off each of three communal hallways from three separate main front doors. Each flat has an exit through the common hallways to the front and an immediate rear exit into the gardens at the back. The upstairs flats have rear exits down […]
Q: At present, our officers and committee members are reviewing the ‘Constitution’, which is some eight years old, and out of date. We wish to include one prime change (which does not feature within our current ‘Constitution’) and that is, ‘to accommodate a member’s entitlement to appoint a proxy, primarily, because we have three apartment […]
Q: We are a residents’ association, we own the freehold and self manage a block of 27 residential flats. Since acquiring the freehold in 2006 leaseholders have not been required to pay ground rent. An amount equivalent to the ground rent was added to each leaseholder’s service charge payment in 2006. This arrangement has continued […]
Q: 101 apartments in this retirement village are centrally heated by our RSL and costs are included in our service charges. In the first 10 months of occupation (June 2014 to March 2015) we were charged almost £90,000 for the supply of gas. On investigation, we discovered that there are no meter readings to justify […]
Q: We purchased the freehold for our five blocks and 36 maisonettes, in February 2002. Every maisonette owner received one equal share in the company. Since incorporation, a volunteer Board of Directors is dealing and managing all maintenance and administrative work. We the present Board of Directors discussed and agreed in a recent meeting that […]
Q: We made a complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority who did not consider taking any further action. Our complaint was twofold in that a local solicitor acting for the buyer and seller of a flat in our block allowed completion of the sale in January 2017 before obtaining authority from the Ground Landlord to […]
Q: Who is responsible for the maintenance of the smoke alarms in each flat? We fully accept responsibility for the smoke alarms in the communal areas. Each flat has an individual meter box on the outside wall, the management company paints the outside of the boxes, but when broken who should stand the cost of […]
Q: Since our inception over five years ago, we have regularly carried out weekly fire alarm tests and monthly emergency lighting tests, recording the results These are in addition to the normal servicing requirements which are in place for both. Recently, in our enquiries regarding a managing agent, an assertion was made that these need […]
Q: We own the freehold of a block containing eight flats. The owner/residents of the flats own the company. We have recently taken control of the company. We have decided to continue paying the same maintenance charge we paid when we employed an agent. This means that our informal Roof Fund will increase by an […]
