Q: On behalf of our Residents’ Association I formally requested the Statement of Service Charge Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2016. These should have been received not later than 30 September 2016. Recently a new agent has been appointed who so far has refused to send the accounts, claiming that they are being […]
Q: Do we need an evacuation plan for block of 12 flats in the event of a fire? Is there a standard way this should be displayed or set out? The property consists of two blocks joined and mirrowing one another containing six flats each. FPRA Chairman Bob Smytherman replies: Your company will need to […]
Q: We recently appointed agents. There are five directors from a block of 15 residents. We held a board meeting with the MD from the agents present. We agreed with him a date for another board meeting, with notification of the agenda 7-10 days in advance which the board would produce. For some unknown reason, […]
Q: We have an interesting problem in need of a potentially creative solution and are hoping that the FPRA might have some ideas / experience. Our landlord is a hotel company who operates a franchise in the lower six floors our building with our residential portion occupying 64 apartments above on long leases. The leasehold […]
Q: Can a Section 20 Consultation process be replaced by raising a matter at the AGM? After all, we are asking the shareholders in the most direct way, ie face-to-face. It’s a matter of redecoration of a part of our building. While not a big project, it will probably just push over the £250 per […]
Q: Please could I ask your advice for suggested wording when making a request for payment, for example for the annual service charge or ground rent. Presently we just issue a letter (and Service Charge Notice if applicable) requesting payment at their earliest convenience but have had on occasion issues with late payment. Are we […]
Q: Our residents have recently been issued a Section 20 notice re intent to change managing agents (we have had the same managing agent for several decades). Â We have fought for better services and value for money under the current agents and want to make maximum use of this opportunity to improve the situation. […]
Q: Last year the managing agents appointed by the developer of our development sold out to another firm. We knew nothing of this until we were told in a letter from the previous managing agent. So it was very much a fait accompli.  We subsequently had a meeting with the new managing agents and said we […]
Q: We had an asbestos survey of the common parts of our building (built 1964) in 2013. Some areas were identified which required removal. This was dealt with by a licenced contractor. Other low risk areas were noted and labelled. During a recent lift upgrade the contractors requested a further survey of the areas in […]
Q: We are preparing to re-let our cleaning contract and our managing agents have said that they believe that we do not need to undertake a Section 20 consultation even though the contract would breach the £100.00 in a year long term agreement threshold for one of our lessees, whose share of maintenance expenses, for […]
