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). 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 […]
