Property Management / Grounds Fees. Do you pay them?

[Slick]

I pay them but it's only a very recent thing to me as there aren't any management companies in the sticks. My first place I was at one neighbor refused to pay but cut bit of ground next to his house and painted a good bit of external fencing. The new place is okay but I cut the grass outside my own property anyway and if everyone did the same, we probably wouldn't need a management company. Seems more people in the sticks were a bit more willing to do their share, maybe because they had to though.

 

[Beebo]

The whole thing can break down if a large percentage of residents are tenants.
The tenant has little incentive to pay or keep the grass short and the absentee landlord is also unlikely to pay up.

My friend was a leaseholder in a block where the freeholder went bust, out of eight flats she was the only owner occupier. With no management company and no freeholder her only option was to auction her flat to a cash buyer as no mortgage company would touch it.

But she took a big risk buying in Thamesmead!

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

sorry it was picked up by solicitor but no-one knew what the fees would be.

Hmmmph - hostage to fortune right there. Should've inserted a maximum amount that you would be willing to pay into the contract or some such thing.

 

[Brains]

If the property is Leasehold then there will be fees
If the property is Freehold, no fees (the clue is in the name)

Who owns the Leasehold ?
If it's jointly by the tenants, then it's your Management company, and you, (collectively), can do what you want
If it's owned by a company (related to the builder probably) then it would be a good idea to buy them out.

£100 a year per house for an estate sounds way too low to me.
I would expect a figure with a comma.
As the estate is new many of the issues will still be covered by guarantees, but I'd expect that figure to increase manyfold over the next decade or so.
One blocked drain or pothole in the tarmac could blow the entire budget.

All of this should have been explained by your solicitor

 

[pjd57]

The £100 sort of figures usually relate only to common bits of land, grass , shrubs etc and not to any other sort of repairs or maintenance.

Thankfully in Scotland we don't have this leasehold nonsense.

 

[oldwheels]

We have a problem with a flat in Aberdeen where roof repairs are needed. An agent is dealing with it but getting 6 of the other 7 owners to cough up for a common repair will need legal action. It is hoped that the local council who raised the issue in the first place can be persuaded to get tough with the other owners and the threat of legal action from them may make them more cooperative. Only one other owner is willing as they are on the top floor nearest the roof. Beginning to think of just selling up for what we can get or paying the cost ourselves and then selling.

 

[cyberknight]

Sorry i would not have signed on the dotted line until i knew how much and what increases were foreseeable, imho your solicitor hasnt done their job.

 

[Moodyman]

Leasehold/maintenance fees are one of the biggest scandals in the housing sector. There are growing calls for these to be either abolished (unlikely) or to have capped charges.

£100 is quite low. In the worst cases they are the equivalent to a second mortgage.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

I have exactly the same with a 6 year old house I'm buying. The annual fee p1ssed me off a bit, but I was more annoyed about the £240 registration fee I had to pay to the property management company on top of solicitors fees, Trinity Management or something. I found my solicitor to be completely useless to be honest...

Coming from a rented house that is freezing, with oil central heating and a multi-fuel stove, I'll more than save the annual maintenance fee with less utility costs, I still think it's a rip-off though.

 

[gavgav]

When I bought my first house, in Worcester, there was a property management company, who were supposed to keep the surrounding area in a kept state.......well I never saw them do anything in the 2 years I was there!

But, after the house purchase went through, they sent me a letter to say that the previous owner was behind by 6 months, with payments and, I quote, “we appreciate the previous owner was responsible for this, but it needs paying, and so would you mind paying it please”.......errr yes I ruddy well do mind!!!! And no I won’t pay it!

 

[Globalti]

£100 a year is a bargain! That's £1.92 a week to have somebody maintain the communal areas and, presumably, the building! How much of your own time would it take and what is your time worth? I own a detached house and must spend 2-3 hours a week on maintaining the building and garden so I'd love to have somebody do it for me for less than £2 a week.

 

[keithmac]

There was a case a couple of years ago where the contract stated the ground rent fee would double every 5 years. It meant that due to the wonders of compound interest the ground rent started at £100, but after 50 years it was over £50k pa.
The solicitors simply hadn’t flagged it up. It made the house unsellable because no one would sign up to that.

I remember reading about that too, shocking really!.

 

[NorthernSky]

£100 a year is a bargain! That's £1.92 a week to have somebody maintain the communal areas and, presumably, the building! How much of your own time would it take and what is your time worth? I own a detached house and must spend 2-3 hours a week on maintaining the building and garden so I'd love to have somebody do it for me for less than £2 a week.

they do not touch the building at all, it's just common areas, so a few grass areas. i have the break down of where the fees go and the vast bulk goes to the management company, not on repairs or anything. as someone said it could end up being like a second mortgage. i'll avoid it on any other property if i ever move

 

[Drago]

£100 a year is a bargain! That's £1.92 a week to have somebody maintain the communal areas and, presumably, the building! How much of your own time would it take and what is your time worth? I own a detached house and must spend 2-3 hours a week on maintaining the building and garden so I'd love to have somebody do it for me for less than £2 a week.

The problem is that history has demonstrated that such fees don't remain at that level for ever. Hikes from £100 to 2 or 3000 sovs a year in one hit aren't unknown, and legally the residents are stuffed. Typically a new firm takes control and regards it not as a grass cutting exercise, but as a profit generating exercise.

Pay for a decent solicitor when you buy a house, not just a conveyancer, and ask questions about this sort of thing.

 

[vickster]

they do not touch the building at all, it's just common areas, so a few grass areas. i have the break down of where the fees go and the vast bulk goes to the management company, not on repairs or anything. as someone said it could end up being like a second mortgage. i'll avoid it on any other property if i ever move

Ask them for a detailed breakdown of spends, what they have in the pot etc. I would assume they are bound to provide if requested