I have a telephone call booked in tomorrow with a property lawyer so I will see what they make of it and what initial advice they have.
I suppose you first need to find out whether the lease allows the new management company to demand such high charges.-your property lawyer should answer that.
If the lease does allow it, you then need to find out if the work needs doing -that needs a surveyor to do a report.
And finally whether the quotes are fair.
What do you know about the new company?
If they are limited, have a bit of a dig and see if you csn find out as much as you can about the directors. I always find building up a picture of the business you are dealing with can be useful.
The lease is very vague and ambiguous, it says that a proportion of the costs for work to the outside will be my responsibility. I asked them "what does proportion mean", and they said that it means I will pay for all of the repairs/work to my property which is a proportion of the row of houses in our street... weird.
I haven't even seen the quotes yet - part of the Section 20 process I want to check is that at stage two are they legally bound to share them as they haven't done so. Maybe that's because they have not accepted the quotes or at least the companies offering to do the work.
I did some research on them and agree, it can help a lot actually. The director is new in post and only been there about a year.
Ok thanks for the update..
1. Do you pay a maintenance fee/charge? You say they are responsible for maintenance, but haven't done it. If you pay a fee, they are obliged to perform the service. You might have an angle that they are in breach of the lease and you are seeking a significant contribution/discount/damages to the proposed work, to take account of their breaches. As its a deed, you can go back 12 years.
2. The other angle is to notify them that the proposed works are excessive and would not be required if the building had been properly maintained as per the lease.
3. (how many years left on the lease - If less than 80. Notify them that given the market value and remaining length of the lease, their proposes works do not make economic sense and are simply unaffordable. However, they'd make more sense if they would extend the lease FoC at the same time. This will increase the value of your property to go some way to offsetting the costs.
1. I pay £30 a month. They claim the work is NOT due to neglect and they have maintained it. The argument I have is where are these records? I have asked on three occasions for them but have not yet received them despite them agreeing we could all review.
2. Yea that is our argument pretty much. Many saying they have notified them a number of times about guttering and drainage issues but they have not fixed them.
Also how can a balcony get so bad that it is not safe for someone to stand on? They sent out letters to residents saying "Do not stand or use the balconies"
3. I think it's more than 80 years, can't remember the exact figure but when I sold (before it fell through) we checked this.
ONE OTHER UPDATE
A neighbour emailed the Senior Surveyor from the Property Investment Team asking some questions
QUESTION: If properties have been maintained as required, why is the structural failings of the balconies and porches not covered by insurance?
ANSWER:
The found defects within the timber balconies can be attributed (but is not fully exhausted to) to again various issues; poor maintenance carried out; poor flashing details of the doors and windows; inadequate attention to construction detail and poor quality of materials used at the time of construction; inadequate sloping of the balcony to allow rainwater to drain off; lack of properly installed mastic sealant and oddly, the installation of mastic where it did not belong. In this instance, the mastic installed can prevent water from being drained away and allows it to be held with the timber structure. The proposed installation of the Juliet balconies will remove the on-going maintenance and cost requirement of the current design.
So aren't they admitting here then that it was construction issues and poor maintenance (that's in black and white) that has partially led to the balconies deterioration.