New Leaseholder company trying to pass £20k charge to residents - UPDATE

[sodthisforfun]

I have never had any similar charges or requests to pay for things in this manner before from the housing association
The sheer cost of this is stupidly high

Did you look into Florrie’s Law? One of the other people put a link up explaining about it. Costs are capped outside of London at 10k. Not sure if applies to you?

I also question why they suddenly need to do so much work.. and want to know if can nominate your own contractors.

 

[redrabbit]

Did you look into Florrie’s Law? One of the other people put a link up explaining about it. Costs are capped outside of London at 10k. Not sure if applies to you?

I also question why they suddenly need to do so much work.. and want to know if can nominate your own contractors.

Hey, I think that law relates to council properties, mine isn't council owned. However, it is a good piece of guidance really and sort of sets the tone about what is fair and reasonable.

I've no idea about contractors to be honest, I don't even know EXACTLY what work they want to do... they've just given a list of things they're going to be looking at refurbing and replacing.

 

[motorbiking]

Its not wise for you to take on future liabilities - its better to agree a withholding amount to cover a portion. Agreeing to cover future costs leaves you exposed. Your solicitor will advise. btw - I saw your post on the other forum. I forgot to mention that you have to craft your questions carefully and NOT mention that you have a solicitor.. You may get a helpful response, but none of the pro's will comment on your post. Sorry my mistake..

When you lawyer calls you back. you should ask - is this a formal consultation and should I respond back disputing the maintenance is required and argue that the proposed works appear to be enhancements, which you are no liable to pay.

 

[redrabbit]

Its not wise for you to take on future liabilities - its better to agree a withholding amount to cover a portion. Agreeing to cover future costs leaves you exposed. Your solicitor will advise. btw - I saw your post on the other forum. I forgot to mention that you have to craft your questions carefully and NOT mention that you have a solicitor.. You may get a helpful response, but none of the pro's will comment on your post. Sorry my mistake..

When you lawyer calls you back. you should ask - is this a formal consultation and should I respond back disputing the maintenance is required and argue that the proposed works appear to be enhancements, which you are no liable to pay.

Hey,

No problem at all.

I will ask that question - if she ever calls me back. The solicitor is the one that is dealing with our sale and purchase. I will stick with her for now, but if the house falls through I will potentially seek a specialist one in these kind of matters.

If it does fall through I'd also be interested in the potential to take legal action on the housing association for this and some other matters. There's been a few articles and things I've heard on the radio recently about them, so I don't think they're very well thought off.

My number one priority is trying to get this house move to happen. If it doesn't then it will be a catastrophic disaster. Not only will we have lost our perfect house, but we will also then be stuck trying to fight and argue this work and cost, and then have to at some point in 12+ months have to try to re-sell the house and try to find another.

Thanks again,
Redrabbit

 

[Ian H]

Seems so wrong.

Could I go and buy some crap flats, charge the residents loads of money to make them desirable, then turf out the residents and get fresh ones in paying more?

 

[redrabbit]

Seems so wrong.

Could I go and buy some crap flats, charge the residents loads of money to make them desirable, then turf out the residents and get fresh ones in paying more?

That is a fantastic business model as it is entirely correct, you could legally do that.

The housing company involved is a charitable registered society which apparently are businesses that are run for the benefit of the wider community, re-investing profits in the community.

However, looking at their accounts for 2018 they are operating at a surplus of £8m, and have cash+assets totalling £47m.

Additionally, they also have recently spent £7m to start the refurbishment on a block of flats nearby.

Despite all this, I'm still left with this potential £20k. So I may lose my dream house, the chain will fall through and I'll be stuck for a while having to try to pay off this amount of money and also fighting it for months on end.

I've written to my MP.
I've also reduced our house sale price by £5k as a goodwill gesture
My Dad has offered to lend me £10k also so maybe I can reduce by £15k and still get this house deal done.

 

[sodthisforfun]

As your housing association is the council but private (I didn't realise), you're under no obligation to accept their quote.. you are able to appoint your own contractors to look at the work and get your own quotes. You may be able to argue that some of the work doesn't need to be done yet.

Your dad is tops isn't he? Nice bloke

 

[redrabbit]

As your housing association is the council but private (I didn't realise), you're under no obligation to accept their quote.. you are able to appoint your own contractors to look at the work and get your own quotes. You may be able to argue that some of the work doesn't need to be done yet.

Your dad is tops isn't he? Nice bloke

He is indeed!

Sorry, being a bit thick here... have you made a typo above - did you mean to say "as your housing association is NOT the council, but is private"???

Interesting, it's inevitable EVERYONE will be rejecting these costs and the estimates. It's also unlikely that the cost will end up being £15-20k.

So the possibilities are to reduce our sale price by £15k and move... even though the cost of this work could be far less and is likely to be less.
Or the whole thing falls through and we end up staying but find out that the final bill is £7k or whatever

Either way, I would rather cut my losses and get out of here, even if I lost £10k in the process. At least I'm getting on with life, starting a family, in a house where I would stay for 10+ years.

 

[sodthisforfun]

Nah, you're not being thick, it was me and a typo! Good luck

 

[motorbiking]

I've also reduced our house sale price by £5k as a goodwill gesture

Why did you do that?

 

[redrabbit]

Why did you do that?

It was my GF

We've not officially done it. We said to solicitor to get hold of buyer. We would be willing to reduce as long as he agrees to exchange quickly

 

[motorbiking]

its not a smart move..
1. You have not established that you are even being formally consulted yet.
2. You don't know what rights you have to object or the lawful basis for them to apply a charge.
3. You don't even know if you are required to disclose this
4. a Withholding is a much better mechanism.

Stop panicking and let your experts advise you.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

I'm sorry about your predicament, but it is no different than selling a detached proprty where the buyers find 15 or 20 grands worth of faults.

In a way it's quite different. If you're buying a property and find 20 grand's worth of faults, you negotiate the price, or ask that repairs are carried out. End of story. However, the OP's buyer will be looking at this and realising the situation is completely out of their hands. They are making a long term commitment and will be wondering what other 'essential' repairs will crop up in the future. Repairs that they will be forced to pay for, whether they like it. Whether they can afford it or not. Then there's the problem of selling it when they themselves want to move.

Personally, buying into a flat with potentially open-ended future repair bills with zero control would see me looking elsewhere for somewhere to live. If it was going to be my home, I wouldn't want to move in and be immediately involved in disputes and possibly protracted legal actions.

 

[EFLImpudence]

In a way it's quite different. If you're buying a property and find 20 grand's worth of faults, you negotiate the price, or ask that repairs are carried out. End of story.

Yes but we are looking at it from the sellers side and he can't afford to wait or drop 20k.

However, the OP's buyer will be looking at this situation and realising the situation is completely out of their hands. They are making a long term commitment and will be wondering what other 'essential' repairs will crop up in the future. Repairs that they will be forced to pay for, whether they like it. Whether they can afford it or not. Then there's the problem of selling it when they themselves want to move.
Personally, buying into a flat with potentially open-ended future repair bills with zero control would see me looking elsewhere for somewhere to live.

That applies to all flats.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Yes but we are looking at it from the sellers side and he can't afford to wait or drop 20k.

Yes, but we also need to look at it from the buyer's side. It's them that's buying the flat.

That applies to all flats.

Precisely, which is why I disagreed when you said it was no different than selling a detached property. Chalk and cheese.

And no, it definitely doesn't apply to all flats. I have lived in flats where residents were completely responsible for maintaining them, internally and externally. Usually smaller blocks. Last flat I lived in, the fascias, gutters and drainpipes needed to be replaced with plastic. We got a local tradesman in for a quote, agreed between ourselves and split the bill equally between ourselves. Would never have bought a place with potentially open-ended repair bills.