Neighbours join forces in revolt against flats costs
Repair bill takes residents’ charges above £3,600 in a year
A group of outraged residents at a block of Maidstone flats are trying to overthrow their managing agents, saying they are struggling to pay “astronomical” service charges.
On top of the annual payment, each of the 95 flats at Sandling Park was handed an external redecoration bill costing around £1,500, just weeks after being charged an extra £40 to repair an electric gate which had not been working for two years.
It will have cost 27-year-old Emily Powell more than £3,600 this year, close to what she pays for her mortgage. The national average service charge is £1,850.
She has joined neighbours Terry Cunningham, 62, Phil Davis, 54 and Alan Filer, 70, to set up an unofficial residents’ association to overthrow Glasgowbased Nationspaces Developments, which manages the flats.
The recruitment consultant, who moved in last October, said: “You would think I was paying to live in a palace. A lot of people will struggle to afford it. We just want the right to look after our properties without being charged extortionate amounts.”
The residents considered a costly bid for the Right to Manage, meaning they would be able to put another agent in charge, but the management company has a majority shareholding.
Because the £142,000 works to renovate the cedar cladding cost more than £250 per leaseholder, a consultation process was carried out including estimates from three contractors, in line with the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. But residents have no power to challenge the costs or tendering.
Ralph Syme, director at Nationspaces, said discontent was confined to a vocal minority of residents, which only accounted for a fifth of those who lived there.
He said: “We appreciate it is quite a sizeable amount which is why we have given them a year to pay it.
“A lot of people who buy leasehold properties don’t take into account that they are part of a collective. Even if the management was transferred to residents, the works would still need to be done.”