Thursday, 24 May 2012

If you are a General Needs Tenant's or Leaseholders's BEWARE OF MIXED TENURE BLOCKS

Posted in: Need to Know | Ask the Experts

16/02/2012 4:27 pm

Colemankim14

Colemankim14

Posts: 20

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Anonymous

Anonymous

16/02/2012 4:35 pm

Mixed tenure blocks are almost certainly here too stay.....not only is mixed ternured considered to be good for social inclusion, but even traditional council blocks can become mixed tenure as a result of right to buy aquisition and resale. Often the leaseholders come off worst due to badly written leases.

It's a case of 'swings and roundabouts' private blocks often suffer poor, unregulated management and overcharging, plus the curse of the buy-to-let landlord. Council blocks have their own problems, amd mixed block suffer a mix of the two!

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Colemankim14

Colemankim14

Posts: 20

16/02/2012 4:51 pm

It will not let me copy and paste

so here goes

We heard at a meeting last night that the owner of our block the Freeholder employed a management agent and our Large Housing Association only have 40 sub leases

We cannot get the first management agent to adhere to our housing association financial years so we have to different Schedule of Service charges coming in

Which our large housing is being accountable under Service Charges but

the Management Agent is not and on top of the will not get the Service Provident or its Agent back to have the Estate Service Standards under Grades ahdered too

So we not getting value for money  - we cannot eliminate fraud and we cannot protected the Housing Association and Customers money

On top of that the leaseholder sinking funds is not earning interest

One case this year whereby our Housing Association can give us value for money under redecoration of Communal Area But the Management Agent cannot and given the job by the Freeholder

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Derren Cooper

Derren Cooper

Posts: 36

17/02/2012 4:37 am

I'm a little confused by the claim.

I get the question of difference in financial years, but any professional body with decent finance staff can work around that.

With regards to fraud, I'm not sure I understand the bit leading up to it, but who is it you fear may commit fraud?

As for the awarding of contracts, do you know if the HA actually applied for the contract, and why their quote was turned down?  Remember that if the contract awarded was more expensive then all the leasholders are losing out and it's in everyone's interests to kick up a fuss.

As for a sinking fund not earning interest, it's also in the interest of all leasholders to have a say in this, and they should have been aware of this before buying their leasholds.

With regards to mixed tenure, there is always going to be some discrepency between fees paid, because the leasholders pay the landlord directly, and when it comes to social tenants they pay fees to the HA who will have their contract with the landlord separately, and it might be that the HA will charge back tenants based on an estate rather than block (there are no set guidelines).

The idea though is that mixed tenure should allow social tenants to expect decent estate service because otherwise the private leaseholders are likely to move away, and the landlord loses out.

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Colemankim14

Colemankim14

Posts: 20

18/02/2012 2:30 pm

Well if you a General Needs Customer or a Leaseholder whereby you landlord a Housing Association only leases the flats from the Owner and the owner has another management company involved.

The other management company charging us a service charges and our Landlord is also charging us Service Charges.  Well we can Scrutiny or landlord but we cannot Scrutiny the other Management Agent whom is not a Housing Association so is not ahdering to grades, standard under the Estate  or  has an audit trail when its Contractor come to do any work in our Communal Area or the Exterior Strucuture of the buiding.  Its getting the re-decoration programme of the communal areas when its not Value for Money and we with a Large Housing Association whom could get us Value for Money"

Well we cannot get the promise of Value for Money or protect our money by way of Service Charges by this Managment Agent that the Owner has employed

Well nothing in my Tenancy Agreement telliing me this.  We have Commercial Units breaches the term and condition but again you have the Owner again given out to another Mangement Agent would again is acting accountable 

SO DO NOT BUY A PROPERTY ABOVE A COMMERCIAL UNITS

ENSURE YOU NOT EARNING NIL O INTEREST IN YOUR SINKING FUND

SO DO NOT SIGN A TENANCY AGREEMENT THINKING ONE ORGANSATION INVOLVED AND THEY FIND YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH UNTOLD AMOUNT OF PEOPLE INVOLVED AND NONE KNOW HOW TO ACT PROFESSIONALLY

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