April 2007 Newsletter I
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TAKEN FROM LEASE ADVICE WEBSITE DOES IT SOUND FAMILIAR? Although leaseholders have invested substantial sums of money in their homes they do not have the same degree of security and control over the running of their homes as other owner occupiers. The landlord often has a monopoly over the supply of services and maintenance, but the leaseholders have to pay the cost. There is no incentive for the landlord to provide a cost-effective service and there is evidence of widespread exploitation by unscrupulous landlords.

Leasehold Advisors All these professions are needed to service leasehold tenure and may be employed by either side in a dispute:

  • Accountants
  • Architects
  • Barristers
  • Building surveyors
  • Cost construction consultants
  • Expert witnesses
  • Forensic accountants
  • Housing and Tenancy Relations Officer
  • Managing Agents
  • Quantity surveyor
  • Solicitor
  • Structural engineer
  • Valuer

    • In addition the following may also be needed:

  • Building Control
  • Companies House
  • Barristers
  • Fraud Officers
  • Land Registry
  • Police
  • Trading Standards Officer
  • VAT Officers

    • Finally new businesses are now being developed to feed off leaseholders. Intermediaries that charge several hundred pounds per flat to help organise enfranchisement and lease extensions. Most of the rules (laws) which in theory, protect leaseholders cannot be used due to lack of expertise, time, money, or support.

    Leasehold ‘managing agents’ have the power to spend money at whim. They are not regulated and work for a freeholder who has only a financial interest in the leases

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    DATA PROTECTION COMPLAINT

    WE HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE DATA PROTECTION REGARDING OUR COMPLAINT EARLIER THIS YEAR. WITH REGARD TO THE INFORMATION MISTAKENLY SENT TO US FROM LABYRINTH PROPERTIES. WE WERE SENT A COMPLETE LIST OF EVERY PROPERTY IN THE VILLAGE NAMES ADDRESSES AND HOW MUCH SERVICE CHARGE THE INDIVIDUAL HAD PAID AND HOW MUCH THEY OWED THE SERVICE CHARGE. WE WERE UNHAPPY THAT SUCH INFORMATION WAS SENT AND COMPLAINED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT. WE WILL BE TOLD SHORTLY THE OUTCOME OF THAT COMPLAINT

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    Below has been copied from the book residential long leaseholders from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

    It is available free of charge from:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20070612151854/http://www.housing.odpm.gov.uk/

    Can I appoint my own manager in place of the landlord’s manager?

    Where the whole or part of a building contains two or more flats, any tenant of the block has the right o ask the LVT to appoint a manager to run the block or to carry out certain management functions. This is a separate right to the Right to Manage (RTM) which is explained below and in chapter 4 of this booklet.

    The grounds for seeking the appointment of a manager from a LVT are :

  • The landlord is in breach of their obligations to you as a tenant under the lease;
  • The landlord has demanded, or likely to demand, unreasonable service charges (by which is meant that the amount is unreasonably high in relation to the work involved, that the work has been carried out to an unnecessarily high standard, or the work is substandard with the result that addition charges are or may be incurred);
  • The landlord has failed to comply with any relevant provision of an approved cod of management practice; or
  • Where the LVT is satisfied that other circumstances exist which make it just and convenient for the order to be made.

    • It must, in all cases, be just and convenient to make the order. You can exercise this on your own or with the other leaseholders (including renting tenants) in your block.

    However, you will not have the right if :

  • You live in a converted building (i.e., one which is not a purpose-built block of flats) and less than one half of the flats in the block are not let on long lease (which are not business leases), and you landlord is resident;
  • You landlord is a public body such as a local authority, a new town development corporation, a housing action trust, the Development Board for Rural Wales, or a registered social landlord; or
  • The premises are included within the functional land of any Charity.

    • This right is explained in more detail in chapter 7 of this booklet.


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    2007 Village Residents Association