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Hi there
I am a leaseholder in a block of flats, 60+ flats, that following the sad experience of Grenfell Tower in 2017, our building has failed a EWS1 certificate and a fire inspection has revealed 'highly inflammable polystyrene' in our walls. The block was a new build in 2010 where the developers went into administration and most of us bought our flats from the administrators.
As an immediate result of this, the leaseholders are now being asked to fund ongoing Waking Watch costs of £5000+ a week, our building insurance has risen to approaching a quarter of a million pounds a year ( with equally mouth watering excesses being applied ) and we now also have to fund the building's existing fire alarm system to be upgraded to detect cladding fires which, they say, will reduce the need for Waking watch.
The residents are aware of current government initiatives to address this problem of unsafe cladding/build by a change in leasehold legislation, also the Defective Buildings fund that i being rolled out but has finite funds available and we are also making application under the NHBC ten year insurance plan to cover the cost of any defective build and, hopefully, the waking watch costs and insurance hikes as a result.
All of that is of course an if, but or a maybe and the residents simply have to 'roll over' and absorb these frightening increases in money demands and service charges. There are a few leaseholders here I suspect who are well heeled enough to absorb these crushing costs but the majority are either on fixed or pensionable income, a few live off savings and welfare but many simply find the demands totally untenable and can only pay a fraction of what is being asked. We are all suffering stress and anxiety at it all and many do not know where to turn. The managing agents are taking a 'softly softly approach' and have already indicated that there will be no aggressive moves to enforce service charge debts but I have already said I do not know how they can say that and yet represent the landlord in their duty to collect the charge.
I hear that some tribunals have already taken place across the country to judge this very position and the adjudgment has always been, apparently, that even in unprecedented times, the increases in service charge are correct and payable.
I'm really looking for some experience here that dictates how those of us who simply cannot meet these charges should proceed. The Waking Watch is of course a financial killer and I personally am being billed for some £600 every six weeks for that item alone which is something I have zero means to budget for. There is a feeling that people buy leasehold properties fully aware of the need to pay service charges and these would be declared in the management pack that comes with the potential sale and lays down specific and recent figures of service charge expenditure. But when we factor in unprecedented experiences ( like Grenfell and its effect across the industry ) we can see that 'the buyer being aware' becomes now beyond reasonable judgement.
In the meantime, I can only assume we can only pay as individuals what we can afford and within our anticipated budgets going forward. Is it possible that if sufficient debt accrues in the service charge account for the whole building, the landlord could ever be in a position of insolvency? He has already indicated that he is not prepared to loan funds to cover waking watches, fire alarm installation etc.
I am a leaseholder in a block of flats, 60+ flats, that following the sad experience of Grenfell Tower in 2017, our building has failed a EWS1 certificate and a fire inspection has revealed 'highly inflammable polystyrene' in our walls. The block was a new build in 2010 where the developers went into administration and most of us bought our flats from the administrators.
As an immediate result of this, the leaseholders are now being asked to fund ongoing Waking Watch costs of £5000+ a week, our building insurance has risen to approaching a quarter of a million pounds a year ( with equally mouth watering excesses being applied ) and we now also have to fund the building's existing fire alarm system to be upgraded to detect cladding fires which, they say, will reduce the need for Waking watch.
The residents are aware of current government initiatives to address this problem of unsafe cladding/build by a change in leasehold legislation, also the Defective Buildings fund that i being rolled out but has finite funds available and we are also making application under the NHBC ten year insurance plan to cover the cost of any defective build and, hopefully, the waking watch costs and insurance hikes as a result.
All of that is of course an if, but or a maybe and the residents simply have to 'roll over' and absorb these frightening increases in money demands and service charges. There are a few leaseholders here I suspect who are well heeled enough to absorb these crushing costs but the majority are either on fixed or pensionable income, a few live off savings and welfare but many simply find the demands totally untenable and can only pay a fraction of what is being asked. We are all suffering stress and anxiety at it all and many do not know where to turn. The managing agents are taking a 'softly softly approach' and have already indicated that there will be no aggressive moves to enforce service charge debts but I have already said I do not know how they can say that and yet represent the landlord in their duty to collect the charge.
I hear that some tribunals have already taken place across the country to judge this very position and the adjudgment has always been, apparently, that even in unprecedented times, the increases in service charge are correct and payable.
I'm really looking for some experience here that dictates how those of us who simply cannot meet these charges should proceed. The Waking Watch is of course a financial killer and I personally am being billed for some £600 every six weeks for that item alone which is something I have zero means to budget for. There is a feeling that people buy leasehold properties fully aware of the need to pay service charges and these would be declared in the management pack that comes with the potential sale and lays down specific and recent figures of service charge expenditure. But when we factor in unprecedented experiences ( like Grenfell and its effect across the industry ) we can see that 'the buyer being aware' becomes now beyond reasonable judgement.
In the meantime, I can only assume we can only pay as individuals what we can afford and within our anticipated budgets going forward. Is it possible that if sufficient debt accrues in the service charge account for the whole building, the landlord could ever be in a position of insolvency? He has already indicated that he is not prepared to loan funds to cover waking watches, fire alarm installation etc.
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