Housing Managment company will not put communnal heating on

[bambisoloved]

I live in a block of flats and pay a service charge to a management Company to look after the common areas eg cleaning and garden maintenance etc and I thought heating. There's a heater on the ground floor in the hall and after turning it on a few times it would not come on so I reported it to the management company thinking it was faulty only to be told no its not faulty the company had tuned the electricity off in an attempt to save money Apparently the management company before them had left a massive bill on their sinking fund and this company are having to cut costs wherever possible. I do not think this is fair. They said if they turned the heater on they would have to charge more service charge for are block. I was under the impression that because the heater was in a communal area I as paying for it anyway at least the option of using it, so I as surprised to hear that they had done this without even consulting the people who live in the block
I have looked at my lease and it is clear about my landlord ( housing association) responsibility regarding repairs and maintenance re communal areas but isn't specific about this issue.
Is there anything I can do ?

Hope someone can give me some advice please.

bambisoloved

[stevemLS]

Re: Housing Managment company will not put communnal heating on

Presumably your lease also provides what they include in the service charge.

They are probably right, tbh, if they put the heating on and the electricity bill goes up, they will recover the costs through the service charge - you should receive a budget for the service charge every year when you get the demand, have a look at that and see what the budget is for heating or for electricity for the communal areas.

[dan_1207]

Re: Housing Managment company will not put communnal heating on

I live in a block of flats and pay a service charge to a management Company to look after the common areas eg cleaning and garden maintenance etc and I thought heating. There's a heater on the ground floor in the hall and after turning it on a few times it would not come on so I reported it to the management company thinking it was faulty only to be told no its not faulty the company had tuned the electricity off in an attempt to save money Apparently the management company before them had left a massive bill on their sinking fund and this company are having to cut costs wherever possible. I do not think this is fair. They said if they turned the heater on they would have to charge more service charge for are block. I was under the impression that because the heater was in a communal area I as paying for it anyway at least the option of using it, so I as surprised to hear that they had done this without even consulting the people who live in the block
I have looked at my lease and it is clear about my landlord ( housing association) responsibility regarding repairs and maintenance re communal areas but isn't specific about this issue.
Is there anything I can do ?

Hope someone can give me some advice please.

bambisoloved

Firstly, you need to let us know what your lease states as regards the management company's / landlord's liability to you as to the heating. Perhaps the admin can advise on how is best to make available to us your lease (redacted, of course) and I can look through it. I've been looking at them all day so far!

Secondly, a sinking fund is for cyclical works, not communal heating! The two points have no bearing on one another and certainly shouldn't change how often the heating comes on.

Naturally, increased usage will result in increased costs.

[bambisoloved]

Re: Housing Managment company will not put communnal heating on

Thanks for your replies, I will look again at me lease and breakdown re what service charge covers and give you more information.

I agree I dont know what the sinking fund has got to do with communal heating. It seems they want to cut running costs to off set the mess the previous Management company left them in.

Many thanks

bambisoloved