I am a retired individual who has recently moved to a new development and am appalled at the way the developer has changed from an apparently honest and 'caring' organisation to one which has decided to act in an underhand, bordering on unethical manner, and I am looking for any information that may help us (the residents) to protect ourselves from the consequences of the developers most recent actions. So hopefully someone may be able to point me in the right direction. So here's the basis of the issue.
As mentioned, we live on a new development where there is common open space and there is a management company which will be responsible for maintaining it, into which all residents pay a yearly fee.
The management company was set up bt the developer as a separate organisation and will become active shortly when the sale of the last house on the development is complete, at which point the developer will transfer all common areas into the managment company.
My question is - is there a mechanism which could have been set up historically by which the developer can just transfer property into the management company automatically, or would they need the management company to agree to receive it at the time of transfer.
If such a mechanism could exist, it would have been done when the only three directors of the management company were also directors of the developer, and since then 3 new directors have been appointed. Would the addition of the 3 new directors make a difference to any previous agreements - for example could they vote against the transfer of some of the assets included in the transfer.
The history of the development and the developers actions in the past makes the situation that this question relates to quite complex, but a 'general' answer to the above question gives us somewhere to start in determining whether the residents have any hope of avoiding a significant expense should certain assets be transferred resulting in them becoming financially responsible for them.
As mentioned, we live on a new development where there is common open space and there is a management company which will be responsible for maintaining it, into which all residents pay a yearly fee.
The management company was set up bt the developer as a separate organisation and will become active shortly when the sale of the last house on the development is complete, at which point the developer will transfer all common areas into the managment company.
My question is - is there a mechanism which could have been set up historically by which the developer can just transfer property into the management company automatically, or would they need the management company to agree to receive it at the time of transfer.
If such a mechanism could exist, it would have been done when the only three directors of the management company were also directors of the developer, and since then 3 new directors have been appointed. Would the addition of the 3 new directors make a difference to any previous agreements - for example could they vote against the transfer of some of the assets included in the transfer.
The history of the development and the developers actions in the past makes the situation that this question relates to quite complex, but a 'general' answer to the above question gives us somewhere to start in determining whether the residents have any hope of avoiding a significant expense should certain assets be transferred resulting in them becoming financially responsible for them.