maintenance on flats

[hannah40]

my elderly mum owns her flat and pays maintenace to the company who own the lease hold.she pays �1.000 a year,this year the residents have been asked to pay an extra �6.000 as all the balconies have to be done my mum paid but since paying she has been told that if all the residents dont pay the extra work wont be done .can that happen?to me that means the management have taken money from residents and may not do the work.

[tamborine]

No work - you get monies refunded!

[beejay1124]

have to be done ?- is this a safety issue
and at �6000 per balcony, it seems to be a lot of money/work needed

[hannah40]

they had 3 quotes and the residents saw all the quotes and whAT the money was going to be spent on.They went for the cheapest quote .surley there should be a time limit?and i cant see the management company refunding money.

[beejay1124]

will they just do work on your mums (or others)who have paid, balcony
or is this not faesible
it seems strange that the residents werent asked first about their agreeent to pay fo work before it was put out to tender
anyyways i agree with tambo-no work means money returned

[hannah40]

all the residents agreed to pay at a residents meeting but what they say and actually do are 2 differnt things.The work needs to be done on the whole block so every one has to pay there share.they wont just do the ones that pay although i cant see why that cant happen.

[tamborine]

The company can work on the strength of full agreement given and sue those who dont pay!

[hannah40]

it will take ages to take residents to court for the money ,the ones that dont pay are the ones who let there flats out and are travelling around the world.im going to write to the management on behalf of my mum and say if you dont complete the work in say 6 months time we want the money refunded.do you think that will be ok?

[Coldicote]

I once lived in a similar situation. Legal advice was that residents should have had what is known as a 'sinking fund' for maintenance purposes into which everyone made regular payments. This would avoid 'handing the hat round for money' when the need arose, and a newcomer being faced with paying the same as those who had lived there for ages. As might be expected, not everyone agreed. I sold up and moved away.

[bednobs]

i think 6 months is far too long! Especially if now the others are refusing to pay

[hannah40]

thanks for your advice.The work should start soon as the VAT goes back up soon and then they will have to pay more money.