Monday, April 9th, 2012 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Winckworth Sherwood LLP newsletter notes that landlords with leases granted before the introduction of the layers of statutory protection for flat owners regarding service charge could be set to benefit from a recent legal ruling. The case of St Leonard-on-Sea v John Oram and Mohammed Ghoorun centred on whether the landlord could recover the costs of the extra steps that had to be taken to enforce payment which were not thought of when the lease was granted.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Ruth Lythe reports in This Is Money that soaring service charges could leave thousands of families seduced by government-backed property schemes at risk of losing their homes. A Money Mail investigation has uncovered how buyers of new-build homes are at the mercy of ruthless property management firms that hike service charges for the upkeep of shared areas at blocks of flats. This can leave buyers struggling to cope with monthly bills and hinder them from saving up to buy a bigger stake in their property.
Read the full article here
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Final definative guidance has been issued on accounting and reporting in relation to service charge accounts for residential properties. This guidance was prepared by a joint working group comprising representatives of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ICAEW, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, the Association of Residential Managing Agents and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Obtain a full copy of the guidance here
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Alex Wellman of Inside Housing has reported that a problem has arisen over the service charge claimed by a housing association for the maintenance of an estate where some of the properties are privately owned. Two Rivers Housing lost an appeal recently against a previous judgement so that non-tenants of the association did not have to pay for a proportion of the cost of the cutting of grass on the estate.
Read the full article here
Monday, December 12th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
An article on the Rentman website notes that the largest ever leaseholder tribunal case between managing agent Peverel – owned by the family trust of property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz – and London’s St George Wharf Residents’ Association has been settled out of court for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
Read full article here
Sunday, November 20th, 2011 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Andy Stern in the Property Owners Directory points out that the Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has ruled against a freehold owner that claimed legal fees in its bid to recover unpaid service charges. The London Rent Assessment Committee had initially determined that a lessee of Castelnau Mansions in southwest London should pay £11,258.02 in unpaid service charges for his flat. An amount of £4,663 for legal fees was included as an item in the service charge accounts.
Read the full article here
Monday, October 17th, 2011 in Landlord, News, Residential
A report in Inside Housing states that Westminster Council has said it wants to reward those actively seeking work while at the same time discouraging a ‘benefits culture’. Currently residents are given priority according to need including factors such as homelessness, medical needs and young children. Now the council has decided to give priority to households where the main applicant has been working under a written contract for at least two years.
Read the full article here
Monday, October 17th, 2011 in Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential, Service Charge
Brian Milligan of the BBC has highlighted the fact that flat-owners’ complaints about service charges have risen by 46% in two years to 7,600, figures show. They queried the amount they were being asked to pay for maintenance and repairs, the Leasehold Advisory Service for England and Wales said. In some cases flat-owners have been asked for payments of tens of thousands of pounds by those who manage the blocks they live in. But an agents’ association said actual numbers of complaints remained low.
Read the full article here
Thursday, September 15th, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
Patrick Cannon in Property Week notes that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has recently published its “Draft supervision and enforcement strategy for conveyancing”, which it plans to finalise in October this year. This paper explains how the SRA will deal with – or as the paper puts it, “engage with” – solicitors whose conveyancing work is in breach of the new SRA Handbook which is effective from 6 October.
The new handbook is intended to move away from prescriptive rules and introduce more flexibility. To that end, there will be 10 mandatory principles, fleshed out by the code of conduct with lists of “outcomes” and “indicative behaviours”.
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 in Commercial, Landlord, Managing Agent, News, Residential
In an article in Property Week, Michael Kilner of Maples Teesdale looks at some practical considerations for landlords and tenants, when leases near expiry. Landlords and tenants begin to focus on the condition of the premises and the likely cost of complying with the tenant repair covenants. Those costs can have even more impact on the parties during an economic downturn.
Landlords:
• Give your tenant lots of notice and consider serving a schedule of dilapidations between 12 months and six months before expiry or immediately following service of a break notice. This will encourage early settlement and make a tenant reconsider leaving because of the potential costs involved.
• Ensure all deeds are sent to the surveyor instructed, including any agreements for lease or licences for alterations and subletting. Licences to sublet sometimes include alteration provisions.
• If a schedule is being served well before lease expiry, consider whether the lease permits you to inspect the property, carry out the repair works
• and recover the cost from the tenant as a debt during the lease term.
• Give notice requiring reinstatement of alterations (if required) well before lease expiry. Failure to do so may result in such claims being lost.
• Consider whether any subtenants may also owe direct obligations to you and whether or not to serve schedules or notice to reinstate them.
• Before lease expiry, avoid creating evidence of an intention to redevelop the premises or make structural alterations because this could adversely affect a dilapidations claim.
• If a tenant is in administration, consider serving a schedule of dilapidations immediately to increase your chances of being successful in any dilapidations claim against the tenant.
• Re-inspect the premises immediately following lease expiry and ensure you have a good photographic record of any disrepair.
• To help substantiate a claim, ensure any contractor you instruct to carry out the repair works bases their tender for works on the schedule of dilapidations and that they produce appropriately itemised invoices, even if other works are also required.
Tenants:
• When you decide to vacate a premises, instruct a surveyor to carry out an assessment of your potential dilapidations liability.
• Consider instructing a solicitor to obtain such a report for you to ensure the document benefits from privilege and does not have to be disclosed at a later date.
• Try to find out the landlord’s plans for the building. Check to see if any planning applications have been made. If it becomes clear the landlord is going to redevelop the premises or make structural alterations, you may be able to defeat the landlord’s dilapidation claims.
• If the landlord has not made any plans, consider actually carrying out necessary works before your lease expires to minimise any loss of rent claim.
• Ensure your surveyor inspects the premises immediately before lease expiry and accurately records the condition by reference to photographs.
• Consider obtaining a valuation report from a specialist valuation surveyor to see if the value of the premises is likely to be affected by any disrepair.
• Check whether or not the landlord has complied with any notice provisions in the lease or any licences in relation to reinstatement.
• Make a provision in your accounts for dilapidations because the landlord usually has 12 years from lease expiry to bring a claim.
