Happy snapper

Does not work of this nature get covered by your insurance to which you were obliged to get when becoming a leaseholder??

Just
If you are talking about house insurance that does not cover routine maintanance etc. Insurance can cover unexpected events but if for instance the concrete is crumbling that would not be an Insurance matter. If the leaseholder purchased in the last 3 to 5 years should ask their surveyoe to explain why they did not notice.

Hi Just

No it doesn't, I have already checked. Plus, the buildings insurance covers the communcal areas (which is where the problems are) - this is covered in our annual charge. My own flat insurance only covers my flat.

I have already made plans to talk to the other leaseholders in my block. Thanks for your suggestion. THe only reason I was online talking about it is to a) vent and b) see what other suggestions people had and whether they had experienced something similar. Rest assured I do not live my life online.


Hi Brian - thanks for letting me know where to find councillor contact details - I was going to look for those today.

Fingers crossed Lewisham Homes can meet us halfway...

Happysnapper
Goodluck.
In a totally private block the freeholder is legally bound to insure the buildings for all the leaseholders plus the communal areas. They would then charge this pro rata to the leaseholders. Your contents would be up to you.
Surely the same applies to Lewisham Homes. They would insure the whole block and debit you pro rata. You seem to be saying you are insuring your flat for buildings insurance or have I got that wrong. I did not think Insurance companies did this as the whole block would need to be insured with the same company.
Of course could be Lewisham Homes do not insure as they have many properties and therefore act as there own insurer?
Good Luck anyway.

So Gep needs to write a recorded delivery to the Council or managing director of LH to find out who is being paid what to justify the charges they want you to pay. He also needs to demand information about the number of other leaseholders in his block who pay too. Additional questions may be the amount of hours a sweeper spends on the job per year, what his gross pay may be. what contractor refitted the lifts, Do they have a contract with Lewisham Homes or with Council themselves e.t.c Basically you want to know everything. Keep on asking questions. Problem with estimates is that they can go overboard. Sooner or later they will start to justify the amount they are asking for simply because they have it in their bank to spend on lovely things. Remember they go to banks to borrow money and the managing director wants to send his kids to an expensive school. Where are you meant to find 500-800 quid? Also questions these new fixed charges "Anti Social Behaviour" and "Leaseholders Meetings charges". - Do not pay them this money. Check out http://www.the-nla.org.uk/. Note. valuation tribunal and audit commission as weapons to use.

Good luck Gep

Just
Are you Solicitor or do you have a legal background. I would have thought not paying could involve the leaseholder being evicted. Surely you should pay under protest. I have not got a legal background before anyone asks.
Also someone needs to look at the lease very carefully. Until the lease details are fully known dangerous to advise people not to pay.
If you refused to pay a private freeholder you could be on very sticky ground. Surely just because the freeholder is the council should be no different.

Also , I have ,mentioned before but no answer , did not the surveyor spot any potential problems and your solicitor advise you on the lease.

Gep,

I have spoken to Lewisham Homes today and the 'Resident involvement', 'Anti-social behaviour' and 'Customer services' charges apparently were always charged for under the management fee. Apparently they have just broken it down further.

The Customer services fee, by the way, includes the 4 useless 'magazines' they send out every year.

Wise words Just, but to be honest I feel surrounded by indifference.
Most people living in these blocks are council tenants and they don't care about service charges.
Amongst the leaseholders, many of them are renting the flats out so they can always increase the rents if the service charges increases.

My impression of Forest Hill in the three years I've been living here is that there is a lack of sense of community (and I was living in Brixton before...). This forum is the exception.

I still try to fight my battle with Lewisham Homes, but it's very difficult and so far it has just been a waste of time.

I am sorry you are having little local assistance.
I agree council tennants would not be interested.
I am not sure about leaseholders who have rented out. I would have thought the rental market was getting depressed and not sure they can just pass on any increases without the tennants looking elsewhere.
I hate to go back but you need to go through your lease.

Good Luck.

The lease is pretty useless in this regard. It just states that the Lessee has to pay the service charges and lists the services that the Lessor has to provide.
It doesn't say that the Lessor has to provide the services in a cost effective way.

Something useful I found on the internet is the Local Government Ombudsman, which I will resort to if my complaint to the Council will get me nowhere as usual.

I suggest others to do the same. The website is:
http://www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint/

Before contacting them though you have to complain to the Council first.

Hi |Gep

Forget about them you will not get anywhere. What you essentially want to get are the cost in strip down point by point costing so you no you are not getting ripped off. The wise men in parliament decided to deny you the right to do this by a wink and a nod if you know whta I mean. The Council itself is also in the game.

how many flats in your block?
how many leaseholders do you have?
Who are LH are they landlord or managing agents filling in the stop or are they the real thing?

To give you an idea what your up against most Council housing were built with very poor building material in the 60s. There was widespread corruption and Council homes were diagnosed as having only a 30 year or more life span. Enter Decent Homes from our present day government and thrown into the mix lots of nasty free market landlord supported by banks. To make your position worse despite the myth you hear about leaseholders right Council leaseholders have little or no rights and are not the same as private leaseholders ( PARLIAMENTS REASON: TOO EXPENSIVE FOR LANDLORDS). We have plenty of charters and guidance laws but our lovely government are still living in the 60s so we are back to a feudal type of landlord who do not have to answer to you the leaseholder. Why should they? They are all intense and purposes a kind of government Rottweiler. Why is it Leaseholders do not vote when deciding on the future of their homes? Were you told your home was a liability when you bought it? The LVT are the only recourse you have. Thery are the only institution you can use to get answers. But obviously they are ultimately toothless because our MPs have not provided any legal framework to prevent exploitative behaviour. Write to the Local Ombudsman and the LVT this at the very least shows protest.


Good luck

Local Governemtn Omb

Check out this link!!

Sorry about the above I lost the link. It was a link to a video castigating the Local Ombudsman Service. Anyway here is another interesting link.


http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/sho...55&t=18140

Seems you're not alone. Interesting article in the Observer today...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/apr...-leasehold

Amazing increases. Seemingly LBC are not alone , private landlords are doing the same even worse.

Down in Deptford we leaseholders on Crossfields Estate are also facing a 50% hike in service charges.

Annoyingly I noted that Lewisham Homes tenants are being protected from a 6.2% rental increase by a grant from the government.
http://www.lewishamlibdems.org.uk/news/0...eases.html

I also note from Lewisham Homes' website (www.lewishamhomes.org.uk)
in the minutes of the Board Meeting in March 2009 on page 99 http://www.lewishamhomes.org.uk/editpics/1434-1.pdf, a page of accounts which show that they get ?75million in rental income and ?3m from leaseholders.

In the Audit Commission's report on Lewisham Homes (February 2009) they identify the following as Key Weaknesses:
- Service charges for leaseholders had previously been incorrectly calculated or inaccurately identified.
- Leaseholders had not been charged for all the services from which they derive benefit and future bills will rise as a consequence.
(See: http://tinyurl.com/AuditComLewHomes - particularly pages 40-43)

The Audit Commission, whilst identifying literally hundreds of Key Weaknesses in Lewisham Homes' performance, with this wording, seems to have given them carte blanche to charge what they like.

We're not sure what to do, other than only pay what we paid last year, until we have received credible answers as to why the charges have gone up so extortionately...a policy that may get us all in trouble with the law, since we'd be breaking our contracts.

Let's pool resources on this. Write to your councillors and MP, and to Lewisham Homes board members...

I'd be going to the press but I hate them (and I'll never forget my mother's campaign against Thames Water back 2002 that saw her on the front page of her local rag, knee deep in sewage - they won their case eventually and it precipitated Thames Water rolling out a huge sewage renewal programme - but I don't wanna be on any front pages!)....

Going before the Mayor tonight is Lewisham Homes Business Plan, which can be found on the council website.

Out of 18,000 properties within Lewisham Homes 5,000 are leasehold.

I assume the Audit Commission report was in preparation for the full assessment which is now to take place later this or next year.

It seems we are in a serious position. We need to fight back there is no doubt about this. So if there is 6000 leaseholders we need to bring them together under one voice and to make the Council wish they never heard of the word privitisation. we need to build a website attract funding and expose the whole sordid affair. Any suggestions where we must go from here? We have been bamboozled into this postion and I am not optimistic about the future if this carries on.

Hi Just (& Gep, Jalapeno & Happysnapper)

I was googling yesterday and found a government paper that referred to the Alliance of Social Housing Leaseholders, headed by Andrew Cole. But I can't find them anywhere.
I also found a group in Bexley - OBHA 'Independent' Leaseholders Group, residents of Orbit Housing Association who seem very active...(though it is probably just one dedicated guy with lots of time on his hands)...they have a Useful Links page:
http://www.obha-leaseholder.co.uk/Useful_links.htm
For instance:
http://www.londonleaseholders.org.uk
http://www.leaseholder.org.uk (the same thing)

Also, I've been here:
http://www.rpts.gov.uk/our_services/ld.htm
and was thinking about class action, based on one LVT application (Leaseholders Valuation Tribunal). But I'm not sure this forum is private enough to discuss revolution!!!?

I have received a reply from Lewisham Homes about the increases in Service Charges, but the reply is far from satisfactory I think:

1) External Areas maintenance (increase 178%): "The service is currently provided by the Council who currently have a contract with Glendales" This doesn't tell me anything about the increase.

2) Management Charge (increase 78%): "Previously this was calculated as 28% of the other charges you pay, but this has not been reviewed since 1998.". So what was wrong with 28%? Also the fact that the percentage has increased, doesn't mean that the actual charge hasn't increased.

I am going to follow the complaint procedure to Stage Two, which is writing to the Head of Housing Service.