Ex Council property - advice please!

[2nd time mummy]

Hi There, wondering is someone can give me some advise!

I bought my ex council flat about 4 years ago, under leasehold terms and since then there have been quite a bit of work carried out on the building and I have dutifully paid for my share although some times stretching the money has proved to be a challenge!

Yesterday I received a 3rd Stage Consultation for Major work from the Housing office and I was shocked as the work they now intend to carry on on the building will cost me over ?10K! Now... This kind of money as many will appreciate is not something you have burning on your back pocket... Unfortunately I simply haven't got it... even breaking it down on a 3 years interest free will mean I have over 3K per year to fork out!

Can I refuse to pay on the basis I haven't got the funds or will I get into trouble?

Bare in mind that as it is I would have to find an extra job to cover this cost.... Undoubtly the council will pay for all of the flats in the building that have given as house benefit...

Thanks for any advise!

2nd time Mummy

[KidKruger]

I think you're obliged to pay it otherwise everyone in the block would be able to find a way out of paying.

It's probably a condition of the lease.

Ex council flats can explode the theory that external upkeep of a flat is cheaper than a house.

If you've a residents association they may be able to challenge the cost / selection of works.

[Burbage]

2nd time mummy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yesterday I received a 3rd Stage Consultation for

> Major work from the Housing office and I was

> shocked as the work they now intend to carry on on

> the building will cost me over ?10K!

Welcome to leasehold, and be grateful it's not a lot more. It will be next time.

Leasehold does have some advantages over freehold, in that you're not solely responsible for replacing roofs and other expensive stuff (the 'major works'), but the downside is that you're not solely in control of when, or how, the work gets done and, therefore, when you pay for it. Without that control, you just have to save a regular chunk of money for when it will be needed and hope it will be enough. Where the council is the freeholder, the costs have usually been higher as councils can't get away with the shoddy bodges the private sector indulges in. They used to be bound by "Decent Homes" standards, too, which were usually much higher than you'd find in the private sector, not least because a dripping tap in a council home is worth three or four pages in the Southwark News, whereas a collapsed ceiling in the private sector isn't worth mentioning.

If you're mortgaged, the lender can usually be persuaded to add any shortfall to the mortgage, at least if you've been good with the payments. And payments can usually be staged so they don't all hit at once. Depending on the schedule of the work, that's not always as helpful as it looks, but councils are usually fairly gentle, and most, including Southwark, have loan schemes that you can apply for.

As KidKruger points out, it will be in the lease, which you presumably agreed to. Not paying will be a breach of that lease, which will result in legal action against you. To start they'll get a court to demand you pay up, through the sale of the flat if need be, and then, if you don't comply with that, forfeit your lease (or, at least, have the lenders repossess it).

It is possible to challenge the need for major works or, at least, the details of the proposals or the cost of it (that's partly what the consultation process is for). But it's rarely successful unless they've been incompetently dodgy. ?10k isn't a particularly large amount for major works - some bills have been much higher - and it's possible the council are either drawing on a reserve fund made up from the left-overs from service charges, or have capped the contribution, though that all depends on what work is being done.

In other words, you can refuse to pay, but only if you've got somewhere else to live.

[melvininthepalace]

Hello,

I feel for you as this happened to us in May 2011 when the council demanded ?23k from us for Major Works.

All the works have been carried out now and the whole process was trying to say the least.

We formed a group of leaseholders and had endless meetings with local councillors involved and pieces in the press etc and checked all of the works carried out and only managed to get a couple of grand at most of the final bill.

The council will loan you the money at 0.5% above the base rate and I'll be paying that off for the next 20 odd years.

In short you will have agree to this when you signed your lease as previously mentioned and you are stuck with it, it took me ages to come to peace with it but I can only hope the works will incrase the value of the flat when I come to sell it.

[tfwsoll]

Under the terms of your lease you are obliged to pay. When you bought your flat your solicitor should have obtained details of any major planned expenditure from the council, although sometimes this only projects 3 years into the future. It's worth checking what was supplied at the time you bought.

It's a bit late for you but I would always ask for a future maintenance plan if buying in a block as most components ie roof, windows etc have a finite life and external decorating is usually carried out on a cyclical basis. There should at least be an indicative plan of when these works are due with rough costs. This will at least give an idea of what you are facing.

It's always worth talking to the housing office but whatever your circumstances you will have to pay. If you don't pay the council can contact your mortgage lender and get the arrears added to your mortgage or apply to the court or the leasehold valuation tribunal.

The Leasehold Advisory Service is a useful site with practical help for leaseholders: http://www.lease-advice.org/

Good luck.

[Pugwash]

This happened to someone I knew on the Kingswood Estate - being elderly they did not have the money so agreed that Southwark could place a legal charge on the property which means that if the flat is sold, Southwark have to be repaid before money goes to seller.

[2nd time mummy]

Many thanks for everybody that took their time to share their knowledge on the subject!

Very much appreciated!!!

2nd time mummy x

[PeckhamRose]

Please join the Leaseholders Association of Southwark 2000 (aka 'LAS 200'.)

They are very knowledgable, run by volunteers but volunteers who know their stuff, and have successfully fought against Southwark on various excessive charges in years gone by, and will help you. They don't reply very quickly because as I said they are volunteers and many of them/us work, but maybe you may have skills you could offer too.

(ie ask not what your LAS2000...)

but please do consider joining, and they may be able to advise. However, everyone's posts above has been pretty good too!

LAS2000

P O Box 23394

LONDON

SE16 2WA

Write and ask for details of joining. I think it's ?30 a year or something.

[mattH]

You may be able to get quotes yourself for the works - In my experience councils massively overcharge for this kind of stuff. you may - I don't know, be able to set up what's called a RTM - it's a management company set up by the freeholders. you then organise works yourselves. It's a simple process that will save you thousands if you can do it. Call me and I'll talk you through it.

Matthew

07939530699