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Choosing your own Manager
The
biggest part of the new Act was to address the abuse suffered
by some leaseholders at the hands of their landlord or manager.
Prior
to the Act, you were tied to buying management services from
your landlord or someone of the landlord's choice. If the
management services were particularly bad then the you could
apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) to
appoint a manager of your own choice, but this required you
to prove the reasons for wanting to do so.
The
new Act introduces the Right to Manage (RTM), which
allows you to appoint a manager of your own choice without
the need to prove any fault and without the need to go through
the lengthy process of the LVT. There is also no requirement
to pay any compensation to the landlord or manager.
Greater
Choice and Control
Not
everyone will want to go to the extent of appointing a new
manager - they might simply want more control over, and accountability
from, their existing one.
The
Act makes additional provisions for you to have access to
information, so that you can see whether your estate is being
well managed or not.
As
a leaseholder you are entitled to:
- Details
about insurance policies
- Annual
accounts that show details of debtors, creditors and bank
balances
- Estate
monies held in a separate, designated client account
- See
the documentation, e.g., invoices, that support your accounts
- Challenge
unreasonable fees and service charges
- Enhanced
consultation whenever the estate spends large sums of money
- Enhanced
consultation whenever the estate enters into a long-term
contract for maintenance
- Clearer
demands for ground rent and minimum periods to make payment.
How
Safe is your Home?
Quite
often leaseholders are "bullied" into paying for
services that they think are unreasonable, by landlords that
threaten to repossess their home.
The
new Act gives you greater rights and makes this type of threat
void, especially in cases where the service charge is in dispute.
The
landlord is not able to take any legal action against you
until the LVT has made a determination over the reasonableness
of the service charge.
What
can Guardian do to Help?
If
you are not happy with any aspect of the service that your
landlord or manager is providing (or not providing !) then
it is highly likely that we will be able to help.
We
can offer help and advice to work towards resolving the dispute
that you have with your landlord, or we can discuss the possibility
of Guardian undertaking the management of your estate.
Guardian
has a team of experienced leasehold managers that you can
talk with, but in the first instance you should contact :
Richard
Wheeldon by telephone on 01274 381 620
or
by e-mail by clicking
here
or by using the Management
Enquiry Form on this website.
RELATED
LINKS
Changing your Manager
| Wyre Mews case study
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