Estate charge - legality of extra fee
Discussion
I live on a new build estate which is a mixture of houses and flats (I'm in a house). The flats on site have a communal bin dump and it's this that has been causing issues recently. In short, the bin dump is for the sole use of the flats but, according to the managing agents and based on hear say, some house owners have taken to dumping large items in there so a combination lock was put on the gate three months ago to combat this. Unfortunately the lock just keeps getting broken and large items carry on getting dumped.
My specific issue though is with the estate charge. The houses pay a relatively small fee to cover general up keep of the estate but I've just found out they will be spreading the additional cost of the regular clear ups in the bin dump across all residents (flats & houses). Are they legally able to just penalise all residents when only a small number are causing this issue? As my house overlooks the entrance to the bin dump I have offered for them to put a camera in my window so the actual culprit can be charged but they didn't exactly jump at the opportunity!
My specific issue though is with the estate charge. The houses pay a relatively small fee to cover general up keep of the estate but I've just found out they will be spreading the additional cost of the regular clear ups in the bin dump across all residents (flats & houses). Are they legally able to just penalise all residents when only a small number are causing this issue? As my house overlooks the entrance to the bin dump I have offered for them to put a camera in my window so the actual culprit can be charged but they didn't exactly jump at the opportunity!
1. Very good chance that the bin dump is being used by someone not on the estate. On a site my better half manages the waste areas for she hadl the locks changed and the amount of waste on site dropped by more than 1/3. People who 'knew' were just turning up, off loading waste from elsewhere so that they didn't have to pay tip fees. She even had one complain to her about it!!!
2. The answer to if they can charge it to the houses as well as the flats is in your deeds. I have not seem these so cannot comment on your case. I can say that i am aware that any half decent document will have many postential heads of expenditure listed and also a 'mop up' provision along the lines of "And any other services the Management Company considers desirable in the interests of good estate management." It is likely something like the latter is what they are justifying their actions under.
2. The answer to if they can charge it to the houses as well as the flats is in your deeds. I have not seem these so cannot comment on your case. I can say that i am aware that any half decent document will have many postential heads of expenditure listed and also a 'mop up' provision along the lines of "And any other services the Management Company considers desirable in the interests of good estate management." It is likely something like the latter is what they are justifying their actions under.
Social housing present but they are good as gold. It's the renters in the private flats who cause all the issues.
Rude boy, thanks for your comments. I'm going to check the deeds but pretty sure there's no getting out of it, I'm just pee'd off that I'm basically subsidising a fly tipper. Overall the costs, once split between all properties, are going to be minimal so I'm just going to create extra work for the managing agents to try to annoy them into improving the security!
Rude boy, thanks for your comments. I'm going to check the deeds but pretty sure there's no getting out of it, I'm just pee'd off that I'm basically subsidising a fly tipper. Overall the costs, once split between all properties, are going to be minimal so I'm just going to create extra work for the managing agents to try to annoy them into improving the security!
Put a camera up in any case if you have line of sight. If it's a local you can take their detritus back and empty it across their front door. I've done that in the past with a fly tipper that lived a few doors away and dumped a load of stuff in the passage next to my old house. Spotted them at it. Waited. Returned their rubbish to them. Most gratifying
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