Dealing with a complete tit

[davhill]

Ideally, this should be in 'Things that annoy, etc' but I'm fuming over it.

I have a hoiday flat in a Victorian former school building in Cumbria - there are 20 flats and the place is run by a management company. I rent the flat out and the building needed some fairly urgent repair work.

Cue the company demanding £1,250 on top of the usual £78 per month maintenance cost, with eight day's notice to pay. The boss never sent the e-mail concerning this, though he claims to have done. He sent it to my ex-to-be (we're in mid-divorce) then tried to blame it on her when I got it late and secondhand,.

I argued the case over financial mismanagement about repairs. He argued "Read your lease".

So, the works began last week. I went over and found my dedicated parking spot occupied by a big trailer - it's the site office, with onboard potty.

As I hadn't even been consulted, I called him. Mine is apparently the 'least worst' choice of location for the 'necessary by law' office. It can't go round the corner (in a visitor parking spot) because the toilet emptying wagon can't get round there. 'because of the scaffolding'.

He cares not a wk that the flat is a business and its own off-street parking spot is part of the deal - and it belongs to me.

All this jumped-up jack-in-office can say is, 'read your lease'. So, I've asked him for a copy of the lease with highlights showing where it says I can be discommoded, have my business undermined and be treated like ste into the bargain. No response yet.

bear in mind that this twunt and his stty little company are paid to work for me - and everyone else in the building. Ex-to-be has been in tocuh with the C.A.B.

[davhill]

normalbloke said:

What does your lease say?

I'll await a copy from him. I've no intention of paying the solicitor for a copy. If memory serves it's about access for maintenance, which I've never denied.

[davhill]

dazwalsh said:

His office doors are crying out for superglue ans dog st smeared on the back of the handle

I know lots of farmers. I was thinking of arranging a slurry accident at his place of business!

[davhill]

Neil H said:

Assuming it’s a leasehold given the ‘read your lease’ comment, who is the freeholder, and what do they say about it? Or is the management company also the freeholder?

Blocking your parking space sounds out of order, I can’t imagine any lease that would say they have the right to do that.

It used to be run a bit like a co-operative by the property's owners/residents, who styled themsleves 'Old School Mangement Ltd' They hold the lease and they got fed up with running the place and farmed out everything to the local management company involved,

[davhill]

Neil H said:

Assuming it’s a leasehold given the ‘read your lease’ comment, who is the freeholder, and what do they say about it? Or is the management company also the freeholder?

Blocking your parking space sounds out of order, I can’t imagine any lease that would say they have the right to do that.

I agree, thisis why I asked him to highlight this permission in a copy.

The thing is, we bought the flat for my elderely mother, who managed 16 months' escape from a care home and lasted only a fortnight in a care home before passing away. Now it's in the middle of the divorce battle - all the funds for the flat and the house I'm still in came from my family's side. This is why I've no plans to try to buy the lease.

[davhill]

fatboy b said:

seems many people whi run management companies are similar.

Years ago when I moved in with the missus while we looked for a house to buy, we were "notified" that a decorator (someone else who loved on the complex) was going to be painting the windows outside, and front doors. We got no other notification, other than coming home one night the following to find our from door had been painted shut. Complete fkwit of a decorator who we found out was told to paint them, even if no one was home.

Sounds all-too familiar.

[davhill]

It's a bugger isn't it? The work is schduled for completion first week in October - bang on as far as high holiday season goes. Given the Brexit bks has put a big hole in the bookings this year, I can't be arsed, what with the divorce too (1st hearing 9th Sept). I now I'm not the ony one put out but I've other fish to fry.

[davhill]

Ayahuasca said:

Why don't you have a copy of your lease?

It's with the solicitor who did the conveyancing.

[davhill]

Blue Oval84 said:

OP - read this.

If they didn't follow the section 20 to the letter then you may not have to pay.

We recently had an S20 notice at my block, it triggers several weeks of work, three quotes, right of the tennants to suggest contractors etc. If the management company had failed to follow it then we wouldn't have had to pay.

I read about a Housing Association somewhere that didn't do this properly, they were left with the bill.

He's covered the Section 20 side to the nth degree. It was covered in a tenants meeting I couldn't attend.

[davhill]

Leptons said:

Send him a bill for the entire cost of the Flats rental upto the estimated date of work completion. State that you cannot rent it out as the parking space is all part of the deal and you would be false advertising.

Thanks, Leptons,

Seeing as how this buffoon is making me operate in direct contradiction to my online advertisements, I'll be getting on the case tomorrow.

Edited by davhill on Wednesday 29th June 14:19

[davhill]

Blue Oval84 said:

I'm confused how he could cover it in a meeting? It's a written consultation process. If you weren't included, and didn't receive the correct documents (a bill with 8 days notice is not the correct document) then he didn't follow it surely?

http://www.lease-advice.org/faq/what-is-the-sectio...

He sent this: 'Section 20 Notice of Intention as defined in the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985' which is dated 12 Feb 2016. I received this. together with year-end accounts for '14 and '15. which I had requested. He also sent a revised Section 20 budget (clear as mud) and a project plan (ditto).This is the only documenthissotation I saw.

I first got wind of all this in the form of an invoice dated 20th May 2016 - this is what the ex-to-be forwarded to me on the 4th May 2016. This is what he claimed to haves ent directly to me but he didn't do so.I naturally deferred paying the £1,250 until the 20th May, in spite of his overt threats about recovering monies.

Re the Section 20 notice and quotes, I quote him as follows...

'Re questions on the Section 20 there is a formal legal process for questions in the 30 day period after the notice. Once this period ends that is the close of questions from leaseholders.
As long as the board has chosen the lower of the two quotations there is no further obligation to make any more comment. I can confirm the lower of the two quotations was chosen'

My plan now is to get hold of a copy of the lease to look with particular reference to the parking spot.

Incidentally, ex-to-be had a good outcome with the aid of the CAB over an entirely different matter. She has a 50% interest in the flat and I don't want to be sorting out this st with no input from her side.

[davhill]

JQ said:

Why not just ask for one of the visitor spots to be permanently reserved for your customers?

Because the tit won't let me.

[davhill]

andy-xr said:

It sounds to me that you're pinning a lot of this on your ex wife if I'm honest and the communication from the 'tit' to the ex wife that you havent been included in.

Sorry to go against the grain, while the tit might not be exact with what and how he's done things, it doesnt sound like you can string him up by his undercrackers

Well,ex-to-be hasn't updated me yet and I don't expect much from CAB anyway.

I think it's got personal as regards the tit. Most of the flats are owner occupied but one other does holiday rentals on a fairly casual basis.

I've been on to the agent who did the conveyancing, in search of the lease. Meanwhile, ttty McTitface hasn't replied.

[davhill]

jshell said:

Why? Should be cheaper for people from outside the UK and same price for within...

I can only report what's happening. My take on is that the turmoil has been/is making people feel financially insecure and therefore cautious.

[davhill]

Du1point8 said:

Just to clarify... you have got the management company letter to state the freeholder allows you to let the property out?

Unfortunately I have seen it before when an owner didnt ask and then is up st creek... as it then costs a few hundred on top to get the permission.

We bought the flat in early '09 for my elderly Mum. When she passed away in mid '10, I started the business. I squared it with the in - house managers then and this was long before the tit appeared. Everyone involved knows it's a Hol let and has been for six years. It's been rated as business premises for most of this time.

[davhill]

sideways sid said:

Is the Property Manager seeing your ex per chance?

If he is, he'll lose the will to live soon enough.

Think of it this way. I let the flat to you for a week. You show up, secure in the knowledge that your prized Nissan/Alfa/Bentley will go in a special spot that is overlooked by the flat. But it's full of a big ugly box. So, you hear of the visitor parking, thread your pride & joy carefully past the scaffolding and there's no free spot. How long before you start seeking a refund or sue me for false advertising?

The flat is currently unoccupied but the booking system is permanently live via Tripadvisor and the flat's own website.

Edited by davhill on Wednesday 29th June 15:49

[davhill]

Ah, semantics. Don't be misled - I was referring to how much of a tit he's being, I included a quantification of the magnitude if his tittery.

Perhaps I should've used a descriptor that is singular by definition. Nevertheless, were he a knob or an arse hole, he'd still be a complete one.

Edited by davhill on Wednesday 29th June 19:54

[davhill]

KAgantua said:

Have you read your lease? What does it say?

I'm in the process of tracking down a copy from the conveyancing solicitor.

I can tell you for certain it won't say my property can be abused without consultation let alone permission and my business can be undermined. I've invited the tit to send me a copy with those bits highlighted.

[davhill]

surveyor said:

I'd be interested in how your car parking space is defined. Is it a specific space red lined, or just a space to be assigned from time to time....

It's a single space, the end one of three in a brick - paved area. It's clearly marked with the flat's number.

The other dedicated spots are similarly marked and are under the building.

The front lawn also belongs to the flat. There's a communal path across it to a fenced-in area where the bins live.

[davhill]

DoubleSix said:

Do the accounts not make a provision like a sinking fund for such costs?

I very much doubt it. Tit's like cerberus over monies. In a previous skirmish, water ingress led to mould growing on my studded walls - got complaints. Tit wouldn't contribute to redecorating despite bad exterior maintenance having caused the problem. Now, the dry lining in all the flats is the owner's responsibility come what may. Typical attitude of his.