OpinionLETTERS


email info@flat-living.co.uk tel0845 257 6374 fax0845 257 6319


needed Iama recipient of your magazine Flat Living. I manage two flats in a property that has been splitintofourflats. All theflatsare interested in opening a bank account intowhichthe four separate flatsmaypay in a monthlyamount andfrom whichtwonominated peoplemay draw/sign cheques. Wearehaving difficulty in finding a bank that can offer theseservices.Can you recommendabankorthe type of accountweshould be asking bankstoprovide us with?


Account advice


Flat Living


Ifyouhaveaquestionorwouldliketosharewithotherreadersyourideasorexperiencesof livinginaleaseholdblock,wewant tohearfromyou.


Addressyourcommentsorqueriesto theFlat Living teamat info@flat-living.co.uk PeverelresPonds


Iwouldappreciate the chance to set somethings straight following last month’s piece about the administrationofour holding companies(Peverelresidentsface uncertainfuture, Flat Living,issue 7, p10).


Our operatingbusinessesare responsible forthe day-to-day running of over 2,000 developments across EnglandandWales. As they arenot in administration,ithas beenverymuch ‘businessasusual’ forour residentsand frontlinestaff. Since Peverel’s holding companies


Namewithheld


went into administration inMarch, communicating with our residents, RMCclients andcontractors has been ourtop priority.Wehaveworkedhard to reassure customers, andour property managers and customer services teams have continued to work as normal, providing the good level of service customershavecometoexpectfrom us. Youalsoalludedto“fearsamong


Peverel-managedresidents theymay be in danger of losing servicecharge funds”.One of thefirst statements we posted on all of our customer-facing websites explained that bank accounts containingservice chargemonies belongingtothe developments we manage have always beeninsafe, independentaccounts,heldunder statutorytrust. These funds can only be used for the


A business adviser can help


BobSmytherman, Chairman of the FPRA replies


Your requirementisnot unusual neither is the difficulty youface.Many counter staff at banksare not familiar with this type of requestand it is often necessary to askfor an appointment with a business adviser to open a business or trustaccount.All themajor banksprovide theseaccounts andwehavebeeninformed that theCo-operative Bank hasaparticularinterestin providing these services to community organisations such as Residents


30


purposes of the development towhich they relate.Thishas remained entirely unchanged sinceMarch and, indeed, is both alegislative requirementand conditionofindustrycodes of practice


Associations. It is important to remember that thebank accountmust be notedasa trust account and you can find a lot of information about this


on the FPRAwebsite at www.fpra.org.uk or by


contacting LEASE – www.lease-advice.org


&Others Iamwriting to thankyou forthe excellent article regarding the above in Issue7,which provided


Deajan Investments LtdvBenson


as towhen andwhere the documentation relating to the estimates was


availablefor inspection. TimDrew


to insure? Together withmyfellow leaseholders,myblock has just established a Right toManage Company. However, our freeholder stillwishes to take responsibility for insuring ourbuilding.We would prefer to take out insuranceourselves but we are unsurewhether or notthe freeholder has the right to insist. Can you help?


Get in touch with your propertymanager


issued by The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) andThe Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). If any of your readers live in one of


ourdevelopmentsand wouldliketoask aboutthe administration of ourholding companies, theway we communicate with residents, or anything else for thatmatter,Iwould askthemtoget in touch with their propertymanager or ourcustomerservice teams. Thecontact details are on our websites.


Lee Middleburgh GroupManaging Director PeverelPropertyManagement


advice in thenickoftime and preventedmy infringing the terms of the (Section 20) consultation procedure. Iamthe company


secretaryofthe landlord company(ownedbythe lessees)whichownsour blockoften flats.Weare currently carrying out an internal redecoration programmeunderwhich we have to follow the procedure. The article includedaparagraph warning landlords not to try to influence lessees. Luckily,IreceivedIssue 7 shortly before our AGM


(which was attended by 80% of themembership) atwhichwechose our contractor on aprovisional basis instead of a firm one.When one of the two non-attendees requested a copy of thedocumentation regarding the successful tender,Iwas able to tell himthatIcould notdo this until the consultation procedurewas over.Had it notbeenfor your article, Imight have sent hima copy,eventhoughIwas not legally obliged so to do as I had complied with therequirements wherebywehad to state


Flat Living replies


As a Right toManage Company,you andyourfellow lessees are now responsible for allthemanagement functions foryou block. Normally this would include arranging insurance but this could depend on the wording of your lease. Your freeholdermaystill have control of the insurance foryourblockifthatiswhat is stated in thelease.Ifthisis thecase, your RTMCompany would need to seektovarythe lease to enable you to take responsibilityfor insurance instead. This would require


agreementofall theparties to thelease,whichmay be difficultasthe freeholder might not agree. As we understand it,yourfreeholder is entitled to arrangehis own insuranceinadditiontoany policy that you take out but if this is what he choosestodo, thefreeholdermustdosoat hisown expense. If youcannot cometo


amutually satisfactory agreementwithyour freeholder by negotiation, we would suggest that if you are FPRAmembers you contact them forfreeindependent


insurance and legal advice at www.fpra.org.uk or contact


LEASEat www.lease-advice.org


Autumn2011 Flat Living Right


BillSmith


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