ARMA ASK THE PROFESSIONALS
Surgery
Findanagent Guidance Directory
39 42 46 48
ARMA SURGERY
BruceMAunder TAylOr, a chartered surveyor and member of ARMA’s Council, provides answers to readers’ questions
NEglEcTEdblOck
QUESTIONOurblock of 63 flats hasbeenneglected foryears, partly because the landlord refused to carry outmajorworks without full upfront payments fromthe lessees, and partly because asmall group of lesseeschallengedevery bill and
proposal.Alarge group of us formed a company and enfranchised the freehold. The smallgroup of lesseesare continuingwith their guerrillawarfare tactics, tell us that they have beenadvisedthat theycan claimdamages for neglect,and setoff thosedamages against our service charge/majorworksdemand. They still won’t pay.What canwedo?
ANSWER There is a lot of complicated lawabout your question andIamnot goingtoattempt alegal answer forthe reason that your companycould go bankruptonthe legalfeeslongbefore youraise themoney to do theworks.One of the objects of good management is to avoid litigation as far as possible.Yourquestionreveals that theminority groupare talking to youand, if speaking the truth, aretakingadvice. Believeme, youare lucky. Thefirst difficulty formanymanagersistoget dialogue underway.When you do have dialogue you need to build on it.
Fromyour side,anattitude that they arepursuing
“guerrillawarfare tactics” is thebestway Iknow of killingoffdialogueand having to call in the mercenaries: thefee earningprofessionaladvisers. Whoknows,maybe yourefer to themas guerrillas and they refer to youas gorillas!Not helpful. Whetheryouagreewiththemornot,yoursmall
groupoflesseeshavepointswhichtheywish tomake. If progress is to bemade,eachsideneeds to listento theother,explore theoptionsandtry to findaresult whichmoves thematter
forward.Immovable objects challengingirresistibleforcesmakerichpickingsfor lawyers.Havingsaid allofthat,Iaccept that there aresomecases inwhichagreement isnevergoing to be reachedandsomesort of legalactionwillhave to take place. If thedialoguehas beenfullyexplored, andminutes or attendancenotes kept, the lawyers will be best placed to give cost effective advice. If there has beennodialogue, or it hasnotbeenwell recorded, thenthe lawyers are goingtohave tohave thedialoguewhichyou, theparties,shouldhave
had.Lawyerschargebythehour.Full blownbustups betweenlessees is the sort of behaviourwhichmakes greatTV. Rational,reasoneddiscussionatalessees’
meetingmay be boring,but it standsamuch better chance of aproductive job in real life.
TheAssociationofResidentialManagingAgents (ARMA)is the only professional body in England and Wales to focus exclusively on themanagement of residential leasehold blocks of flats. Withmore than 260member firms,ARMAaims to promote excellence in the leaseholdmanagement sector and to represent the interests of itsmembers, lessees, residentmanagement companies (RMCs) and investor freeholders
Flat Living Winter 2011 39
Ifyouhaveaquery, email it to
info@flat-living.co.uk
Allnamesand addressesare withheld
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