ISSUE 20
FLAT-LIVING.CO.UK
Is leasehold better than we think
editor@flat-living.co.uk
WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE OF FLAT LIVING IN 2015. This time last year, I announced that the (then) Office of Fair Trading was to carry out a detailed review of the leasehold sector and make recommendations on areas that needed improvement for the benefit of flat owners living in the estimated five million leasehold properties in England and Wales.
In December, the Competition and Markets Authority (which has taken on the role of the OFT) produced its
final report. And the verdict? The leasehold sector isn't nearly as bad as we are sometimes led to believe. This will be no news to the thousands of flat owners who are happy with their managing agent or RMC board and are quietly getting on with their lives. Also good news for the many well- qualified, professional property managers out there who are delivering a high quality service to their clients for a competitive fee.
However, we all know there are some property managers who don't do a good job; who ignore repeated requests for improvement from leaseholders and simply collect their service charge, apparently doing very little in return. Despite not recommending the regulation that the sector so badly needs, the CMA has made a number of recommendations which, if acted upon effectively, could make a big difference to those leaseholders suffering in the hands of rogue agents. To take a look in more detail at the CMA's findings and read what ARMA's new chairman Martin Perry has to say about them, turn to page 15.
Also in this issue, we report on the decision in Phillips v Francis (p18); we consider best practice in service charge collection with a particular focus on small blocks (p28); and we take a look at the problems that can arise when buying a new flat and how to tackle them (p54). If your flat is listed, you may also be interested in our feature on pages 50-53 on replacing windows in heritage buildings.
Lesley Davis Editor e:
editor@flat-living.co.uk
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn @FlatLivingLoves
Conduct
Issue 20
7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72