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Let me explain for those unfamiliar with this scheme
(where have you been?)…The Government gave you the ‘right to buy’ your
council property at a discounted rate, as long as you were a council tenant
for at least 2 years. Early on in the scheme, the discounts were generous
to say the least; people buying a four bed for the price of a studio flat
was not uncommon, although, discounts have now been curtailed since those
heady days. The only ‘fly in the ointment’ was the local Borough Council.
Where the expanse of council property lay (large
estates etc), many (most?) were Labour run Councils, who were socialists
back then, who vehemently opposed the RTB as a capitalist sell-off of
Britain’s welfare ideals that would be followed by the demise of the Health
Service, ‘Lollipop men’ and all other state-sponsored social appendages. As
the freeholder, they sought to dampen enthusiasm by placing high service
charges and costs on the properties for those who became leaseholders. It
was common to have ever-rising service charges and to receive huge bills
for minor works on the estate.
Needless to say, when people were getting massive
discounts, they were unconcerned by the high service charges and life went
on, but now, there has been a new resurgence in the Council’s interest in
their leaseholders, that is putting a whole new spin on things.
A recent European Union directive (here we go again!)
has declared that all local authority property should be brought up to a
standard of ‘Good’, as defined by whoever wishes to define ‘good’. So our
Government and local Councils have seen fit to embark on a program of
‘improvements’ to their freeholds that will bring the standard up to ‘Good’
– are you still with me?
Great! Everywhere is getting painted?….wrong!
Those fortunate, or otherwise, to be a Council
leaseholder are now receiving bills for ‘necessary’ works to improve their
property, starting with the things that cost the Council money – communal
heating systems are going and task-specific companies have been set up to
take over basic services including parking, cleaning and repairs.
Case 1
I have a colleague who is to be billed for a flash new
entry-phone system that will not be fitted to his block, but to other
properties on the same estate. When he enquired why he was being billed for
something that was not being added to his property, he was told that as a
leaseholder he had to pay a share whether he was getting a direct benefit or
not.
Case 2
Landlord renting out his XLA property asks for 2 years
if he can fit his own boiler instead of the Council communal heating which
turns itself off in May and comes back on in October. Council refuses.
Then, ‘out of the blue’, the said Landlord is given four months notice that
the communal boiler is being removed and all leaseholders are required to
fit their own boilers. Council quotes £5000+ if they fit the new boiler,
but cannot quote exactly, as they do not know how much profit they require
and will give the final bill some months after completion – absolutely true!
This meant the landlord could receive a bill for £8000 and would have no
alternative but to pay – instead he arranged the work himself at a cost of
£1200. |