Solitaire Property Management - Long Post

[haymans74]

Please bear with me as the situation takes a fair bit of explaining.

I live in a block of 72 flats built by Barratts. The building is managed by Solitaire Property Management Group.

There are several other blocks close by that are also managed by Solitaire.

The level of service from Solitaire leaves something to be desired. They are very slow to answer any queries and the quality of cleaning and decoration in the communal areas is poor.

We have been in the flat since June 2006 and are the first owners.

Last week we received a "summary of audited accounts" which broke down how our service charge was divided up until the year end of Dec 2007.

In short, what it showed is that that had estimated our electricity bill to be £5,000 and it was actually £20,000. And they had under estimated our repairs and maintenance by £50,000!!

The members of the residents association fail to see where this £50,000 has gone to!

As a result of these over spends, we have all been slapped with extra bills and have 14 days to pay them. All the bills vary - ours is fairly minimal at £107. Some people have been asked for £700. They did also send us a summary of rights and obligation.

I asked them to provide me with copies of all invoices for repairs and maintenance pertaining to these accounts. They refused to send them to me and said I could only see them if I went to their offices (this is despite them sending the same types of copies to residents of another block they manage previously). I then spoke to the leasehold advisory servie who said that I am legally entitled to ask for copies and they may charge a nominal fee for them but must send them. So I told them that. They said they'd handed it on to their administration department and I would hear back in due course. Three days later, I still haven't heard from them.

Most of us have paid the original service charge bill, but haven't yet paid the additional charges.

Solitaire's 3 year management term ends in June 2009.

In light of all the above I wish to know:

1) Despite the fact that we were sent a summary of rights and obligation, can we still with hold payment as we are desputing the charges?

2) If we take them to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal how can we build a case without seeing the invoices for the repairs?

3) Is an LVT even worth it? If we do it collectively with some flat owners clubbing together will it cost us much?

4) How can we get rid of Solitaire? Is there a way of putting the management of our flats up for tender?


Many thanks for any advice!

[haymans74]

Secondly. I have to attend a Residents Association Meeting on Tuesday to discuss our options and I have somehow been nominated the person to look into this I want to provide them with the following in a document. Can you run your eyes over it and tell me if there is anything wrong, or anything I should add?

Azalea House Home Owners – Legal rights and obligations:
1) We have no legal right to withhold payment from Solitaire. If you do not pay their bill they have every right to charge you a fine and interest on the missed payment as per your lease agreement.
2) We do have a legal right to see all documents and invoices sent to Solitaire in relation to repairs and maintenance for the building. Solitaire must provide these documents by law. They must make them available for us to view at their offices and are also obliged to send us copies if we request them – although they make charge us a nominal fee for those copies. That fee may include photocopying, postage and the wages of the person responsible for sending us the copies for the time it takes them to send them. If they fail to send them to us within six months, we can apply at the County Court for them and they can be fined up to £2,500.
3) We do also have the right to appeal the service charges at a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

Suggested course of action:
1) All owners must pay their Solitaire bills. When you pay the bill send a letter with the cheque to say you are paying under duress, that you do not accept that the bill is a fair representation of charges and will be applying for a refund in due course. See Appendix A for a template letter.
2) A letter must be sent to Solitaire outlining our dispute with them over the service charges. We must give them 28 days to respond. If they fail to respond or their answer is unsatisfactory we move to stage 3. We are unable to send this letter until they have complied with our request for the invoices relating to repairs and maintenance – they have six months to comply with this request.
3) Application for a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. Costs will be £????? for the application and the hearing, plus costs for a legal representative if we decide not to represent ourselves. We can apply collectively so that those costs will be split between the number of flats that apply. We need a minimum of 10 flats for a collective application.

See Appendix B for a summary of costs. (this appendix is still to be written as I am unsure of costs)


Appendix A - Template letter to send with your payment to Solitaire.

YOUR NAME(S)
FLAT NUMBER,
ADDRESS


DATE


Dear Solitaire Property Management,
Please find enclosed a cheque for full payment of my bill INVOICE NUMBER.

Be advised that I pay this bill under duress and without prejudice and am unsatisfied that the charges incurred are fair or a true representation of monies I may owe. I will therefore be requesting a refund in due course.

Regards
YOUR SIGNATURE(S)

YOUR NAME(S)

[beaufortvale]

Hi haymans74

It's nice to see yet another residents that has Solitaire Property Management as their management company - who are disgruntled with the performance of Solitaire.

I've found the website TheTruthAboutSolitaire.co .uk - whereby someone has setup a dedicated website to highlight the inaddequaces of Solitaire.

Unlike you guys, my underpayment was £43 on 2007's accounts! Although, I was interested to see that Solitaire are contracted to your site until 2009. How did you find out about this?

Beaufortvale (Bristol)