House purchase question (1 Viewer)

[andyman]

A lot of this is due what went on in the 70's and 80's. Back then common areas not adopted by the local authority were left in the hands of the house buyers. When a path or car park needs repairing there is no central point to enforce to arrange the repair and enforce payment so very often nothing gets done.
Just sold a property last week and and had to make a statement that during my ownership there had been no requests to repair the common areas and associated walls.
Hopefully with a management company all should stay in good order.

 

[Reallyretired]

We have a clause on our deeds that if the church needs repair, the residents have to chip in and pay for it. Luckily the church was demolished for a housing development years ago.

 

[JOHNSTEY]

Bought our place in Edinburgh in March and we have an annual factoring fee of £260 .This covers lighting, tree maintenance and upkeep of communal areas.The fees go to a company 'given' the contract by the developer but as I understand it this company can be sacked if voted out by a majority of residents.Personally I would find out about how the land management company operates and look at feedback.They may be doing a good job.I certainly wouldn't back out or try going into any litigation over £150 per year!

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[TheBig1]

right, so this is going to sound alarmist however it is just common sense based on previous experience of owning a house near a mine

if the homeowners are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the ground on the estate and the area was previously a mine area, be extremely cautious. ground slip, heave and subsidence is a real risk in these areas. filling a sink hole and capping off can run into £100k s and is not covered by many insurers. even if the ground sank in a public area of the estate, with this covenant in place your son would be part liable for the costs to put it right and safe

 

[Cal54]

Similar problem experienced. Our estate, built in the 90's had a planning clause requiring the developer to maintain all common grounds for 10 years. Old planning rules would have meant the council then took over. Our council refused initially and the matter was only resolved when te developer flatly refused to continue and subsequently retired! By default the land then became the responsibility of the council. Now maintained by council but took a lot of pressure from a residents group and support of local councillor.