Is this covered when you opt to buy an ex council flat,that any works undertaken you have to pay for,or can you decide not to?

Clearly if its into the thousands for the bill you will struggle to find that while in a TD.

Contact your trustee,with the large number of ex council flats out their its probably been dealt with before and they may have advice for you.

Paul

Thanks Paul.

We bought the flat from someone who had already bought it from the council so I am unsure whether or not it was discussed at the point of sale but I'm sure when you do buy a flat from the council they say you - the owner - are responsible for maintaining it. We already pay £120 a quarter in factoring fees, god knows what this will increase to when this work gets carried out. There's no way I could afford to pay for this type of work being carried out. One of my neighbours was saying after the work is carried out, the council bill the owners and they are given a year to pay it, I'm not sure if this is true though. There is a meeting being held tomorrow regarding this and I will be attending. There is a lot of bought flats in my area so I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of unhappy owners attending this meeting!

I am also going to drop my Trustee an e-mail and ask for their take on this, surely they won't reduce my monthly payments to allow me to pay this extra bill?

Depending on the bill and your current monthly payment,you may be able to agree a payment break from the trust deed,but that has to be discussed directly with your firm,and only when you know how much the building works bill will be.

Enjoy the meeting,sounds like it could become a riot!!

Paul

I doubt very much I will be given a payment break, they're not the best firm to deal with to be honest!

Hopefully one of the experts can add their thoughts if they have had a client in a similar situation.

Will keep you posted on how the meeting goes - if I make it out in one piece!

Hello fred.

I'm not sure that there is going to be an easy answer to this. One of the downsides of owing a property with shared facilities etc is that you don't have complete control over the expenditure that is made (and that you'll potentially have to part-fund).

I suspect the best thing to do at the moment will be to find some likeminded people and start organising some opposition.

It will also be important for you to confirm precisely what the arrangements, or options, for payment will be. It will be difficult to understand the potential ramifications for your trust deed without this information.

Thanks TDA,

Once I have attended this meeting tomorrow I am hoping to have some answers regarding costs, payment options, etc.

To be honest I don't think organising any kind of opposition will work as the letters came last week stating GHA and Scottish Gas are "bringing a new initiative to your area" and work is expected to start in April 2012. To me, that seems that all contracts have already been exchanged and work will be carried out whether we oppose or not. Obviously I won't be billed for tenants central heating systems but I know I will be billed for the overcladding work and the pipes and guttering and I do suspect this will run into thousands.

Hi all

I think the only option would be to to gather enough support to object to it being carried out.

Mark

Okay I work for GHA......

Firstly can I ask when did you buy the property, if it was within the last five years did you get your solicitor to contact GHA to find out what investment work was planned for your property. If they had they would have been told that this work was planned, the GHA investment plans are planned will in advance and I means years in advance......

Secondly it will come down to a simple majority vote of those present at the meeting, a GHA member of staff will vote yes on behalf of the tenants and if one owner votes yes then it will go ahead. In my experience at least one owner will vote yes as the work obviously adds value to their property if they wish to sell at a later date, no work on the common parts of the building can take place without a majority vote ......

As for the cost it varies but usually £6-10,000 (After 50% Grant) bear in mind you are automatically entitled to a 50% grant to cover the cost and you can apply for further grant if you are in financial difficulty, but this usually means if your on benefits as it's means tested. And yes you are given only 12 months to pay as the GHA, but it is usually open to negotiation....

It should not have any bearings on your factoring fees are those are a completely separate issue....

Fantastic information as always Porcupine.

I think everything you need to know is in the post from Porcupine. It is great to have such first hand advise, I found it really interesting and will bear it in mind for future reference. thanks porcupine.