Property dream sours Residents' anger as flat service charges soar

ANGRY residents of a block of flats in St Pauls say they feel their property management company is overcharging them for building work and subjecting them to massively hiked service charges.

- Angus MCINTYRE

A fence which residents of a block of flats in St Paul's were charged £1,200 for; Inset, resident Mike Traynor

For Mike Traynor, buying a leasehold flat in his building was the dream way to get onto the property ladder in 2008, when he purchased his home from housing association Places for People.

However, Mr Traynor said that dream started to turn into a nightmare when Residential Management Group (RMG) took over as his property manager in the early 2010s. “My service charge has doubled in recent years, to over £300 a month now,” he claimed.

“On top of that, every year I am told there is a ‘deficit’ between the work done and the amount I've been charged, so I am charged more, and the reasons they give are very wishy-washy.”

In correspondence seen by the Post between RMG - which is owned by Places for People - and residents, the property management company provided a list of costs for the previous financial year.

These were broken down into general areas, and no detailed explanation was given for the significant increase for some costs. For example, ‘Fire Equipment Maintenance’ in the block was said to have cost £4,780 for the year, against a budgeted cost of £1,328.