Do You Provide RTM Services? We Want To Hear From You.
By admin | January 27th, 2010 | Category: Past Articles | 57 commentsIt’s clear to see that at the moment ‘Right to Manage’ (RTM) and ”Leasehold Value Tribunal’ (LVT) are hot subjects when it comes to companies associated with Solitaire / Peverel Property Management.
However, many of us aren’t too sure what to do and how to go about undertaking them.
Our ‘Essential Guide’ does offer advice on these subjects, but we feel it’s time that we gave the opportunity to some of the hundreds of solicitors who offer RTM Services / or companies that deal with the whole process, the chance to engage with a captive audience and promote their services, to visitors of TheTruthAboutSolitaire.
We know from our website statistics, that Residential Property Specialist Solicitors - are visiting TheTruthAboutSolitaire.
Therefore, for a minimal donation to TheTruthAboutSolitaire, we are giving them the opportunity to be listed on a ‘directory’ page, for you to list the specialist services that you offer (with contact details) so that we can direct visitors to you, to help those that want to go Right To Manage.
TheTruthAboutSolitaire attracts on average, over 6000 visitors a month and would be the perfect platform for any company willing to help residents with Right to Manage or tender to replace any of the Peverel Property Management companies.
We would be looking for ‘law firms’ or ‘property management companies’ that have good success rates and experience in the removal of Peverel Group / Consensus Business Group, property management companies
Interested?
E-Mail us at the following link: Directory Advertising
We are also offering companies the opportunity of a ’Premium Sponsored Link’ – which are listed at the top of every page, with a link to your website.
‘Premium Sponsored Links’ are available for rental on a weekly basis and if you are interested in this opportunity, feel free to e-mail us via the following Banner Ads Email link for pricing.
TheTruthAboutSolitaire is dedicated to ensuring that residents are offered the opportunity to be rid of the monoply that is the Peverel Group of property management companies.
If you’re thinking of invoking your RTM, then there are lots of contributors to this site who have been through the process. Providing forms and software for people to download sounds interesting – what does Admin think about the feasability of this task? – it’s quite a complex proposal.
You can buy the RTM forms from Oyez: http://www.oyezformslink.co.uk/f_chapters/90.htm
But as I’ve said here you can do most of the admin work yourself and get a solicitor to serve the notices thus reducing costs. By admin I mean download or simply get your neighbours to photocopy the lease, and unfortunately that means every page – even if the content is the same for each flat. I think you need the Land Registry Title Entry as well – that’s downloadable.
The existing property manager or freeholder must supply a list of tenants – but this sometimes is not up to date. If your block is set up in such a way that each tenant holds a £1 share in a company, and that company is represented by a property manager, the tenant bit of the company will have accounts filed at Companies House listing all the members and their addresses, also downloadable.
The RTM company has to go to exhaustive lengths to ensure notice of participation can be served on neighbours. For example if a flat was empty for six months and the only address you have is for the flat as opposed to the owner – you could find that you have to place an ad in Estates Gazette or a local paper in order to demonstrate you have tried to find the owner.
That’s why the minimum timetable is probably not achieveable save for the smallest of blocks. The claim notice alone for our block extended to 12 pages. Doing the admin leg work ourselves took three months. I really, really, would strongly advise anyone of thinking of doing this to get some legal advice. The savings on your service charge bills should cover the legal fess within a couple of years.
If you serve notice yourself, receive a counter notice and you have not got a solicitor. You’ll have to find one, sign their terms and conditions, go to their office with your passport to be witnessed (half a day off work possibly). Have the cash to place on account. You’ll need copies of the leases, and most crucially: plans for your develpoment, although there is usually a copy in your lease. As I’ve also said, there is a reluctance on the part of some solicitors to appear at LVTs. Some do, but don’t automatically assume they will. Once they’ve got all that, only then can they start your claim to the LVT. The claim to the LVT has to be written in legal English following the strict guidance from the tribunal there is no form for this, you need all the notices and it has to be assembled and paginated in chronological order. And don’t assume your LVT application will be fast tracked (heard in ten weeks), if it is complex and therefore standard tracked it takes much longer and sometimes you need a pre-hearing to gather the facts adding months to the process. In some case hearings are dealt with without either the applicant or respondant attending, but both parties have to agree to this.
From my experience the solicitors of property managers will take advantage of the fact that you don’t have legal representation – they will probably file a counter notice on the last day of the deadline, having sat on it for three months, or ignore letters about negotiating a solution. The counter notice must be served on the RTM Co’s registered office, so this could further delay matters: for eg, a resident who was away when the notice was served.
I hope that helps, and if you’re driving the RTM process and work. Or work in a job where you can’t take calls during the day you’ll be further disadvantaged. But RTM is an excellent solution so don’t be put off.
In my opinion, it’s best to avoid the prospect of an LVT (more time off work) and make sure you stick to the absolute letter of the 2002 Act.
I’d like to hear how people have got on if they have done RTM without legal support. But even though we have two directors, a RA cttee of 3, a city of London solicitor and the opinion of two barristers (one direct access), I reckon I’ve spent two hours a day on the RTM process for the past six months, and about three hours a day for the six months before that – and we’re talking about a medium size develpoment of 40.
We obtained RTM without legal support. Filling the forms in was a bit of a brain-ache, but actually much simpler than it looks. Only expenditure was forming company (about £60). Solitaire’s response was slow, grudging and unprofessional, i.e. no written confirmation, one telephone call from an uninformed minion … but they didn’t object, so the RTM is automatic and it took effect on 1.1.2010. We have just received belated confirmation by email (after several other emails and recorded deliveries went unanswered) and are awaiting refund of reserve (thanks in part to Jon Dyson). It’s only a three-maisonette complex, so it has been easy to co-ordinate. Management companies have come to accept that RTM is a fact-of-life and there’s little they can do stop it.
Seems the Right To Manage process is starting to be undertaken more & more by Solitaire-managed developments. At the moment the loss of these developments probably isn’t hurting them much (if at all), but as more developments sack Solitaire as their managing agents, at some point effects will be felt…..
If every development completes RTM, then Solitaire would have nothing left to manage, and would therefore become surplus to requirements. Which frankly would be nothing more than they deserve…..
Admin – can you set up a counter, to log how many developments have successfully completed RTM (and how many individual properties are involved), together with ones that are currently going through the RTM process (and again, number of individual properties involved). Obviously there’s Paul’s little development of 3 units that’s completed RTM, and Jon Dyson’s development (which is somewhat larger, I think…???), but how many more are there…???
You’d presumably need help from contributors on this website to provide details (or perhaps you already know?), but I’m sure there’s plenty of willing helpers ready to provide details, as required…!!!
Would be interesting to know the figures. Might also help Solitaire & co. to realise that they are slowly losing properties, and therefore opportunities to make money, and therefore perhaps they might pull their fingers out to get things done, in order to deter other developments from heading down the RTM route, further cutting their revenue streams…..
Nicky
As previously mentioned your accounts will not automatically be frozen.
On the day (1 month after serving notice to Solitaire)Solitaire lose the right to appeal there ia a further three month period before Solitaire hand over.It is essential on this day that you inform your property manager that this three month period is their time to consolidate all accounts and prepare a final closing balance. Also inform them that by the end of the three month all block insurance details and communal electricity supplie details MUST be transferred to your new Company name and quote
Section 94 of the Common and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 which provides that where the Right to Manage is acquired there is a duty on:
(a) landlord under a lease of the whole or any part of the premises,
(b) party to such a lease otherwise than a landlord or tenant, or
(c) a manager appointed under Part 2 of the 1987 Act in relation to the premises, or any premises containing or contained in the premises
TO PAY THE ACCURED UNCOMMITED SERVICE CHARGES ON THE DATE OF AQUISTION.
The LVT explains this as follows
Where the landlord has collected service charges in advance but not yet spent them all and is holding the remainder in atrust account, he is under an obligation to hand over all the unspent sums to the RTM company. These will not only include unspent charges but any reserve account or sinking fund. This does not require a notice from the RTM company- the legislation requires the landlord to act and to make a payment to the RTM company equal to those uncommited sums held by him on the aquistion date or “as soon after that date as is reasonably practicable”
The amount to be paid is the sum of:
# monies paid by the leaseholders as service charges; PLUS
# monies invested from service charge payments (and any interest); LESS
#the landlord’s outgoings on the provision of services up to the acquistion date.
This will save you alot of work.
Hope this helps
More on contracts and reserves post RTM: Remember that many contracts will be paid upfront from the previous year’s service charges. So if your RTM became effective on 1 Feb 2010, your buildings insurance might have several months to run, which has already been paid for along with other maintenance contracts.
Althought the property manager has to serve notice on contractors, and the RTM process effectively cancels existing contracts between manager and contractor, it would be unwise to cancels all contracts in one go. Especially if your block contanis lifts, water pumps, powered access gates, entry phone systems as so on.
This would also be extremely unwise if you are self-managing.
If you’re insured via a PPMG (Peverel) broker, your new manager should be able to find a cheaper quote. Likewise with electricty supplier as many of these things are just set up and never properly managed, checked or improved upon. It’s not PPMG who are out of pocket but YOU the service charge bill payer.
Jon above refers to an excerpt from the RTM guide, available online from the Leasehold Advisory Service, but I think where he mentions LVT he’s referring to the LAS.
If you can’t get your hands on your reserves, the LVT is the next option, but the tribunal takes a dim view of this route being the “norm” as opposed to the “exception”. In fairness to any property manager, they might have outstanding bills to be paid. Although funds should be transferred on acquisition day the law actually says (Sec 94 (4)): “..on the acquisition date or as soon after that date as is reasonably practicable.” Which can appear a bit vague.
You have to tread a fine line, otherwise if you wait for a tribunal hearing that could take a minimum of 10 weeks,in which time you might not have any cash to run your new company.
Anon
Sorry my post was a little confusing.
Solitaire pay the insurance over I believe 6 months and we still have until March to run (RTM granted 25/11.09). My point was to perempt Solitaire and Oval (insurance broker used by Solitaire)to change the details on the policy otherwise it is useless.
Solitaire will hold a portion of the reserve fund back to cover these costs but again from my experience nothing was done until I requested it on the hand over date and we are still discussing some bills. Solitaire have three months to consolidate and produce a final closing balance The more information Solitaire send the more confusing it becomes.
Indeed it would also be wise to request Solitaire hold a small sum back until you have had time to check all the accounts.
And when you request an account balance after the first month (when and if Solitaire do not appeal against RTM)make sure it is requested from the accounts department not just a guess from the property manager, ours was £4000 out?
Once you have this balance you can work out if you have adequqte funds to run the company.
What you can do is request any further service charges are suspended together with any planned non essential works. We cancelled the external decorating after we had quotes on average £3000 cheaper.
The Section 94 quote came from a request to my MP and came from The House of Commons library and is from a publication from the LVS so my apologies for that.
This is a bit off the core of the topic but just a reminder that because RTM is not fault-based, the freeholder is entitled to be part of the newly-formed RTM company.