Leaseholders in Peterborough can't sell their homes!

my first property was a leas hold flat and I remember literally dreading opening any envelope with the management company logo on it because I knew it meant I going to have to pay some more money uh well Phil sheeper has been talking to Residents in Cambridge here about the spiraling costs that they are facing this is his report it's a great apartment triple glaze triple insulated biomass boilers handy for Town fantastic looking apartment and some great views on the doorstep of peterb United stat stadium football fan Michael Ferguson was the first person to move into Springview Apartments 8 years ago it was all part of the UK's first carbon zero challenge development but residents have seen cost rise service charges started off um being £84 a month back in 2018 and they've gone up to 364 now a month um and things have spiraled out of control Springview service charge rate are set by management company Premier Estates who attribute soaring costs to new building safety requirements the energy crisis and the pandemic residents here are not alone with about 4 million people thought to be living under this model it's the sort of service charge that you would expect now to be seeing if you were in a London apartment we don't have a concierge we don't have all the extra bits and pieces that some of the apartments in London have and I think at the moment people are finding it hard to sell the green backyard which is a community based Garden Project K Cay is one of those people Michael mentioned he has the property on the market for the second time in 3 years and the service charge is putting off potential buyers I only had three viewings in six months and the feedback was you know it's too expensive you know £4,300 a year is is you know out a lot of people's budget so it's becoming increasingly difficult to sell how does that make you feel I feel a bit stuck you know like I suppose yeah doing this interview like I was told you know do you want to speak to the media in light of trying to sell your flat but I feel that you know it needs to be the information needs to be out there like when I first looked at the flat I just thought it was amazing Donna Nichols bought under a shared ownership scheme and in March was left stunned when her service charge Rose to 445 per month I can't keep doing this every year um dreading opening the letter it's just it's caused so much anger and hurt yeah so I think for my own in like peace of mind I'm going to have to move in Cambridge you'll find another block where Premier Estates is a familiar name in the face of charges up to £6,000 Frank Gomer and his fellow residents set up their own building management company they are now taking the freeholders to court over whether service charges were reasonable so if the amount which was spent was justified or could have done uh more economically and the problem of course is that uh the Freeholder or the property managers they hold all the information a representative of the Freeholder said it was confident issues were resolved at the best value back at Spring View Premier estate says service charges are under frequent review and are set at necessary levels residents live in expectation they will come down but that doesn't help people now people living on a tight budget these after all 50% of these homes here are affordable homes they're supposed to be affordable homes not unaffordable homes

Channel: Darren Fower

Views: 12,504

Keywords: Peterborough, Peterborough City Council, darren fower, Cambridgeshire, Gunthorpe, Paston, Walton, Werrington, Leasehold, Shared Ownership, Housing Crisis, Service Charges, Hawksbill Way, London Road, Fletton Quays, Cllr Christian Hogg, Cllr Polly Geraghty, Cllr Jade Seager, Cost Of Living Crisis

Id: popV0PABaC4

Length: 3min 37sec (217 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2024