Has my Housing Estate's Residents' Association broken the Data Protection Act?

Homeowner68

I have been refusing to pay my Management Company's fees or, more accurately, a portion of the fees for sometime now as I feel that we didn't recieve any 'management' for said fees for some years at a time... I'm happy to pay them now to the current company who looks after the place as they actually do provide an excellent service.

Anyway, the RA have been sending me letter after letter about the above and I've stated my case to various members of the committee on several occasions.

Now, I paid for my house up front - ie, no mortgage. My parents paid for it out of a windfall our family came in to. No one's name other than my own is on the deeds.

However, today, the Res Ass have sent my mother (who would have signed the initial cheque) a letter claiming she owes them the Management Fees from MY house??

Have they broken any date protection law here? As I said, my name is the only one on the deeds, the Residents Association is made up of neighbours of mine and how I bought my property is entirely my business.

Any advice?

Victor

Homeowner68 wrote: »

Any advice?

Pay your bills, especially if you decide to employ a solicitor.

jimmycrackcorm

What data protection do you think they have broken? I. E. Where is this data stored about your mother that has been accessed?

ardmacha

Place a request with the RA under the Data Protectection Act for a copy of all information they hold about you.

the_syco

Homeowner68 wrote: »

I have been refusing to pay my Management Company's fees or, more accurately, a portion of the fees for sometime now as I feel that we didn't recieve any 'management' for said fees for some years at a time... I'm happy to pay them now to the current company who looks after the place as they actually do provide an excellent service.

Anyway, the RA have been sending me letter after letter about the above and I've stated my case to various members of the committee on several occasions.

What business is it of the RA of what you paid to the MC?

Paulw

Resident's Association - a group of people who get together for the common good, with no power and no legal basis.

Management company - a legal company with contracts in place with service providers and unit owners. Unit owners are members of the management company and have legal responsibility.

With the management company, you have a legal obligation to pay your management fees. You pay your fees to the management company, not to the management agent (who is employed by the management company to do the day to day management and work).

A Resident's Association should have no ability to get the accounts and details of the management company, aside from the fact that it is most likely that members of the RA are also members of the management company. Members of the management company have the ability, through the company accounts, to see what fees are paid.

You have a legal obligation to pay your management fees. If you don't like the service you are getting, you have the power to raise this issue at the company AGM each year, but it is still your legal obligation to pay all your fees.

anncoates

I'm on a managed estate and about to become one of the directors of our management company. Also a member of the RA.

I assume that it's also the case here or perhaps they are confusing the RA with the management agents who are generally the ones tasked with tracking down fees.

In general, I'm always flabbergasted how many people become propriety owners in such estates (and with all the obligations -legal and otherwise - that it entails) while not having a clue how it works or even about the entities involved.

MagicSean

Sounds like they are potentially breaking section 11 of the non fatal offences against the person act by demanding money from your mother.

As to your problems with the management company, if you purchased a property knowing you would be liable for management fees then you should really pay up. On the other hand, if this is simply a company brought in by the residents association to make the estate look nice then that's another matter.

Thoie

When you say your name is on the deeds, the Management Company doesn't have access to your house deeds. What they have is a membership list. Each owner is a member of the the company, and details are kept there. When you sell your house to someone else, part of the conveyancing should include updating the management company with the details of the new member.

Is it possible that as your mother wrote the original cheque, that she was listed as the member? Because the house wasn't "sold" as such, the management company details were posssibly never updated. Ask the management company if you're listed as a member. If you are, then you can ask to see the list of members and see if your mother's name is on there anywhere. If you're not listed as a member, that answers the question (and you wouldn't then be entitled to see the list).