What Are Management Co Responsible For ?

ra0044

Hi,

We live in a housing estate with a management company in place for both houses and apartments.

The council have taken in charge the roads, paths and some of the main green areas and have supplied us with a very basic map of what they say they are responsible for.

The management co are responsible for some green areas and borders as well as the parking areas for the houses. They are also responsible for green areas around the apartment blocks which they also manage. They have also supplied us with basic maps of what they are responsible for.

The problem is that if you overlay the two maps there are areas where neither are responsible for, areas where both have responsibility and areas where one or other are responsible for but deny that they are.

We have met with both sides on numerous occasions over the years and both argue backwards and forwards but never get anywhere.

Is there any way to get a proper breakdown of who is responsible. Does anyone have any experience of dealing with similar issues ?

Any help would be appreciated.

Marcusm

The development should have been established on the basis that the OMC is responsible for all common areas, ie all areas other than those in private occupation. If the council has taken the roads, paths etc in charge then those areas are under its control. The OMC should be responsible for all the rest (and by extension for any failings of the council) such that there should be overlap rather than areas of no responsibility.

ra0044

Marcusm wrote: »

The development should have been established on the basis that the OMC is responsible for all common areas, ie all areas other than those in private occupation. If the council has taken the roads, paths etc in charge then those areas are under its control. The OMC should be responsible for all the rest (and by extension for any failings of the council) such that there should be overlap rather than areas of no responsibility.

Hi.

Thanks for the response. In an ideal world I would imagine this is the case but in this instance sadly if seems quite random.
A long time has passed since the initial hand over and the management co who originally were in charge and were inept and replaced seem not to have handed over all of the information on who is responsible for what or indeed never knew themselves.
This has left us in a poor place now that we have a more active participation in the management co by residents who really want to better the area.
I was hoping that land registry searches would be the way forward but we are hitting a brick wall as some of the areas are very small. No more than patches of land.

happyfriday74

The long lease you would have signed when purchasing will have a schedule outlining the duties of the Owners Management Company(OMC)

Bear in mind you and all the owners ARE collectively the the OMC but the OMC typically appoints a management agent-to carry out the duties in the lease on their behalf

it looks like the lease maps are not reflecting this very well. Its probably easier for the OMC to extend services the areas left out by tweaking the landscaping and cleaning spec.

Councils will be very specific on what they take in charge and once the taking in charge process is completed there will be little to no scope to revise this.