19 Jan 2011 12:00 AM:
I have a nice apartment on a community in Duquesawhich I use as a Holiday home,unfortunately I only get there a couple of weeks each year.
Since construction the development has reamined partially sold and the developer has failed to pay any community charges into the pot. Some of the apartments which look OK from the outside are just empty shells and need kitchens and bathrooms before they would become saleable, so in this climate there is little hope of increasing the complex% occupancy.
Some of the units have been re-possesed by the Banks following folk defaulting on their mortgages, but the Banks we are told do not become liable to community charges until they come into possession of the deeds for the property, which can take 3 years. Others are obviously investment properies which have failed to sell on and have been abandoned by the invester alondg with their charges. In the present climate there is little chance of them being sold to committed buyers.
My worry is that the communities det is creeping up, with little prospect of the rise being halted by repayment of out stand debts. We have been advised that we are already paying high community fees and I am concerned for those resident who are living on a pension.
I feel that at the end of the day we should take steps to stop our community becoming insolvement. My own feelings are that each current member paying fee's should consider putting a little more into the pot each year to sustain the current level of debt or even start to reduce it. However there is the potential for significant cash injections from the Banks when they have taken over the deeds of the properties in default.
Suing seem to be the only legal way forward but it seems endless and unproductive.
Any thoughts or experiences please
Thread:
Community charges - who pays the short fall
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