© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
Frognal estate comprises five blocks totalling 54 flats. By 2009 it had been neglected for decades, there was a long history of multiple litigation between the landlord and the lessees, the lifts had been out of service for years, Enforcement Notices had been served by the Local Authority and insurance cover for water damage had been withdrawn.
The Residents’ Association (FERA) applied to the LVT for a Manager to be appointed, the landlord agreed, the Tribunal approved a Management Plan, and a Specification for the most urgent works was produced. The best quotation was £630,000 including VAT and fees. Few consultation replies were received, the money was demanded, but FERA said its members could not afford to pay.
The Frognal Court Consortium (FCC) was formed by those lessees who wanted reasonable repair at reasonable cost and who would pay. FERA lost its recognition as the Residents’ Association and FCC gained recognition to represent the Estate. Another LVT found the service charge demands reasonable and payable, but members of FERA appealed on the grounds the level of expenditure, spread over 2 years, was unreasonable. The work had started but could only proceed as lessees paid. At the date of the appeal, 40 of the 54 had paid in full.
The Upper Tribunal found, in principle, that a reserve fund should be used to spread major works costs over an appropriate number of years. Due to historical non payment, there was no reserve fund to draw upon. The Upper Tribunal sent the case back to the LVT to decide the reasonableness of carrying out this work in one contract or spreading it over a number of years.
Paul Boyle of FCC said: “When the new Manager was appointed in 2009, we felt the bad times were behind us. To have the same people (FERA) who wanted the new Manager appointed (incurring legal fees in excess of £35,000) to be the ones now refusing to pay for the necessary works, preferring to pay lawyers’ fees for continued litigation, is so disappointing. It cannot be correct for a minority who will not pay to continue with litigation causing delay to essential works to an estate which has suffered in excess of 20 years of neglect”
FERA applied to the LVT for a replacement Manager on the grounds that the first Manager had pursued service charge arrears too aggressively and the works were proceeding too slowly. The LVT agreed and from October 2011 a new Manager is in place. The LVT hearing as to the reasonableness of the works will be held early in 2012.
It is tempting to question what condition the buildings would have been in today had all the litigation money been spent on building repairs. As a wise man said: “No-one wins at litigation, it is merely a matter of who loses least.”
Bruce Maunder-Taylor is a Senior Partner at Maunder-Taylor, the managing agent first appointed as Manager by the LVT for Frognal Court.