Newbold Hall Gardens residents question service charges

Residents living on Newbold Hall Gardens, Rochdale are questioning service charges following letters from Hazelvine, a property management company.

Simon Rhodes, a resident on the estate, said: “We haven’t seen any work done by this company and yet each of the houses on the estate has received a letter asking for payment of £150. We have been told that we could face court action if we don’t pay but we aren’t sure what we are paying for.”

A spokesperson for Hazelvine said: “Hazelvine are a firm of professional managing agents, providing and administering contracts for services to properties across England and Wales and collecting the requisite service charges.

“Newbold Hall is a development that was built and marketed by Persimmon Homes in or around 2007. The site includes leasehold flats (the flats have an ultimate landlord that owns the land) and freehold houses (where the owner themselves own the land). All of the properties on Newbold Hall must contribute to the costs of upkeep of the Newbold Hall estate as a whole as they all benefit from the maintenance. This includes the costs of maintaining garden areas, a public open space and a children’s’ playground. Every single owner was advised of these costs before they bought properties on the site. The costs are specified in the properties legal documents.

“A number of years ago Persimmon asked Hazelvine to take over the management of the estate as a whole but, once we had reviewed the estate, we found that the public open space was not finished to an acceptable standard of landscaping and we advised Persimmon that they would need to rectify this before we took over management of the estate on behalf of the residents.

“Until Persimmon resolved the issue to our satisfaction they had to continue to manage the estate. Unfortunately, it took years for Persimmon to rectify the various issues. In the end, they rectified some issues we identified and agreed for us to instruct the remaining necessary works to rectify all issues to a reasonable standard, for which they will contribute a fixed sum. These works are being undertaken shortly. Following this payment from Persimmon we were obliged to commence the management of the site.

“From 30 June 2014 Hazelvine took over management of the estate as a whole. The charges sent to residents at Newbold Hall are the first annual Hazelvine estate charges for the management of that development as a whole.

“The residents on the estate have been fully informed of the situation with the correspondence we have sent.”

Hazelvine is advising residents to get in touch with them if they have any queries to any letters they have received and not to ignore any correspondence from the company.

The estate was built by Westbury Homes but was taken over by Persimmon Homes when they acquired Westbury Homes.

Mark Cook, Managing Director for Persimmon Homes Lancashire, said: “I would like to clarify that Persimmon does not have any involvement in this matter, this is an issue which needs to be taken up directly with the management company, Hazelvine.

“The letters received appear to be correct and normal when a management company is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of a completed development. It is important to point out that Persimmon Homes Lancashire has not levied any charges on Mr Rhodes for the time we were responsible for the maintenance of the development.

“Mr Rhodes has signed his copy of his TP1 (Transfer) to enable the purchase of his property to proceed and by virtue of his signature agreed to the terms, conditions and any covenants contained in the Transfer, this is why he must seek legal advice.”