ACHA Factoring?!

[Hels]

I am one of the private owners who has received a letter from ACHA regarding a factoring service (as referred to in a letter in todays Courier) I recon it sounds like a bit of a swiz to get more money into their coffers! This has never been necessary in the past and was certainly never offered by the Council.

The letter is badly worded, unclear and certainly does not reflect my experience of living in a building which is part-owned by ACHA! It almost goes so far to suggest that you will be dragging down your neighbourhood if you don't sign-up!

It refers to the cutting of communal areas of grass being carried out at considerable cost to ACHA residents - can anyone comment if this is factual or not? And if so, what are these communal areas around the town and why do I (as the owner of a property last owned by the Council in the 1980's) have to pay for their up-keep if they truly are communal to all?! If they are communal, surely we all pay for them already in through Council Tax.

I am probably getting myself in a stew about this as ACHA have certainly not been an ideal neighbour to me since they came into existence - not phoning back when they say the will, causing damage to my property when undertaking work and then not responding to my complaints or making repairs to the damage they caused and then (having the cheek) to put cards through my door asking me to sweep steps!

I'd appreciate hearing other opinions since I am clearly such a cynic ..... is this a swiz or an answer to all our problems?!

[WTC]

We are also private owners and received the same letter and promptly recycled it.

We already have to pay Fyne Homes money each year for grass cutting. (See previous thread Fyne Homes Threat) We did hold back payment and tried to find out what we were paying for. When we called F H the woman on the phone was extremely rude and informed us that they could stop the future sale of our house if we refused to pay. She told us is it was in our title deeds and our solicitor should have informed us. They can’t have altered all the title deeds for our area.

We have now paid F H and asked for more detail as to what we are paying for. There must be around 150 houses in the Crosshill area (using google earth!). That’s a lot of money to cut grass in two cul-de-sacs (again I used Google earth to look for grass!!!)

Does that mean each house in the area has one share of the ground they pay for the upkeep of?

I understand grass has to be cut and buildings have to be maintained but the body/person that owns the ground should foot the bill otherwise sell it to someone who will.

Can I bill them for me cutting my grass? (please excuse very bad grammar)

[EMDEE]

Just part of the legacy of the much revered or reviled Baroness Thatcher. Things were much simpler before she came along.

[AP]

If we have any work done on our houses and were not in this factoring service we have to provide them with details of repairs and quotes before work is approved if any house/flat in our block is owned by them.Contractors used will need to be approved by them as they need to check that the workers are fully insured to carry out the work to their standards. From what i've heard of the latest work done by these ACHA contractors most peoples living rooms look like the Royal hotel after it was bombed and took longer to repair.

[Hels]

Last year ACHA replaced a railing at the back of my block, then billed me £60 for my one-sixth share! They never asked me (or told me) they were doing it in advance, they never provided any quotes, never asked me if I was happy with the contractors and more crucially never told me the cost before the invoice arrived! (Believe me - a rail that took an hour to install is not worht £360!) Yet they expect us to do all of this if we don't sign-up for their factoring! Something is not right here!

[Rumpole]

Last year ACHA replaced a railing at the back of my block, then billed me £60 for my one-sixth share! They never asked me (or told me) they were doing it in advance, they never provided any quotes, never asked me if I was happy with the contractors and more crucially never told me the cost before the invoice arrived!

Has anyone affected by this spoken to a solicitor?

Certainly has the ring of an unfair contract about it, to me.

[History]

From a recent experience I know that if I am contributing to the cost of maintainence the person dealing with the contractors has to produce 3 quotes and all parties who are to be asked for money have a say in who wins the contracts. It is after all your money they want.

Not sure about the situation with acha but I would be really annoyed that they decided to go ahead and do something like this and not even tell me what the cost will be or why the chosen contractor was picked.

Worthwhile getting legal advice maybe.

[EileenH]

I used to live in Meadows. I bought my house privately and was never told about these charges, then Fyne homes. They even sent me a bill for planting of trees which I knew were gifted to the council. When I phoned and complained they refunded me the bill, of which I hadn't payed in the first place! I have friends live in that area and they had never received a bill. If everyone refuses to pay up what can they do? I don't think they have the power to stop the sale of a house, that was just a threat I think. My mother in law got one of these letters. She's lived in her house for over 30 years and has never payed for these services. She tore it up and threw it in the bin!

[rtodd31]

i'm a fyne homes tenant (acha) and live in dalriada court and every year we have to pay 3 pound something a month for a play park they built also we have to pay for the lighting in our street i bet alot of ppl are thinking but thats in your council tax payments well wrong its included in our rent we have rent play park and street lighting to pay for every month we all don't agree i mean they tell us we're classed as a private road but someones car tax was out of date and they got booked but the roads private so hows that meant to work!!!!!!!

In alot of areas now you see the sign no ball games and i'm sorry but we were all young once and things like that were never put up you'd just get someone shouting keep the ball out the garden but i'd rather my kids playing football than hanging about places and not know where they are but its best for me not to start cos the list with acha is endless i mean we get new doors etc and the next year the rents put up so how are we all winning and as for the ppl with bought houses i also don't agree with them getting billed because regardless acha will go ahead and do what they're going to do anyway

[Gus]

Before I left council part of my last job was to look into factoring.
I can see where they are coming from i.e. all 6 flats in a block are sold but the council still picks up the tab for lighting the close.
Problem with council trying to implement such charges lies in what actual liability is written into your deeds. When council houses started being sold off no provision was made these type of charges - but this was changed at a later date - when, im not sure!

With regard to doing repairs and then charging you - if the repairs are essential then I think they can do them and invoice you for your share as they are keeping the structure of building - i.e. roof repairs. If they are "desirable" repairs i.e. paint job - then they need to ask your permission - The council should advise how much total job is - how this is split into your individual share. Then they add on there admin charge - I think approx 15%.

If you are in a block of flats and you decide they place needs painted you could contact council and tell them their share - although i dont think you could add a 15% admin fee for organising it. 1 last thing about that - council will only agree to repairs organised by someone else as long as contractors are on their registered list of tradesmen.

I too received a letter telling me how great a factoring service is and what benefits it will bring me - dont think i will be signing up to it - unless my deeds tell me different.

[Hels]

Thanks for that Gus. Think I'll be looking out my deeds tonight and then probably composing a strong letter while I am still all fired up about it!