Unprofessional, weak, poor leaseholder representation

Urban Owners www.urbanowners.co.uk
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R.Black's review of Urban Owners www.urbanowners.co.uk

“Unprofessional, weak, poor leaseholder representation”

★☆☆☆☆

written by R.Black on 03/05/2017

I'm one of eight lessees within our property, yet the only one who is not a shareholder in the freehold company.

The property management accounts do not reconcile to the last audited accounts of the former managing agent (Dec11), and there is no back-up to underpin the Urban Owners opening balances in 2012.

There was also a decision of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in 2012 following the UO takeover, however they have still not reflected this judicial decision within the accounts - five years later.

There was a reduction of £46,723 to the reserve account in 2012 yet no explanation has been provided for this.

Repeated requests to UO for them to remedy the inadequate accounts have been ignored, as have requests to meet with them or their client.

I understand the Urban Owners mission is to strongly represent the interests of lessees where landlords are poor. This is a worthy and noble mission, yet not my experience.

In my instance, a group of lessees became the landlord, have not complied with their legal obligations, and in short, conduct themselves in a rogue fashion. One would reasonably expect UO to work constructively with all landlords to ensure they 'do the right thing', yet this is not my experience.

UO has great potential, yet their impotency renders them than useless and thus are best avoided.

A missed opportunity for them and a great shame.

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Urbanowners's Response to R.Black's Review

Written on: 19/05/2017

Mr Black,

Thank you for your comment. We appreciate you are frustrated by the situation, being the ex-freeholder who has had control taken away from you by the leaseholders of the block.

We would note that the errors you highlight in your comments are not related to our period of management and so we cannot comment on them.

We cannot, as you know engage on this specific dispute between yourself as the ex-freeholder and the other leaseholders who have taken over control of the block from you. Our understanding is that the other leaseholders took over control of the block from yourself because they were unhappy with some of the practices and financial charges, which was ratified by the property tribunal and an award was made in their favour and that a number of similar matters still need to be resolved in relation to this period. The leaseholders have engaged a solicitor to resolve these matters and you are in discussions with them. We have been instructed by our client not to engage on these matters so that there is clarity between you and the solicitor and to ensure there is no bypassing of the solicitor who needs to reach agreement with you.

We are happy to assist on any other matters in relation to the building. Hopefully once the disputed points are resolved all parties can move forward.

Sometimes there are disputes of a sensitive/ complex nature and we have to honour resolution by the appropriate parties.

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