megilleland Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 Can anyone tell me why certain pieces of land on housing estates are retained by developers/housing associations? I am discovering that when housing estates were completed the land/open spaces and highways would be handed over and adopted by the council to manage. However by retaining small areas of land, developers/housing associations could impose a service charge each year for maintaining these areas. This charge would be passed onto tenants in their rent and freeholders would be sent a demand for each year. So not only is there the council tax to pay, but also a further charge which varies from estate to estate to keep them tidy and in order. The interesting thing is tenants are protected from unscrupulous landlords through various acts of parliament which enable them to see where and how the service charges are estimated and spent, but not freeholders, they have no rights whatsoever! This explains why a lot of these estates look uncared for and untidy. Because as well as the council maintaining parts of the estate, other housing associations/developers also have a responsibility to do their bits of land. All carry out this maintenance on different days and to different standards and charge accordingly. When you walk around the estates who is responsible for that piece of land that never gets cut, the weeds that are growing out of the kerb sides, the removal of graffiti, litter and fly tipping, hedges growing out over footpaths and numerous other eyesores which are reported through this forum. Everyone in authority passes the buck around and very little gets done. I did comment on this forum that what each estate needs is to be completely adopted by the council and a task force created to solely manage and be responsible for it. Each estate then will get a facelift and be somewhere where we can be proud to live.
Colin James Posted July 1, 2012 Report Posted July 1, 2012 Yes I agree, you see these horrible pieces of TOKEN land just left and then 20 years later some wise guy tries to put houses on there and it usually gets passed as by then most of the original buyers have moved on and the new people are just glad to get rid of the un cared for land.
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