Frequently Asked Questions

Below are those questions most frequently asked by residents. FAQ’s specifically relating to your residents’ company model can be found in your residents’ login area, alternatively, please contact us.

Why is my property part of a residents’ company?

Can I opt to leave the residents’ company?

Why do I have to pay a service charge?

Why do I still have to pay a council tax bill?

What happens if I can’t pay my service charge bill?

What happens if I don’t pay my service charge bill?

My property is empty – do I still have to pay my service charge bill?

I rent my property to tenants; who should be paying the service charge bill?

Do I need permission from the residents’ company to make alterations to my property?

What happens if I want to sell or transfer my property?

Will the residents’ company pay for repairs needed to my house?

What if someone uses my private parking space?

What if somebody else persists in parking on verges and/ or entry points which are not allocated parking spaces?

There’s an abandoned vehicle on residents’ company land, how can you help?

How do I know what areas of my estate belong to my residents’ company?

Where can I find information on what my service charges are spent on?

 

Why is my property part of a residents’ company?

Your estate has private amenity areas and or infrastructure such as grassed areas, play areas, roads, footpaths, surface water sewers and streetlights.  This means that the local authority or utility companies are not responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the amenity areas and or infrastructure, and maintenance and upkeep needs to be undertaken and paid for by the home-owners.

The residents’ company is a means of ensuring that the maintenance and practical management of  private amenity areas and/or infrastructure is performed to an agreed standard, and these assets are owned and funded by home-owners whom make up the community. For more information, please see You and your residents’ company.

Can I opt to leave the residents’ company?

When you purchased your property you signed an agreement to become a shareholder or member of your resident’s company. As the property owner you are legally obliged to contribute to the residents’ company, which includes paying all service charges applicable.

Why do I have to pay a service charge?

The residents’ company charges property owners a service charge in order to ensure that funds are available to meet the costs of running the company and maintaining the estate. The service charge is set on a ‘not for profit’ basis, at a level required to manage and maintain the estate properly and to ensure its safety and amenity value.

Each property owner within the residents’ company is legally obliged to pay the service charge – payment is not optional.  Refusal or inability to pay service charges will result in a shortage of funds for the residents’ company to meet its obligations. Therefore, it is important that owners pay their service charges when required.

Why do I still have to pay a council tax bill?

Council Tax funds provide for many other local community facilities, such as the  police service, the fire service, education and refuse collection as well as infrastructure (such as roads) outside of the estate. Unfortunately, there is no rebate against Council Tax as a result of paying a residents’ company service charge.

What happens if I can’t pay my service charge bill?

In the event that you are having difficulty paying your service charge, please contact Preim as soon as possible. We will always try to find a way of assisting you with your payment arrangements and may be able to offer an alternative method of payment.

What happens if I don’t pay my service charge bill?

If you fail to pay, or fail to make arrangements to pay your service charge, we will contact you to discuss payment. If following those discussions you continue to fail to pay, we will initiate our debt collection procedure which can lead to additional administration charges being added to your account. In the event that you continue to fail to pay, we will take legal action to recover the debt on behalf of your residents’ company. Please be aware that significant additional costs would be added to your account in this instance.

My property is empty – do I still have to pay my service charge?

Yes you do. There is no discount available for vacant properties.

I rent my property to tenants – who should be paying the service charge?

The obligation to pay the service charge lies with the owner of the property. Unfortunately, we are unable to speak to tenants about the service charge account unless we are given specific permission to do so by the property owner.

Do I need permission from the residents’ company to make alterations to my property?

Where you are making external alterations to your property such as building an extension, dropped kerbs or constructing car parking spaces within your property curtilage, you may need to apply for and receive a licence from the residents’ company to undertake the works.  This licence is to protect you and the shareholders of the residents’ company, where building works could adversely affect the existing communally owned infrastructure such as sewers, foot-ways and verges. If you do not obtain a licence, then in the event of the future sale of your property, you will encounter difficulties in obtaining a compliance certificate. Please refer to useful forms for further information

Internal alterations do not require permission from the residents’ company, unless your property is a leasehold property. In this case please refer to your lease.

What happens if I want to sell or transfer my property?

There are some extra legal requirements when selling a property that is part of a residents’ company. Your solicitor will be able to advise you and deal with these – please see Sales and Transfers.

Will the residents’ company pay for repairs needed to my house?

Not when your property is freehold. Where your property is leasehold, some aspects of repair work may be covered and funded by your residents’ company. You should refer to your lease for full details

What if someone uses my private parking space?

Parking in it is not a residents’ company issue, as such your managing agent do not provide services to manage your parking space(s).

What if somebody else persists in parking on verges and/ or entry points which are not allocated parking spaces?

If you are experiencing problems with somebody else parking outside of their own parking spaces (if any) we may be able to write to them to politely ask they stop doing so.

There’s an abandoned vehicle on residents’ company land, how can you help?

If you discover an abandon vehicle, please report this to your local authority who will be happy to assist in confirming whether or not the vehicle is abandoned and if should be removed. As your managing agent, Preim have no jurisdiction in removing abandoned vehicles.

How do I know what areas of my estate belong to my residents’ company?

If you are unsure what areas belong to your residents’ company you may log in your residents’ area where a plan of your estate can be found., as well as lots of other useful documents involving the residents’ company budgets and statutory accounts.

Where can I find information on what my service charges are spent on?

Your service charges go towards the upkeep and maintenance of land, infrastructure and amenities owned by your residents’ company, for a full breakdown of this please log into your residents’ area which will include budgets for the current year.

If you have any further queries regarding any aspect of the residents’ company, Preim or your home, please contact us.