Help & Advice

All owners, whether they be leaseholders or freeholders must pay the Service Charge demanded to cover the cost of communal work for the development as stipulated on your individual lease and title deed.  This is for the upkeep and maintenance of any blocks on the development, and its communal areas.

Your Service Charge bill is split into two sections. The first part is an anticipated yearly budget based on last year’s expenditure for your particular site. The second part, commonly known as the reserve or contingency fund, is a collection of money for future large scale works such as interior and exterior redecorations, landscaping issues, security issues and/or roof repairs, as sometimes money has to be collected and accumulated before certain works can be carried out.

In the event of a real emergency, such as fire, please contact the emergency services by dialing 999.

One of the most common issues are leaks, to which there are various reasons why water might be getting into places it shouldn’t, such as wind-driven rain, leaking pipes, overflowing baths, eroded grouting around sinks, showers or baths, etc. The first action to be taken is locate the source of the leak, and ensure it is stopped as quickly as possible.

Once you have instructed your solicitors that a sale is to go ahead, they will request a ‘sellers pack’ from Hegarty PM Ltd, which includes a completed LPE01 form, and confirms such details as to the end of year accounts, position of your service charge balance, expected works, and insurance policies.

There is a charge for this service which is usually paid by the solicitor on your behalf, and correspondence requested by the solicitor.

Although we try to ensure all enquiries are replied to within five working days, we would recommend that this is applied for sooner rather than later so as not to hold up any part of the sale unnecessarily.

Once we agree to manage your property, we provide a comprehensive fee quote which covers the day to day management by a dedicated, experienced property manager and most incidental expenses.

These would include such items as the management fee calculated on a per unit basis, out of hours support, bank charges for holding commercial client bank accounts, accountancy and company secretary fees.  We would only charge extra fees to the whole block for exceptional items such as major building works.

There can be additional fees charged to individual leaseholders, such as when payment plans are made and agreed, or that payments are late.

All sites that have communal blocks must have buildings insurance to cover them as a property as a whole, as per your individual property lease.  And depending on what the lease stipulates, it will be instructed to be arranged either by the Freeholder, or the the Directors of the management company.

If you feel that an insurance claim should be made, this will depend on the terms of the policy, and the cost of the claim compared to the excess that would automatically be payable.

Unfortunately, the insurance claim procedure can be complicated. Firstly, you must contact the office with as much information as possible. We will then communicate with the insurance company and any possible/relevant contractors. Please bear in mind that anything to do with insurance may take some time. It is also important to know that the final decision about taking on insurance claims lies with the insurance company. There may also be an insurance excess cost. Hegarty will act as a liaison between you and the insurance company and will assist throughout the whole claim.

You can find a copy of the buildings insurance certificate by logging into the client portal, or alternatively, you can contact the office to request a copy.

Other insurance policies that could be in place are the Directors and Officers insurance, this provides personal liability cover provided for directors/officers of your management company in the event of any claim against them.

Public Liability Insurance covers property damage to the communal areas of a  developments ground, and is usual for sites that are classed as ‘estate only’ sites.

Engineering Insurance will be in place for a machinery on site, such as lifts and gates.  It is a comprehensive insurance that provides complete protection against risks associated with erection, resting and working of any machinery, plant or equipment, and includes visits to site every six months to access the machinery is working correctly, and safely.

Contents insurance, on the other hand, is the responsibility of whoever is living in the property, either the Tenant or the Landlord.

Major works are generally works of a large scale that are required to be undertaken to the fabric of the grounds and building. These include things such as replacing the roof, internal or external decoration, lift refurbishment and re-carpeting.

The law requires that leaseholders paying variable service charges must be consulted before a Landlord carries out qualifying works or enters into a long-term agreement for the provision of services. Landlords must consult if these works will cost over £250 for any one contributing leaseholder.

There are three stages of the requirements for the qualifying works whereby all leaseholders are consulted on the proposed works.

Should the Landlord or Management Company wish to enter into a long-term agreement, which is over twelve months, then a consultation would also be required.

We take antisocial behaviour very seriously and we will not tolerate it in any form and we will do all we can to tackle it.  If you feel that your neighbours are in breach of their lease in terms of noise, pets or anti-social behaviour, please contact your property manager who will endeavour to help. However, sometimes issues can be resolved by speaking to the resident, and if you feel safe to do so, you may wish to try this option first as it is likely that your neighbour wold prefer you speak to them first as they may not be aware they are causing a problem to you.

We do not have a contractual agreement with the Tenants of a property, and so our influence may only go so far. If you feel that your neighbours are particularly anti-social or acting dangerously and this is worrying you, your should seek help and advice from either the police or county council.  It may be useful for you to initiate a ‘Log of Events’ to assist in the decision making of any Authority acting to resolve this matter.

Often the authorities will seek an evidence log to establish if there are any criminal/ anti-social behaviour offences being committed, such as: when does it happen, is it over a protracted period of time, who is it, what times, who affected, what are the affects on you personally and others around you etc.  Be specific i.e. this time and date, this action, made me feel this way.

Each Local Council will have departments that deal specifically with excess noise and anti-social behaviour. Please visit your local Council website in the first instance.

Police, Ambulance, Fire Emergency only Tel: 999

Local Police None Urgent Contact Tel: 101

The most common question we are asked is regarding the lack of parking and the use of other people’s allocated spaces.  If you are unsure as to the terms of your lease as to the conditions set out for the parking of vehicles, please contact your property manager who will be happy to help.

If your flat comes with a dedicated parking space which is outlined in your lease, then you are completely within your rights to politely ask your neighbours not to use the space, provided you feel safe/comfortable doing so. If you continue to have a problem, then please let your Property Manager know, so that we can help you to resolve the issue. It could be that we need to send a reminder to all residents in the block.

Some sites have chosen to engage with a local parking enforcement agency in the view of discouraging people who do not live at the development from parking there. The conditions set with this type of scheme are that a valid parking permit is displayed on the windscreen of the vehicle at all times, parking in the correct space, and designated areas.

Failure to comply with these conditions may well result in the owner of the vehicle receiving a fine.

Should you have a query relating to this matter, you should contact the enforcement agency, the details of which will be on the signs within the development.

Ground Rent is the payment made by Leaseholders to the Freeholder or Superior Landlord of the site who owns the land in which the building is built on. It is usually paid annually in advance, although the frequency and amount is determined by the lease.  This will be collected by way of a demand either from Hegarty, or a different agent acting on behalf of the Freeholder.

It is important that you notify us if you do not live at the property, so that we can ensure we have the correct contact details for yourselves for all correspondence that is issued.  If you are renting out the property, and whether you are self-managing or using a letting agent, to ensure we can contact the occupiers in the event of an emergency, it is also helpful for us to hold the details of the letting agents, and the Tenants.

To ensure we comply with GDPR, your Tenant must sign the contact form to consent to us holding their details such as their name, telephone number, move in date.  You should notify us when the tenant of your flat changes so that we can remove their details.

Hegarty Property Management Limited are committed to providing a professional service to all our Clients and Customers. If something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it, to allow us to improve our standards.

If you have a complaint, please put it in writing, including as much detail as possible. We will then respond in line with the time frames set out below.

1. Upon receipt of the written summary of the complaint this will be acknowledged in
writing within 3 working days.
2. We will investigate your Complaint, review your file and speak to
the member of staff who dealt with you. A written outcome of our investigation will
be sent to you within 15 working days of sending the acknowledgment letter.
3. If, at this stage, you still remain unsatisfied, you should contact us again and we
will arrange for a separate review to be undertaken by a senior member of staff.
4. We will write to you within 15 working days of receiving your request for a review,
confirming our final viewpoint on the matter.