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‘My flat is now worth £100,000 less than it was four years ago’

Shoddy building work and high service charge leave London leaseholder out of pocket

David Humber could not quite believe it when an estate agent told him his flat would sell for as much as £100,000 less than what it was worth four years before.
The 49-year-old, who lives in south London, had accepted a £750,000 offer on his two-bedroom home just before the pandemic, but the offer fell through.
Since then, his service charge has risen to £450 a month, his flat has suffered severe water damage after a botched roof job, and the building itself is now in a state of disrepair while pipeworks are being replaced.
An estate agent told him recently that he now might only be able to get between £650,000 and £700,000 for his flat, citing a combination of the building works and high service charge – which was £200 when he bought it back in 2012.  
This is despite house prices having risen more than 20pc across England and Wales since early 2020.
Agents have also told him that the £450 monthly service charge now makes his home unaffordable for many – and those who can afford it might just prefer to buy somewhere they can get more for their money.
Mr Humber has watched eagerly for leaseholder rights to reach the top of the political agenda. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill became law earlier this year and gives homeowners the right to request information about their service charges and the management of their building.
But there is still no regulator for managing agents in the UK, and campaigners say until this changes many leaseholders will be at risk.
Leaseholders can use the first-tier tribunal, but agents have been known not to pay up even if they are found against by the judge. Preparing tribunal cases also takes time, which many do not have when they are trying to juggle full-time jobs.
It has felt relentless for Mr Humber, who has now been trying to sell for more than four years.
In 2020, the flats were required to complete the long-winded process of getting an EWS1 form to satisfy lenders that the building did not have dangerous cladding and met fire safety standards.
In the end, no cladding needed to be removed, but heat sensors were needed in each flat alongside an upgraded alarm system. These works finally finished last year. 
But in March, work on the roof replacement for the building began, despite it being just 12 years old. London & Quadrant (L&Q), the housing association that owns Mr Humber’s flat and which doubles up as a managing agent, contracted the work out to Durkan – a company that then sub-contracted it out to a second firm.
Builders took the waterproof layer off on a Friday, but then left the site over the weekend without covering it back up. It rained that Friday evening and water poured through the light fittings of Mr Humber’s flat into his kitchen.
Walls on all sides were also soaked and consequently stained with rainwater, and his furniture was ruined. Because Mr Humber’s flat is on the top floor, he bore the brunt of the damage.
He said: “L&Q said they would get someone to seal the roof the Monday after that weekend, but they didn’t. It took five days in the end. And even when they did, builders made the same mistake on other parts of the roof.
“On four separate occasions since March, there have been leaks from the roof which was previously sound above my flat – virtually all of which could have been avoided.
“The work to replace the pipes has resulted in the communal areas looking like a bomb site for months, front doors have been broken, and holes have been drilled into the ceiling that now are leaking.
“L&Q has an obligation as the freeholder to not impact the value of properties like mine. I have been impacted financially as a result of all this and now feel trapped. I can’t sell the flat and block in its current state and can’t rent it out either.  Who would live in a wrecked flat?”
Despite paying into a pot of money for his building’s insurance, L&Q initially refused to let Mr Humber claim for the water damage to his flat. Due to the delays, he turned to his own home insurance with Privilege, which has so far covered £4,800 for the soft furnishings damaged.
“L&Q should have been the ones to fix my flat from the start,” Mr Humber said. Durkan, the contractor, has since apologised to Mr Humber and offered him £5,000 to cover the cost of repairs, which he says will be closer to £15,000. 
Meanwhile, the pipework replacement will also cost leaseholders such as Mr Humber up to £10,000 each, based on a £2.2m bill to be shared across 140 flats.
Mr Humber is now hoping to salvage his flat’s value. Agents say he might still have to accept a discount while the communal works continue, but that this will be more like £25,000 to £50,000 if he can get everything fixed inside the flat before putting it on the market.
Mark Newstead, director of major programmes at L&Q, said his was “a charitable housing association” and that it “does not make any profit from service charges”. He said increases in recent years have been driven by new costs associated with the Building Safety Act 2022, and rising building insurance premiums across the sector.
He added: “We’re very sorry for the delays fixing the issues at Mr Humber’s building. We have completed roof works, and our contractor has made an offer to cover the costs of repairing and redecorating his home.
“We are also upgrading the communal heating pipework, which has reached the end of its life. We appreciate this is inconvenient and are working with our contractors to minimise the disruption to residents.”
A Durkan spokesman added: “We’ve been in constant communication with Mr Humber, and have apologised personally to him for the damage to his home.
“We have offered £5,000 to cover the cost of repairs, based on a detailed assessment. Mr Humber declined but the offer is very much still open to him.”  

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