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Axe this charge
• IT should be noted that only 15 per cent of Islington’s 11,000 leaseholders voted “yes” on a proposal to create a borough-wide leaseholders’ association to be funded by them to the tune of £20 per annum (A slap in the face from our ‘listening landlord’, October 19).
The majority either voted “no” or abstained. The criteria laid down by the government’s Residential Property Tribunal Service for statutory recognised leaseholder associations requires a 60 per cent “yes” vote from all eligible leaseholders.
More importantly, the government’s Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) has issued an opinion which states “there is no ability for the service charge to include the costs of a borough-wide association” under the terms of our leases.
It is for this reason that we have filed a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) appeal on behalf of the 85 per cent of leaseholders who did not vote for this additional charge, requesting that said charge be struck down.
None of the 400 or so other local authorities in the country has attempted such an imposition on their leaseholders. The reasons for this have now become clear: such a charge is not recoverable under the lease.
We have asked the LVT to confirm the opinion of LEASE and, if successful, this additional imposed cost will be struck from our annual service charges.
Lastly, in response to a letter from Ed Fredenburgh, ILAG was formed back in 2003, prior to the existence of his organisation.
We have campaigned successfully on leaseholder charges on regeneration projects in EC1, raised awareness of the anti-leaseholder policies of extreme left-wing political groups standing for election to the council, and, more recently, campaigned over charging for communal electrical lateral replacements which are in fact the responsibility of EDF to replace.
Owen Hart
Islington Leaseholder Action Group
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