Management company in liquidation-lenders nervous

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daithi

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Hi My wife and I are in the final stages of closing the purchase of a house in an estate.It has emerged that the management company in the estate has gone into liquidation and nobody seems to know who is responsible for maintenance of roads, lighting etc in the estate.The net result is that my mortgage lender is reluctant to allow the mortgage to be drawn don until title has been established.Im wondering if anybody has had a similar experience, and if so, what course of action would they recommend?
Thanks in advance,
Daithi.
 
Who controlled the management company up to now? The developer or the householders? Do you know why it is facing liquidation? Your solicitor should be able to advise you on the pros and cons of proceeding.
 
A mgemt company was formed by the developer,but this seems to have been wound down.The developer went into liquidation only last year, and nobody seems to know who is responsible for the common areas and the bank won't release funds until they know..its a bit strange, as several houses have changed hands in the estate in the last 6 months.As far as the local authority is concerned, they haven't taken the estate in charge and we are in limbo at the moment..
sorry I didnt update sooner..
daithi
 
You probably know all of this already but ...

As far as I recall if the developer had control of the management company and the developer and/or the management company has gone into liquidation then there is some mechanism by which the residents/householders can claim control of matters and establish their own management company (or revive the original one?) in order to manage their estate. As you probably know management companies are normally owned/controlled by householders possibly after a transition period during which the developer controls the company and then hands it over once the development is completed. As ever don't confuse the management company with the management agent - the latter is often engaged as a service provider by the former to carry out the day to day and ongoing maintenance on the development. Alternatively they could try petitioning/lobbying the local authority to take the estate in charge.
 
Most developers used to in the past take out an insurance policy to cover the eventuality of the developer (themselves) going into liquidation prior to the estate being taken over by the local co council.
Then Co co stated that they were not going to take estate in charge any more and developers set up management co with the intension that the householders would eventuality taken control.
Then the minister involved said that this was illegal and he was not aware that this was going on and that he would take legal action against any co council which refused to take over an estate. Don't know if he actually did.
 
In some or all cases the developer is obliged to lodge a bond with the local authority until such time as the relevant connections to the public utilities (e.g. water, sewerage etc.) ahave been inspected and passed as being up to standard. If this bond was still with the local authority then perhaps there may be some scope for the (new or revived) management company claiming it and using it towards management/maintenance expenses?
 
Unfortunately this would depend on the residents going to the trouble to either re-form the amanagement company and try to collect fees,or them petitioning the co.council to take the estate in charge-I cant ask them to do this as I am not a resident!I think i'll have a word with the liquidator, or people who have bought there recently to see if any of them can advise me-I'll update when I find out..

daithi
 
Ultimately you really need to be guided primarily by your solicitor on this matter.
 
Hey Daithi,

Did you decide to purchase the house or did you forget about it?
If you bought the house how are things coming along getting the management company started up again.
I'm in a similar situation and wondering now whether to buy the property or not?

Cheers
 
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