Landlords Lazy Over Cost Control

According to a recent ‘Which?’ report, landlords are lazy when it comes to making sure that costs such as insurance premiums and the like, that are passed on to their tenants, represent good value for money.

In some cases, it is thought that the landlord may be in receipt of an undisclosed commission from the broker handling the insurance without accounting for this when the cost is recouped from tenants through their ‘service charges’.

Which? reports that tenants who have taken responsibility for arranging their own insurances have achieved savings of up to 60 per cent, and claims that the cost to leaseholders across the country may be as high as £700 million per year.

“If you believe that costs passed on to you by your landlord are too high, you may be able to challenge them,” says DFA Law solicitor Elaine Lo. “If straightforward negotiation fails, options such as going to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to set the service charges or forming a tenants’ management group may be available.”

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