communal area responsibility

[rollwithit]

Hi Nigel,

Our developer is threatening to pull out of servicing the communal area because we wont agree to an increase of maintenance fee's. Can I ask you who is legally responsible for the running of the communal area until we receive Title deeds? Surely they have a legal responsibility to continue looking after the communal area because its still theirs, until title deeds are issued to the owners which will probably be 5 years away anyway. Also if they refuse to pay the liability insurance on the site and there was an accident who would be responsible - the developer or the non title deed owners?
I believe the developer has not applied for the certificate of approval as we are waiting for 'final inspection' approval to come through.

I would be delighted to hear other owners views on this topic and any advice would be appreciated

thanks

Rollwithit

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Rollwithit ad welcome to the property forum,

The developer is responsible for managing & maintaining the communal parts of the development until Title Deeds are issued. It's then up to the owners to manage things.

So if anything goes wrong, someone has an accident, the developer should be held responsible. You should put this to him in writing so there is no dispute at a later stage if anything happens. Maybe a good idea to have a lawyer prepare a letter on the residents' behalf.

I know of one developer in Paphos who has tried to hike charges by 30% this year - it's pure exploitation!

Regards,