Frequently Asked Questions

At the end of each financial year, a summary of expenditure is prepared by an independent accountant showing income and expenditure for your property. The statements are circulated to all leaseholders.

We recognise that personal circumstances change and some property owners may find that they have difficulty in meeting service charge payment obligations. In the first instance please contact our Customer Services team to discuss payment options or email us using our feedback form on the Contact Us page, particularly if you have received a letter from our Credit Control department.

Initially, please contact our Customer Services advisors who will liaise with the Property Manager responsible for your building.
Tel: 08453 370272 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm)
Email:

Although the Property Manager has overall responsibility for the management of your development, he or she is supported by the Luton support teams.

All communication received from customers is recorded on our property management system database, allowing any advisor to see copies of everything that we have sent by locating your address. This robust recording of information, allows us to ensure that responses are issued in a timely manner, even when individual staff members are on annual leave. It means that the Customer Service team can often resolve complaints straight away, without having to contact the Property Manager.

Service charges and ground rents can be paid in several ways. We accept card payment both online and over the phone (please call our Customer Services department on 08453 370272.)

We accept the following card types:

Credit Cards
Mastercard
Visa

Debit Cards
Switch Solo
UK Maestro
Visa Debit / Delta
Visa Electron

We also accept payment by Cheque or Bank Transfer.

We regret that OM Property Management does not directly offer any instalment plans. However, you can pay by monthly instalments through our nominated external finance company. Should you wish to take advantage of this, please contact our Credit Control team on 01582 393700.

All invoices for service charges and ground rents are due on specified dates within the year in accordance with the terms of your lease. Although the account may be settled monthly by standing order, we will always provide a demand for payment by the respective due dates. Those with monthly arrangements will receive the invoices for information only.

We are appointed to maintain any communal grounds i.e. car parks or landscaped areas, by the Freeholder of these areas. Your Transfer document will outline your requirement to contribute towards the maintenance of these areas.

Yes. As the owner of the property when the invoice was issued, the payment is due from you in full. You should request a receipt when you pay as your solicitor will require this and will obtain a refund from your purchaser or a contribution to the cost you have incurred. If you are completing a sale prior to the beginning of the invoice period, please pass the invoice to your solicitor so that they become aware of it. For most sales, solicitors write to ask us if there are any payments outstanding. If you have not paid it is possible that this may delay your sale.

This usually occurs when a sale has taken place and your solicitor has not registered the assignment with us as required by your Lease. You should contact your solicitor immediately to ensure that the position is regularised.

Until registration has taken place, we are unable to amend the record relating to your property. However, as the owner, you are responsible for the charges and should pay these even though you may be resolving matters with your solicitor.

In the first instance, we suggest you should make contact with the flat above. Quite often, they are unaware of the fault and will rectify the problem straight away. Should you experience difficulty making contact with the flat in question, please contact our Customer Services team who will contact the owner of the property advising them that there is a leak. Regrettably, OM Property Management cannot carry out any repairs to pipe work falling within the responsibility of individual owners.

Should there be any damage caused to your property and you wish to make a claim on the block buildings insurance, please contact our Customer Services Team who will provide you with the necessary information.

Noise from TVs, stereos, party guests leaving the property etc. can be very frustrating, particularly late at night. Persistent noise nuisance is best dealt with by your local Environmental Health Department which has the necessary powers to deal with this and whose involvement usually provides a speedy resolution.

Under the terms of most Leases we are required to insure the whole building but not your belongings and home contents. Where your bank or building society has required you to insure through them, you should obtain from us a copy of the insurance summary details and current schedule and give this to them.

Regrettably we cannot protect a resident's individual parking space. If any vehicle parks upon it, the only person who can take action is the leaseholder who owns that space. Please contact Customer Services for further information 08453 370272 (lo-call).

If you purchase a freehold property, you will own the home and the land it is built on. There may however be a freehold company who owns the estate areas, such as communal car parking or garden areas, which we have been appointed to maintain and for which service charges are due.

There is often an adjustment to the service charge after the year end as it is unlikely that our estimate will equal the amount expended during the year. This adjustment can be a credit if we over estimate or a debit if we under estimate. If we under estimate; an invoice will be sent to you for the balance due. If we over estimate, the adjustment are credited to your account and can reduce future invoices.

It is common sense and good practice to save for future known large expenditure and the proverbial 'rainy day'. That’s why it is sensible for a development to have its own 'Reserve Fund'.

Reserve Funds are collected to help contribute towards the cost of non annual expenditure such as external and internal decorations, the renewal or major repair to parts of the building or plant and machinery such as lifts and pumps.

An amount is collected each year so that money is accumulated and available to meet either significant unexpected expenditure or other periodic repair or renewals.

The process also helps to ensure fairness, so that every leaseholder is making an annual contribution to future major works costs, even if no work is carried out whilst that leaseholder is in occupation. The leaseholder therefore shares the cost of parts of the building or equipment wearing out relative to the period he or she was an owner.

The money is held in the same way as other service charge funds in a trust account with any interest being for the benefit of the reserve fund. The money can only be spent on your development.

As the current owner, you are now liable for making this payment. However, your solicitor should have made arrangements to cover this contingency, usually by retaining an amount of the money due to the person who sold the property to you. You should check this with your solicitor.

We aim to do our best to provide a good service, in a polite, efficient and fair way but we understand that sometimes things can go wrong.

We take all complaints about our service very seriously and will endeavour to deal with your complaint promptly. To ensure that we have all the facts necessary to investigate your complaint, we ask that you follow a simple step-by-step procedure, which will enable us to expedite your complaint to a mutually satisfactory resolution.

To view a copy or download our customer complaints procedure please click here.

If you’re looking to rent your property you should be aware that most leasehold properties require consent to sublet; full details of your obligations will be contained in the terms of your lease. If this is the case then please contact us with a written application form, as we are obliged to have full details of tenants in order to comply with the lease terms of the building or development.

Most Leases state that you should obtain consent and that the sub-tenant should enter into a 'direct deed of covenant' to ensure the sub-tenant complies with the general terms and regulations contained within the Lease.

Please note you need to pay reasonable solicitor's costs for the preparation and completion of the 'deed of covenant' and that there will be an administrative charge for the issue of the appropriate consent. These fees are set out within the application form.

In order to protect the other residents in the building and to comply with the terms of the Lease, references are required and the letting must be to a specific person.

Some Leases have an absolute ban on any pets, or certain specified animals. Other Leases allow pets provided consent is obtained beforehand. In these cases a written consent is required.

Where you wish to have a cat or dog, please write to us for consent. In the case of a dog, we would normally require a photograph to ensure that it is a breed which is consistent with living in such a property. The written consent is given subject to what are termed 'good neighbour' conditions, details of which can be obtained from our Customer Service Team.

We can help you find the ideal tenants and manage the lettings process through our partner company Insero Lettings a trading division of Peverel OM Ltd.

Insero is experienced in lettings for every size and type of property and uses a network of the best local estate agents to find the right tenants, offer specialist advice and help customers get the most out of letting. As members of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), Insero aims to exceed expectations at every stage in the lettings process.

To find out more please visit their website www.insero-lettings.co.uk

You can also contact the Insero team on 0845 034 5792 (lo-call) or email them on