Factor Fees for Flats

[LaMotta]

Wondering if anyone is able to share their monthly costs for factoring in a flat?

I'm in a block in centralish Edinburgh with a lift, and our monthly cost has just gone up to £200. Yes a month.

This includes building insurance which is really high (factor says due to large number of claims over the years) and the roof here is dodgy due to a design flaw.

Also includes the usual stair lighting, lift maintenance, stair cleaning, bins emptied is included too. And general Factor MGMT Fees to Redpath Bruce who dont seem to do anything. There are 20 odd flats in the property.

But surely nobody else pays that much in other properties? I've never heard of it. Yet I'm struggling to get the neighbours to see we are being ripped off.

Am I going mad? It seems ridiculous or is it normal prices?

[Since90+2]

Never heard of a factor fee being that high.

[Keyser Sauzee]

Mine is about £240 a quarter. I despise paying them as they constantly add extra costs on to the bill which really should come as part of the yearly fee. They pretty much have a license to charge what they like, I think it’s wrong that you have to pay factors at all, should be up to the owners wether that have factors or not.

[Trinity Hibee]

I moved out of a flat just before covid and at that point factor fee was £850 a year and that was a stair without a lift.

£2400 a year though is extortionate. Presumably you are in a pretty new building?

[Smartie]

Mine is £118 per month. I’ve been here since the flats were built in 2004 and they’ve gone up from about £90 to that within that time. There are 300 odd flats in this development though, maybe even more than that so I’d expect there to be economies of scale.

[Since90+2]

If you have 20 flats in the block that's nearly £50,000 a year in factor fee the company are getting. I can't think how their costs are even remotely close to that for a single block (obviously they need to turn a profit, but that seems excessive).

I'd ask them for a rundown of how the costs are broken down for each service provided.

[RyeSloan]

You should look into changing the property factor.

There is specific legislation on how to do so and also on what the current one must do if you complain / ask for details of costs.

Your title deeds may well have some provision into how a change would be initiated but it’s normally on a majority basis so you wouldn’t need everyone to agree.

https://www.mckinstry.co.uk/what-is-...ou-change-them

[LaMotta]

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Never heard of a factor fee being that high.

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Mine is about £240 a quarter. I despise paying them as they constantly add extra costs on to the bill which really should come as part of the yearly fee. They pretty much have a license to charge what they like, I think it’s wrong that you have to pay factors at all, should be up to the owners wether that have factors or not.

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Mine is £118 per month. I’ve been here since the flats were built in 2004 and they’ve gone up from about £90 to that within that time. There are 300 odd flats in this development though, maybe even more than that so I’d expect there to be economies of scale.

Thanks all, yeah highest I've heard before is about £120 a month, interesting to get your takes.

[LaMotta]

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I moved out of a flat just before covid and at that point factor fee was £850 a year and that was a stair without a lift.

£2400 a year though is extortionate. Presumably you are in a pretty new building?

Was built in 2002.....

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If you have 20 flats in the block that's nearly £50,000 a year in factor fee the company are getting. I can't think how their costs are even remotely close to that for a single block (obviously they need to turn a profit, but that seems excessive).

I'd ask them for a rundown of how the costs are broken down for each service provided.

Yeah mate recently went back and forth on emails after they tried to up my direct debit from £145 a month to £304! I was losing the plot with them, asked for 2 years of statements and looked through all quarterly bills thouroughly. They messed up the DD calculation but £200 is the correct figure based on last years charges. ( It took me 2 weeks of back and forth emails and calls to explain to them that it couldnt possibly be £300 a month, they were doing some wacky calculations!)

One of the main issues is that buildings insurance is approx £1000 a year per person, so that makes up a huge chunk. I used to pay £200 a year for buildings and contents in a 4 bed house, now its 5 times that for a 2 bed flat without contents insurance!!!

I've found out they take a large commission and only get 3 quotes so we are def being ripped off. But then there have been lssues with the roof and large claims from top floor flats over last 5 years.

But other examples of mad costs are quarterly communal electricity charges going up from £30 a quarter to £180 a quarter per person over last 18 months. That's a mental increase out of sync with average increases. And only for a few stair lights and a lift.

[LaMotta]

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You should look into changing the property factor.

There is specific legislation on how to do so and also on what the current one must do if you complain / ask for details of costs.

Your title deeds may well have some provision into how a change would be initiated but it’s normally on a majority basis so you wouldn’t need everyone to agree.

https://www.mckinstry.co.uk/what-is-...ou-change-them

Yeh cheers mate. So I've been in touch with a different one already and sent them all the documentation they need to make a proposal. They are working one up and going to send out letters to all residents, but it's taking time due to the insurance roof issues. We will need at least 10 owners to vote for a change I'm told. There are a few def interested in changing but there are some owners don't seem bothered (too much hassle I think) and other flats are rented so hard to get in touch with owners. I'm going to try my hardest to change things though!!

[DH1875]

My daughter bought her first flat a few months ago. One of the things that caught us out was the factor fees. Totally forgot all about them when looking and the difference between prices was mental and effectively had a large part in her ending up in the flat she has ended up buying. We went to see one flat and she loved it. Was all set to offer on it when we found out the factors were going to be £200 extra a month. She was still keen but the thing is the communal landings looked dark and dinghy, the gardens weren't kept or looked after, flats have a wee small play park which has clearly seen better days. All the communal areas were run down and the underground car park didn't feel safe. Big concern were the signs of dampness dotted around the place. Asked about it only to be told it would have to be taken up with the factors. Genuinely questioned if any work had been carried out anywhere since the flats were built and what your paying the extra money for.
Over 70 flats at £200 each a month 😲.

[LaMotta]

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My daughter bought her first flat a few months ago. One of the things that caught us out was the factor fees. Totally forgot all about them when looking and the difference between prices was mental and effectively had a large part in her ending up in the flat she has ended up buying. We went to see one flat and she loved it. Was all set to offer on it when we found out the factors were going to be £200 extra a month. She was still keen but the thing is the communal landings looked dark and dinghy, the gardens weren't kept or looked after, flats have a wee small play park which has clearly seen better days. All the communal areas were run down and the underground car park didn't feel safe. Big concern were the signs of dampness dotted around the place. Asked about it only to be told it would have to be taken up with the factors. Genuinely questioned if any work had been carried out anywhere since the flats were built and what your paying the extra money for.
Over 70 flats at £200 each a month ��.

It really does make a huge difference if you consider what that extra £200 quid could be worth as part of a mortgage payment instead!

[overdrive]

They are a bunch of chancers, the lot of them. My last two permanent places have been maindoors within a factored development. The last place did the invoices weird in that they itemised stuff, gave the total cost and then a cost per property, then a total at the bottom, except if you didn't live in a flat, the total didn't include any item for the flats only (lift maintenance, stair electricity, etc.). This meant the total at the bottom for us wasn't actually the sum of the figures above it in the column.

That made it very difficult to check what you were actually getting charged for. They then did add a column for the number of properties that they were using for the cost per property so you could infer from that but sometimes it just wouldn't add up and you'd query it and it turned out they had "forgot" to exclude some of the flat only items from our total.

There was a situation between us offering on that house and us getting the keys whereby the residents were in dispute with the prior factor. I think the accusation was that the previous factor had stolen money from the reserves for our development. It rumbled on for years afterwards, in terms of it going to the regulator, losing, failed appeals, went to court - all incurring legal fees that were then added onto the factoring fee.

At our current place, it is quite cheap BUT they email you a quarterly invoice and expect it paid that day which is a pain the backside if you don't see the email right away. If you don't, they charge a £15 late payment admin fee. This month, we got the quarterly invoice and the invoice date and due date (same date) was 3 days prior to the date it was emailed. They can get stuffed if a £15 late payment admin fee is listed on the next invoice.

[Trinity Hibee]

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They are a bunch of chancers, the lot of them. My last two permanent places have been maindoors within a factored development. The last place did the invoices weird in that they itemised stuff, gave the total cost and then a cost per property, then a total at the bottom, except if you didn't live in a flat, the total didn't include any item for the flats only (lift maintenance, stair electricity, etc.). This meant the total at the bottom for us wasn't actually the sum of the figures above it in the column.

That made it very difficult to check what you were actually getting charged for. They then did add a column for the number of properties that they were using for the cost per property so you could infer from that but sometimes it just wouldn't add up and you'd query it and it turned out they had "forgot" to exclude some of the flat only items from our total.

There was a situation between us offering on that house and us getting the keys whereby the residents were in dispute with the prior factor. I think the accusation was that the previous factor had stolen money from the reserves for our development. It rumbled on for years afterwards, in terms of it going to the regulator, losing, failed appeals, went to court - all incurring legal fees that were then added onto the factoring fee.

At our current place, it is quite cheap BUT they email you a quarterly invoice and expect it paid that day which is a pain the backside if you don't see the email right away. If you don't, they charge a £15 late payment admin fee. This month, we got the quarterly invoice and the invoice date and due date (same date) was 3 days prior to the date it was emailed. They can get stuffed if a £15 late payment admin fee is listed on the next invoice.

Your last paragraph is madness. Legally how do they get away with that?

[Smartie]

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Your last paragraph is madness. Legally how do they get away with that?

I don't know much about the ins and out of the specifics of how factors work in relation to the law, but that sounds a totally unreasonable way to operate any sort of business and I'd also question the legality of it.

In my own business, whenever it comes to implementing policies, addressing conflict or complaints etc I'm minded that it's always best to "be reasonable". That just doesn't sound remotely reasonable to me and I don't know how they can expect people to comply with it.