A group of residents in a “filthy” and “dilapidated” apartment complex in Birmingham city centre have told of their frustration over rising charges and the “mismanagement” of their block.
Leasehold flat owners in Broadway Plaza said they are forced to contend with broken lifts, dirty communal areas and security breaches which attract “drug dealers”, reports Birmingham Live.
The residential units at Broadway Plaza are run by Danesdale Land Ltd who employ agents Centrick to oversee the day-to-day management.
But residents said they have lost trust in the company to carry out essential repair work to the point they are now fighting for the Right to Manage the complex. Victory would mean leasehold property owners take over the management of their building.
Owners said they were “pulling their hair out” over the “neglect” of their apartment block and wanted to see the leasehold system overhauled.
Managing agent Centrick said it “wholeheartedly empathised” with leaseholders at Broadway Plaza and vowed to implement repairs “when in receipt of sufficient funds”.
Under the leasehold system, while residents own their property they don’t have a stake in the building it is in. This means they pay costs such as ground rent, annual service charges, and maintenance fees to a landlord who is responsible for maintaining communal areas.
Martin Reid has lived on the top floor of Broadway Plaza for seven years. He said the block could be “fantastic” if residents were given the opportunity to run it themselves.
He said: “Most of the apartments here have had varying degrees of problems with the lifts.
“Some have been broken for nine months and the quality of the cleaning is shocking. Doors have been jammed open meaning anyone can wander in off the street.”
“We’re powerless to do anything because there’s no accountability. This is supposed to be a high-end block of apartments, that’s certainly what we paid for, but it has the feel of a council estate.”
Mum-of-two Carol Harris has lived in her apartment for twenty years. She said her annual service charge has risen from £1,400 to £3,400 over the past few years.
She said: “They don’t seem fussed about fixing anything.”
“Our maintenance costs are rising but we’re not seeing where that money is going. We’ve been trying to engage with Centrick but it’s like banging your head against a brick wall.”
Another issue at Broadway Plaza, according to tenants, are complications with the block’s EWS1 certificate – that allows valuers to know a building has undergone a fire safety assessment.
Until these certificates are issued, lenders will not issue mortgages to potential buyers, leaving residents here feeling like “mortgage prisoners”.
When approached, Danesdale said the EWS1 certificates were the responsibility of the Main Freeholder due to the residential blocks being on top of commercial units.
Lee Cowell has owned an apartment in Broadway Plaza for nearly a decade and currently rents it out to a tenant. He said: “When I bought the flat it was great – the complex was well looked after, it was a desirable place to be. But since we’ve got this new management agent, the complex has gone downhill.”
“My tenant messages me every week with a new problem. We want to take the management of the complex into our own hands and make our own decisions.”
The Leasehold and Freehold (Reform) Bill is currently being debated in Parliament which aims to give leaseholders more power in the running of their properties. It will call for greater transparency to justify the service charges levied and will ‘phase out’ leaseholds on newly built houses, but not flats.
However, residents at Broadway Plaza believe the reforms will do little to help them manage their property due to the large proportion of commercial units in the complex.
Under the current law, leaseholders cannot collectively buy their freehold if more than 25 percent of the floor space in their building is used for commercial purposes. The Leasehold Reform Bill will raise this threshold to 50 percent – but residents say this number is still too low.
Managing agents Centrick took over Broadway Plaza in 2022. When approached, the group told Birmingham Live it has engaged with leaseholders and created a Long-Term Maintenance Plan (LTMP) in order to spread the costs of essential works on the site including lift replacements, internal decorations and carpet replacements.
A spokesperson for the group said: “We wholeheartedly empathise with leaseholders and residents at Broadway Plaza and our management team has been working hard to address issues raised since we began management of this site in January 2022.
“We remain committed to working with leaseholders and the residents association to implement repairs and maintenance when in receipt of sufficient funds to do so.”
