Rendall & Rittner hike the service charges by twice inflation rate
News! Rendall & Rittner hike the service charges by twice inflation rate. RPI 2%…service charge increase 4%. Still this may be an improvement – last year 2013/14 it was a 3x inflation increase.
We are looking at buying an apartment within the development. Obviously, service charges are of great interest to us. Could you please give any feedback on the way the management company handle these (it looks as if there’s a lot of complaints?) and generally manage the development?
Thanks in advance, Keith.
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Hi Keith, the service charges have increased at 2 or 3 x inflation every year since I have been here (10 years). Currently residents are being asked to pay more than half a million pounds (divided by approx 1100 properties) for a replacement of doors to communal areas and entryphone. The door replacement is completely unnecessary but was forced through by a small minority who are afraid of having their ferraris stolen. However the existing doors are perfectly adequate and there has been very close to zero crime. Rendall & Rittner has these new doors custom made at great expense (and have taken a % of the price as a fee, on top of the whopping service charges) but admit that they have not done basic tests such as the noise impact. Rendall & Rittner are grossly inefficient at dealing with resident enquiries and complaints in my experience and seem to be increasingly angry at residents for even raising issues. For the level of service charges one would expect excellent service but in fact it is poorer than you would get from any other organisation.
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