Noëlle Rawé - 15 years of pain

Moderator: ArthurWankspittle

dannyno
Gunners Mate
Gunners Mate
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2017 6:49 pm

Re: Noëlle Rawé - 15 years of pain

Post by dannyno »

This is from the Daily Telegraph property section of 21 January 2006, part of an article by Ross Clark on problems with leasehold:
The Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Act 2002 was supposed to put an end to the bitter disputes between freeholders and leaseholders, giving the latter new powers to challenge excessive service charges before an independent body known as a leasehold valuation tribunal. Moreover, leaseholders were given greater powers to sack their managing agents or to purchase a share of the freehold of their buildings.

Alternatively, the Act includes provisions for them to club together and, ultimately, convert their building into a "commonhold'' system - a new legal arrangement along the lines of an American condominium, where flat-owners are jointly responsible for the maintenance of their building.

But the new laws haven't worked out very well for Noelle Rawe, who owns a pounds 250,000 basement flat in Knightsbridge, central London. In 2001, she, along with the other 34 leaseholders in her building, was sent a demand for pounds 14,400 for major works which her landlord deemed to be needed on the roof and on communal areas of the building. Under the 2002 Act, leaseholders have a right, when faced with a demand for work which exceeds pounds 250 per property, to see a full description of the works to be carried out and a breakdown of the costs. If they suspect the works could be done more cheaply, they can also nominate a contractor from whom they wish the landlord to seek an alternative estimate.

In the absence of sufficient detail of how this money was to be spent, Noelle suspected that much of her money was going to be used not for routine maintenance but to construct two extra apartments on the roof, which would be entirely to the benefit of the freeholder of her block. Noelle took the case to a leasehold valuation tribunal, which, in 2003, ruled that some of the proposed works had not been costed as they should have been; that the stated cost of refurbishing the lift seemed excessive and that some of the costs should have been met from an existing contingency fund, not from new contributions from leaseholders.

In the meantime, however, Noelle's landlord had taken her and other residents to court, threatening the residents with forfeiture of their lease if they did not pay. Although the demand was eventually reduced to pounds 6,300, Noelle says that the benefits of challenging the bill were outweighed by her legal costs. "My monumental mistake was to assume the system would be there to help me,'' she says.
Hercule Parrot
Admiral of the Quatloosian Seas
Admiral of the Quatloosian Seas
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:58 pm

Re: Noëlle Rawé - 15 years of pain

Post by Hercule Parrot »

Although the demand was eventually reduced to pounds 6,300, Noelle says that the benefits of challenging the bill were outweighed by her legal costs. "My monumental mistake was to assume the system would be there to help me,'' she says.
A common misunderstanding amongst the injured and aggrieved citizenry. They imagine the legal system will recognise and validate their victimhood and put things right, like a bullied child going to their teacher. They are dismayed when the court does not start from a presumption of sympathy for them, does not recognise circumstantial issues which they believe to be significant, and allows the other party to escape or minimise liability through legalistic procedures.

I'm not belittling that at all, it must be very hard for a bereaved family to watch important evidence being excluded by legal manoeuvre, and then be told "we are only 90% sure the defendant murdered your loved one, so they are entitled to acquittal" (would not be stated literally, but you will get the point). In Noelle's case, the landlord operated through a series of lawyers, contractors and agents, creating a rats-nest of complexity (which they were all familiar with, but the leaseholders were not). It is understandable that a leaseholder would emerge bruised and resentful after large bills were levied, it happens all the time.

Perhaps a little surprising that Noelle had these naive expectations, given her senior employment in an international management consultancy, but the real tragedy is her inability to let go of the injustice and move on. To remain obsessed a decade later, to have destroyed her career and financial security in a futile, stubborn feud, is very sad.
"don't be hubris ever..." Steve Mccrae, noted legal ExpertInFuckAll.