It all started when two bricks for a wall near a block of maisonettes were replaced at a cost to local residents of £115.
That set the ball rolling for Liz Musa, who lived in one of the maisonettes in Hodges Square, Butetown.
She couldn’t believe how much the Council had charged the residents, through their management charge, for just two bricks.
She started to campaign on the issue of service charges and became a neighbourhood activist, helping people in the Loudoun Square area who were having difficulties with such charges.
Mrs Musa, who chairs the Loudoun Square Residents Association and is the Plaid Cymru candidate for the Butetown Ward in next year’s council elections, recently looked into service charges in the whole of Cardiff Bay.
“The results have been staggering with people reporting charges as high as £325 per month,” she said.
“That’s £3,900 a year – a great deal of money on top of the other costs of running a home, including council tax and the ever-increasing gas and electricity charges.
“My survey found a great deal of dissatisfaction with the service charges, described by some people as ‘exorbitant’ and ‘a rip-off.’
“Complaints included facilities being paid for but not working and not being repaired quickly enough, steep increases in management charges year on year, and a lack of clarity on where the money was going.”
Mrs Musa said a number of people had complained that the leases for their blocks of flats had been varied by the developers so that companies who mass- purchased flats could rent them out for holiday-makers and hen parties.
“One wrote of short-term rentals making life hell for the permanent residents,” she said. “Others complained that holiday-makers were making excessive noise and had no respect for the facilities and services on offer.
“People bought their homes in good faith but now, in many cases, their dream has turned sour, faced, as they are, with exorbitant charges for a poor service, as well as noise and disturbance.
“On the other hand,” she said, “I found examples of good practice – the flats at Admirals Landing are managed by the residents themselves, with their Management Committee providing a good service and a clear explanation of what their money is used for.
“People living at Henke Court tell me they have formed a management company to take over the running of their block under the Right to Manage legislation, and this may be the way forward where such action is possible.”
Mrs Musa said there was a need to reform the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Law.
“In Century Wharf, for example,” she said, “there are no fewer than 35 buildings with many absent leaseholders.
“The law clearly doesn’t have such situations in mind and should be amended to make the purchase of the leasehold of such flats simpler and more straightforward.”
Mrs Musa said she was very grateful to the residents who had replied to her survey.
“I have contacted Plaid Cymru’s Regional Assembly Member Leanne Wood about this,” she said, “and we intend to arrange a meeting with the Welsh Housing Minister, Huw Lewis, to see what can be done.
“This simply isn’t good enough and the sooner something is done to provide a good service for all leaseholders with a fair management charge the better.”
