Last week, Richard met with the New Cardington Residents' Association and Councillor Sarah Gallagher and Councillor Jim Weir to discuss private company estate management fees.
Richard recently raised this issue in Parliament, which can be read here.
Richard Fuller MP said:
I had an extremely useful catch up with Georgie, Leigh and Tom of the New Cardington Residents Association to discuss estate management fees.
These fees, which are in addition to Council Tax payments, are an increasing issue on many housing estates across my constituency and beyond, and I am particularly grateful that Cllrs Sarah Gallagher and Jim Weir were able to attend to share their experiences of dealing with estate management companies in their wards.
These fees can amount to many hundreds of pounds a year and yet residents have little or no visibility on how these fees are being spent and no satisfactory mechanism for challenging them. I was shocked to hear just how poor communications from estate management companies were with residents and also how difficult it is to get any meaningful answers to any of the perfectly reasonable questions put to them. Fortunately Tom is an information 'bloodhound' and his diligence and perseverance has unearthed a treasure trove of detail.
Having recently raised the issue in Parliament, I know it is on the Housing & Planning Minister's radar and I will continue to push for greater fairness, more transparency and a step change in service levels from the estate management companies operating in my constituency.
Many thanks also to the Friendly Nettle Cafe for the use of their excellent facilities.
