Frustration over estate fees for 'no maintenance'

Gill Rivers said she and other residents were paying an annual fee but no maintenance was carried out

People living on a housing estate say they are frustrated to be paying ongoing maintenance costs for work which is not being carried out.

Homeowners on the Sweet Chestnut Drive estate on the edge of Hereford pay £480 annually for the upkeep of green spaces and their road.

But one, Gill Rivers, said it had become a "blot on the landscape".

Developer Cotswold Oak said residents would be handed control of the management company by the end of the week.

Wanting to live in a "semi-rural" location, Ms Rivers moved to the area - as a freeholder - in 2021 and said she was aware of the charges.

"We accept it, if we could enjoy the space that we live in, but we're looking out on to long grass, dandelions and hedges that have had no maintenance at all," she said.

"This is just the blot on the landscape that is so frustrating, we can't get it sorted."

"Estate fees" occur when a local council does not adopt areas of new housing estates and leaves the builder - or a third party management company - with responsibility for roads and upkeep of green spaces.

But such situations can mean freehold becomes "fleecehold", critics have said.

Green spaces have been allowed to become overgrown despite the fees, residents say

The fairness of such charges were part of an investigation into housebuilding launched in February by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Sweet Chestnut Drive resident Alan Ford also moved to the site in 2021 and said he thought he would have some control over the service charge.

"The idea behind us buying the property was we would become directors of that management company. It's in the contract in black and white," he said.

"It's not happened - we are now two years down the line and the developer Cotswold Oak refuses to tell us when that will be."

Alan Ford said residents were told they would run the management company but were yet to be appointed after two years

Work was ongoing to appoint the road's 17 residents as directors of the management company for the estate, a spokesperson for Cotswold Oak said.

The appointments should be made by the end of the week and fees paid so far would be transferred to the company once the Land Registry was notified, they added.