Where the Parish
Council declines (or is not offered the opportunity) to adopt
open space on new developments it is common for these to be
transferred to a Management Company.
As well as securing
the use and maintenance of these areas in perpetuity my
authority also uses its section 106 agreements to approve
details relating to the Management Company.
However we have no
document or guidance that officers use to assess the suitability
or credentials of any proposed Management Company.
There is potential
for this to be an issue as one Management Company we are
expecting being proposed shortly appears to have a long history
of residents’ complaints, including a decision against them by a
Property Tribunal (who had found that amongst other things this
company had been overcharging residents).
It would be really
interesting to know how your authority deals with this issue. Do
your agreements require Council approval of Management
Companies? Who in your Council approves them? What
considerations are given to this approval?
Thanks in advance. James
