elderly mum

[hannah40]

my mum is nearly 80 she lives in a flat that she owns but has to pay maintenance and ground rent ,this keeps going up and now she has a big bill for lots of work nearly �10.000 ,she isnt entitled to pension credits as she receives my late dads pension that takes her over (what the government say is the minium to live on }by �2 weekly so consequently she still works as a school crossing patrol lady,now she has another problem if your lease goes below 70 yrs you wont be able to sell your flat and to get the lease back up it will cost another �10.000.does anyone have any advice?

[bednobs]

hi, did someone just do the work then present her with a bill for it??? That seems really strange.
Unless she wants to move or sell up, the lease thing will not be an issue

[hannah40]

no the land lords got 3 estimates in and they are going for the cheapest,all the residents have to pay �10.000 before they do the work.if my mum pays that will be all her savings gone.

[hannah40]

and no she doesnt want to sell her flat so she will be pleased to know she wont have to renew her lease.

[CheekyChops]

I don't want to sound heartless (but probably will...) but this is one of the downsides of owning a flat. Your mum must have known that any work that needed doing on the building in the future would have to be paid for by the residents?

What is the work that is going to be done and how many residents are paying towards it? �10,000 sounds like an awful lot of money. At least she has that money, it could be a lot worse if she didn't.

[bednobs]

also, i might sound a bit heartless here, but what does she have savings for if not to use for either unexpected spendings or saving up to use when she needs to?
How long has she had the flat? What has been happening to money she has paid for maintenance? has it all been used or is there a pot of money that can offset some of this work?
Does she have the abiity to reject all three estmates and not have the work done? What do the other neighbours think, are they just all paying up?

[ladyalex]

Another slightly heartless answer coming up, but if all of her savings have gone, she will probably qualify for pension credits....certainly worth filling out the forms for them....
You might try Age Concern for some informed advice.

http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/how_we _help.asp

[hannah40]

hi bednobs ,im going to ring the management and see if there is any money still in the pot,as she pays alot of maintenance a year ,i think i will find out from other residents as to what they are going to do.thanks for your advice.

[Suetheramble]

As a share holder she should be sent a copy of the annual accounts.
How many living in the flats I own a flat there are only 2 in the block so when the roof had to be retiled it was halved and cost a small fortune but hardly ever pay maintenance in other years.