• About
    • Ethics policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ownership, funding and corrections
    • Complaints procedure
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
Brighton and Hove News
20 July, 2025
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
Brighton and Hove News
No Result
View All Result
Home Brighton

A tribunal undercut by settlement is good news – but a far less costly case would have been better

by Frank le Duc
Monday 1 Oct, 2018 at 9:59PM
A A
4
Twenty Brighton leaseholders settle repair bill row before crucial tribunal

Shula Rich made rather a mess of the facts in her opinion piece on the independent tribunal to resolve the payment dispute between the council and leaseholders on the Bristol Estate.

The article continues the hail of misrepresentation, accusation and rumour around this case. It’s time to set the record straight.

Going to tribunal isn’t a decision we took lightly. The council was owed around £400,000 at that point and payment is now more than three years overdue.

It relates to the leaseholders’ share of costs for essential refurbishment work carried out on their blocks of flats in 2014. That came to around £28,000 each.

As with any property owner, leaseholders are required to contribute towards the upkeep of their building. We make that clear to anyone thinking of buying their council flat.

We do realise the expense can be difficult for people to fund so offer a number of payment options, including interest-free loans.

As with all the major work we need to do to our blocks, the leaseholders were fully consulted before the work began.

Most of the leaseholders in the Bristol Estate blocks have paid or made arrangements to pay the costs, but 12 disputed the service charge and have not paid their share.

We spent 18 months trying to reach agreement through our own procedures, including a dispute resolution process. When those processes proved unsuccessful, we decided the fairest option was to refer the dispute to the independent tribunal.

The approach to “reach a deal” on the first day of the tribunal came from the barrister acting for the group of leaseholders, not the council. This was the first time we were able to properly discuss settling the dispute and we welcomed the approach.

We were happy to agree a settlement which we felt was beneficial to both the public purse and the leaseholders involved. It meant the case could be dealt with quickly and kept the costs down.

Larissa Reed

We don’t yet have the final legal costs for the case but they are likely to be around £90,000 to £100,000. It is a shame we were not able to have useful discussions before incurring these costs.

The leaseholders who didn’t attend were informed by both the tribunal and by us. As a legal requirement of the process, it’s a surprising claim that no one was aware of this.

We will be happy to publish the decision of the tribunal when it arrives and all other leaseholders in the block will benefit from any reduction decided by the tribunal. We hope that will bring an end to the matter.

Larissa Reed is the executive director of neighbourhoods, communities and housing at Brighton and Hove City Council.

ShareTweetShareSendSendShare

Comments 4

  1. david croydon says:
    7 years ago

    “It is a shame we were not able to have useful discussions before incurring these costs.”
    Yep. A real shame.

    Reply
  2. saveHOVE says:
    7 years ago

    I wonder how Larissa Reed justifies a few terms used in this Opinion.

    How does overcladding count as “essential refurbishment” when put over totally intact brickwork that looked far better than the now-stained cladding with all its joins now showing? Hiw does it meet the definition of “upkeep”? It is a form of redevelopment work that some might argue has damaged the integrity of the buildings receiving it.

    To alleviate the plastic duvet effect, and to allow fit where extra wall depth meets windows, rather cheap UPVC dble glazed windows with trickle vents go in with it, replacing existing. And these trickle vents leak air into flats in a howling onshore or north wind when supposedly closed – making homes draughty.

    The major works rollout of these measures has been a tragic mistake ruining the appearance (and potentially the life) of buildings – the worst of which sit drably stained and increasingly slum-like in central Brighton just off Edward Street.

    Harsh judgment after the fact has been aired by councillors in Housing meetings over recent years – in one case demanding the ‘maintenance-free’ cladding of one building be painted (Cllr Joe Miller).

    And leaseholders would dispute and choke on the smooth claims about being “fully consulted”. It amounts to an empty formality with no rights. That said, maybe if leaseholders had been organised and involved and less apathetic, as a whole, at the leaseholder and planning application consultation stages they could have prevented their current disastrous problems coming down on their heads.

    Especially at the planning stage! None
    of it was possible without planning consent.

    Reply
  3. Anon says:
    7 years ago

    Legal bill of £100,000 and probably much more??? Who is going to pay it? Larissa? Or the council tax payers? This is disgraceful.

    Reply
  4. David Rumelle says:
    7 years ago

    It’s also a shame the article used photographs in the glorious sunshine making out that the estate is now in a good condition. It is not-the new cladding is stained,cracked and crumbling in places and in short looks tired and delapidated after less than 4 years!The newindows don t operate properly.
    we all tried to negotiate by the
    couuncils dispute process but we’re denied.The council are being extremely two faced as ever claiming Shula Rich “made a mess of things”.on the contrary -she was fighting for what is right and fare and above all the truth!!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most read

Green tile pub owner finally due in court over ripped off tiles

Hire bike users back in the saddle as wheels come off fraud claims

Storm warning with heavy rain and thunder on the way

Seafront main road closed as man throws belongings from flat

Brighton lawyer sold himself dead woman’s house for knockdown price, court told

Lifeboat picks up ill-equipped paddleboarders heading for windfarm at dusk

Drugs trial date set for pair arrested at new Hove flats

Council agrees £7m budget for proposed swimming pool

Council’s budget shortfall will be £40m next year, warns finance chief

Hundreds share their views on how the City Plan should look

Newsletter

Arts and Culture

  • All
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Food and Drink
Moon Idle headline an awesome night at Brighton’s Alphabet

Moon Idle headline an awesome night at Brighton’s Alphabet

19 July 2025
Council yet to decide which three libraries will close

Community groups urged to save libraries at risk of closure

18 July 2025
Budgie has punters ‘Spellbound’

Budgie has punters ‘Spellbound’

17 July 2025
You aren’t doing it wrong (if no one knows what you are doing)

You Aren’t Doing It Wrong Gets It So Right!

17 July 2025
Load More

Sport

  • All
  • Brighton and Hove Albion
  • Cricket
Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Sussex fall short against Surrey at Hove in T20

by Paul Weaver - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
18 July 2025
0

Sussex Sharks 197-7 (20 overs) Surrey 204-5 (20 overs) Surrey win by seven runs Any remaining hope that Sussex could...

Councillor pleads for Hove leisure centre reopening to go more swimmingly

Council agrees £7m budget for proposed swimming pool

by Sarah Booker-Lewis - local democracy reporter
18 July 2025
5

Senior councillors have backed a £7 million proposal to build a new swimming pool in Brighton. Officials are now expected...

Sussex Sharks open T20 Blast with a win

Sussex return to winning ways in T20 Blast in dramatic style

by Frank le Duc
17 July 2025
0

Gloucestershire 185-5 (20 overs) Sussex Sharks 189-6 (20 overs) Sussex Sharks win by four wickets Danny Lamb held his nerve...

Plans for £6.9m swimming pool go before council cabinet

Plans for £6.9m swimming pool go before council cabinet

by Sarah Booker-Lewis - local democracy reporter
15 July 2025
37

Plans for a new public swimming pool are due to go before Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet on Thursday...

Load More
October 2018
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Sep   Nov »

RSS From Sussex News

  • Boy, 17, arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after stabbing 19 July 2025
  • Child sex abuser given 10-year sentence for grooming schoolgirl 18 July 2025
  • Stabbing suspect on the loose after leaving boy, 17, in serious condition 18 July 2025
  • Inquest to open after driver’s death in crash 18 July 2025
  • Death crash PC given court date 17 July 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy
  • Complaints
  • Ownership, funding and corrections
  • Ethics
  • T&C

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Opinion
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Contact

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News