THERE was a packed room when the residents of Granby House faced Guinness Northern Counties at their Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
You will be sat next to people who you feel have made your lives a misery for years but the Tribunal is an arena for questioning and expressing your views to the panel, not for a stand up row.
Hardly surprising really when so many Manchester city centre blocks are contemplating the same thing.
Any landlord who is charging a lot for delivering very little should expect a leaseholder rebellion sometime soon.
Manchester City Council’s own panel of inquiry into the private rented sector will be looking into the whole issue of managing agents and the issues faced by leaseholders and tenants alike and to consider how the city council can influence future developments.
Meanwhile back at the LVT on New York Street, Granby’s main issues are why they have to pay large amounts for routine jobs such as light bulbs being changed when they have an on-site caretaker; why they have to pay towards lighting and insurance of the basement when it is run as a commercial car park by GNC and why GNC use City Response, a wholly owned subsidiary to carry out the repairs.
There is lots of other stuff about leaks and maintenance, so much evidence in fact that the Tribunal did not get through it all on the day and another date will now be set with an exchange of information and responses on-going via the tribunal to try and speed things along.
The resumed hearing should be sometime early May.
In the meantime here are my tips for anyone who has an LVT coming up.
1 - The panel is there to help you. The chair will have sat through many a tribunal, the valuer will understand the sums and the lay person will hopefully see through any waffle.
2 – Get your paperwork in order. Statements from leaseholders, e-mails detailing conversations, invoices and accounts, photographs. There were four bulging A4 files for Granby which is a lot of evidence and which the panel read before the hearing: “So we had a picture of the kind of issues troubling the residents..”
3 - Identify the main issues – and stick to them. It’s easy to get side tracked but time is tight and the panel already know the general stuff so concentrate on the major headlines and have your proof and page numbers ready.
4 – Slim down your Scott Schedule. This is the document listing the grievances. Granby’s ran to 50 pages. A succinct dirty dozen is easier for the panel to address.
5 – Practice your presentation. You will be invited to sum up your case and it’s your opportunity to express just why you felt it necessary to take your landlord to a Tribunal. Tug at the heart strings, vent your frustration, but don’t get personal.
6 – Work as a team. Two people representing the leaseholders is best. Work out which areas you each feel strongest about and back each other up with prompts or by finding evidence.
7 – Stay calm. You will be sat next to people who you feel have made your lives a misery for years but the Tribunal is an arena for questioning and expressing your views to the panel, not for a stand up row.
