A tense legal battle has ensued at City Quay in Dundee as a group of residents try to evict their factors.
Property management company Ross and Liddell carry out maintenance in the flats, but now an association claiming to represent a majority of residents living in phase one say they don’t want them.
According to residents monthly management costs have risen from £40 to £140 but they claim the standards are going downhill.
The Phase One Merchants Quay Residents’ Association has now hired legal assistance in the latest stage of a long battle to rid themselves of the firm.
Ross and Liddell said that if the company’s appointment is terminated unpaid debt from a number of owners will be spread out and recovered from all 96 owners.
The letter to all residents stated that if Ross and Liddell are reappointed this would not happen and the company would pursue individuals for their own debts.
Along with the letter came a list of 11 residents, who the company claims each owe between £500 and £5,000, and a form to reappoint Ross and Liddell, with a deadline of today.
The chairman of the residents’ group, Grant Mulholland, said the firm was resorting to ‘scare tactics’.
He said: “I think they are just trying to scare everyone.”
The association tried to give the firm a month’s notice to quit so that they could appoint Graham and Sibbald to take over the running of the flats.
Mr Mulholland said: “It has been an ongoing saga. I have owned my flat for eight years and have been unhappy with the service and the value for money.
“At first I just paid the fees because I thought I had to but when I looked into it I found we could get better value for money.
“We spent a lot of time researching the other 96 owners through the land registry, as many own the properties but don’t live there.
“We traced owners as far as Spain and Dubai and it became apparent that the majority of owners are not happy,” he said.
A letter to Ross and Liddell, from Thorntons Solicitors, which acts for the residents’ association, states that 58 mandates have been received from owners, giving the majority required to appoint a new factor.
However, Ross and Liddell’s position is that they are entitled to spread ‘irrecoverable debts’.
A spokeswoman for the company said: “We have received correspondence from a solicitor purporting to act for the ‘owners association’ advising that, in their view, the ‘owners association’ is properly constituted and holds mandates from a majority of owners, entitling them to terminate our appointment in terms of the title deeds.
“We have also heard from a number of owners living at the development, who have advised they have no knowledge of this matter, which has only confirmed our position that any ‘owners association’ has not been properly constituted and that owners have not been properly consulted in this matter.
“Despite our requests, both the ‘owners association’ and their solicitor have refused to provide us with copies of the mandates, which they say they hold, in order that we may determine if they are valid.
“Ross & Liddell fully recognises and accepts the right of the majority owners to determine the property manager for their development and in order for our tenure to be clearly established, we circulated a mandate/voting form to all owners,” she said. “The outcome of which will become known on Monday.”