About

Leet Haugh is a housing development in Coldstream, Berwickshire. It consists of five phases and 100 properties, and there are two future phases planned.

The development is managed by a factor, and an owners committee which consists of six owners is elected each year at the AGM.

The purpose of the Leet Haugh Residents Association, through the Committee, is to keep Leet Haugh a beautiful, pleasant place to live, by working with the site developers, council, factors and others.

The Leet Haugh Residents Association Committee have created this site as a place for sharing relevant information with homeowners, residents and other interested parties.

To contact the committee, please email leethaugh@gmail.com

Responsibilities

Introduction

We continue to be asked questions about responsibilities relating to Owners, the Factor and the Residents Committee.  In particular how the £200 and monthly Factor Fees work.  This page will try to address this and will draw on information from sources that are available to all, e.g. Deeds etc.  It has no legal basis and is meant to be informative.

Owners

Each owner has signed a legal agreement that they will contribute financially to the Common areas of the Estate to ensure that everything remains in good condition and presentable to all. A Factor has been appointed to deal with the Management of these aspects and Owners have paid an initial fee of £200 as a float and an ongoing monthly fee (currently £20, reduced from £25) to cover the Operational Expenses.  All this information is contained in your Deed of Declaration of Conditions which is a binding contract.
 
In summary, each owner is responsible for:

  • Maintaining their own property and garden area in ‘good order’.  This includes nominated parking spaces and those areas which are assigned to them as a burden (for instance some paths behind, alongside and adjacent to properties which are generally used by the property/properties exclusively.  Please note that there are some differences in the Deeds of particular phases but these generally relate to what you are able to do with your property eg erect aerials etc. and not to the Factoring.
  • Use of the property as permitted.
  • Maintaining Community burdens, which are common areas and includes landscaped areas and non-adopted roads, parking spaces and paths.  Note that many roads and paths are adopted by the Council and until adopted remain the responsibility of the Developer.  We will also expect to have to maintain the Aerial Systems when handed over by the Developer.  Each Owner is required to pay an equal amount for maintenance.
  • Everyone has paid an initial £200 into a float which is kept in a common account with the monthly funding by individual owners.  The £200 is meant to provide a buffer for unexpected events which are not covered (or predicted to be covered) by the monthly fee.  When someone leaves then their ‘pot’ is returned which may be higher or lower than the £200 originally put in and replaced by the £200 of the new owner.  At no time should anyone lose this unspent risk pot or monthly payment as house selling/purchase is contiguous.  Over the years some of this ‘Risk pot’ has been used to fund Operational Expenses and so everyone’s ‘pot’ has been reduced.  This may have future implications if we experience damage that is not covered by Insurance or any other means, and Owners would be required to cover any outstanding amount.  Owners need to bear this in mind when considering how much they have in their ’pot’ at the end of the year.  As indicated earlier having a £100 to £200 ‘pot’ is probably a reasonable starting point but needs to be reviewed annually.
  • Pay a monthly Fee for the maintenance of Common Areas as determined by the Factor.  These considerations will include:
    • Management Fee for the Factor – fixed but may be increased by CPI annually
    • Maintenance of Landscaped and common areas.
    • Costs agreed by the Residents Association Committee eg Christmas Tree, AGM expenses etc
    • Insurance
    • TV Aerial – future when handed over
    • Contingency
    • Any funding to increase the ‘Risk pot’

The Committee have met with FBRSeed as mentioned in a previous update and intend to work with them at the start of each year to ensure acceptable outcomes for all parties.  If we do this then we can ensure, as far as possible that the expenditure predicted in the year is balanced by monthly payments and that our ‘Risk pot’ is at an acceptable level. 

Factor

The Factor (FBRSeed) was appointed following a competition and we now feel this is starting to work satisfactorily and we are working effectively together.

Their Core Responsibilities for the Amenity and Common areas include:

  • Instruct Trades for necessary Maintenance.
  • Arrange and manage electricity contract with suppliers.
  • Arrange routine and periodic services.
  • Arrange annual Insurance on our behalf.
  • Arrange safety checks when required.
  • Pay invoices from the Communal Bank Account.
  • Manage the accounts associated with the communal accounts.
  • A minimum of 1 visit per quarter to the property and monthly during the growing season.

In addition, there is a service which is not listed in their Core Service List that they will review the monthly payments.
 
Any debt incurred by an Owner will be charged at a percentage over the bank base lending rate.
 
Camilla Younger has recently become our contact for these Services and has a nominated contact on the Residents Committee.

Residents Association Committee

The Committee has been elected from the Owners to manage both the administrative and executive affairs of the Association.  The Terms of Reference of the Committee has recently been circulated but in Summary:

  • Implementing the Deeds of Condition of the Development.
  • Ensuring compliance by the Owners with obligations incumbent on them under the Deed of Conditions in so far as they relate to Amenity Areas and Common Services and not adopted or taken over by any public or local authority.
  • To ensure they act on the Owners behalf and work with the Factor to the benefit of the Owners and in accordance with the Terms of Reference.

To this end the Committee will work with the Factor to agree the annual Monthly charge and ensure there is sufficient in the ‘Risk pot’ for any perceived risk in the Common Areas.  This will generally be conducted in February /March to ensure that Owners are informed at the time of Owner Annual Statements.  Implementation will be 1 October, and the monthly Fee will be increased to cover the amount required by each household to cover the annual fee.  They will also work with other Agencies as appropriate for the benefit of the Development.  As required, members of the Committee will be assigned to be the point of contact with the Factor, the Developer, the Council/Highway authority and others as required.

February 2024