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It interests me how people perceive situations and how reality can be distorted depending on who is viewing and commentating on it. History is always written by the winners and, therefore, the slant and angles are understandable. But when it comes to individuals, how people are perceived will depend on viewpoint, inherent prejudices and the element of a face-fitting.
I have been thinking about this in recent weeks because I am curious that there is perception I am anti-landlord and only a leaseholders’ champion! Well, I can certainly see how this arises but in reality it is a long way from the truth.
Where I am coming from is that I will always champion those in the right. There are good landlords and there are bad leaseholders. There is no such thing as one side always being right.
In my mind, good management is about aligning all the interests and making sure that each party takes their responsibilities seriously and plays their part.
That means leaseholders have to abide by the terms of their lease and comply with covenants they voluntarily signed up to, including paying service charge. The freeholder, and head leaseholder, need to act honourably and look after the leaseholders’ interests fairly and evenly. By working together all sides would gain appreciation of whether anyone is truly being ripped off! Of course the rotten parties on either side will spoil it for all. The same goes for managing agents.
So what is essential is championing right and fairness from whichever side you are standing. I do as much work for freeholders as leaseholders. Generally, it is just easier to get a bigger noise when the freeholder is rotten.
Perception of who is right at any point in time is another whole topic of debate. But it is usually pretty obvious if you use common sense. The fun begins when you enter the adversarial Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) chamber and a barrister tries to argue the colour of snow. Even though everyone knows snow is white, the lawyers give their best to convince us it is black. We all know the only other colour snow can be is yellow and that must be avoided at all costs!
So if I am heading for a pigeonhole, make sure it is a box marked ‘fairness’ and not ‘partisan to either side’!
19 Sep 2011 11:32:57