Residents allege company paid to maintain Shrewsbury new build estate 'hoodwinked' them as work is not being done

Residents in a Shrewsbury housing development have formed a resident's association after they claim the company paid to look after the maintenance of the estate has been failing in its duties.

Pics in Shrewsbury on the Sovereign Park estate, where residents are annoyed at the lack of care and maintenance to communal areas, which they all have to pay towards. Resident: Adrian Tacchi.

Homeowners in Sovereign Park in Weeping Cross, a new build estate built five years ago in Shrewsbury, say they were "hoodwinked" when they bought properties there as they were unaware the housing estate was leasehold managed.

Property management company, Residential Management Group Ltd (RMG), charges tenants a yearly sum to conduct maintenance on the site.

But residents say they are being charged unfairly, as none of the work is being done. Several residents, have even withheld payment but have been threatened with debt collection agencies.

Now the residents say they are fighting back and have formed their own association to take on the management company.

Adrian Tacchi on the Sovereign Park estate, where residents are annoyed at the lack of care and maintenance to communal areas

Adrian Tacchi, chair of the new residents' association says homeowners on the estate have been handed bills of up to £500 for maintenance services that have not been carried out.

He said: "We formed the residents association as a result of very poor management services that we were expected to pay. We moved here December 2019 just before the pandemic so there was little or no maintenance done, but regardless of that they have asked for the full whack.

"They have not done what they are meant to do. They have never litter picked - there is litter that has been there since January. They are supposed to prune the trees and that's never been done, and they won't touch the roads. They have even let the flowerbeds get completely covered in weeds.

"They claim it has all been done and think that we won't notice that it has not been done."

The Sovereign Park estate, where residents are annoyed at the lack of care and maintenance to communal areas

He added that he paid £250,000 for the house five years ago, but was not made aware of the leasehold status of the estate at the time.

"We did not know that we don't own the ground our house sits on. It is leasehold. We have been hoodwinked."

He said the entire estate, which comprises around 200 homes, is unhappy with the situation, and the first meeting of the residents association saw more than 40 people turn up to voice their discontent.

"Some of them have had debt collecting letters out. We thought there was a procedure for that, but apparently not," added Mr Tacchi.

"We are more than happy to pay them the growing rate if they do the job. But they are not doing it."

Nobody at RMG was available for comment.