Two OMC residents want to withdraw from shared cleaning - Any ideas?

MTNesters

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Good evening

We have a dilemma in the small development of apartments and duplexes where we live and I hope that some of the wiser and more experienced posters here might be able to apply their considerable brain power to it.

In two blocks there are stairwells, each shared by two families. The stairwells, which are identical, are cleaned by a contractor who charges a flat fee for the four apartments and this is then included in the respective service charges. The two families in one block wish to withdraw from this arrangement and to themselves clean “their” stairwell. The cleaning contractor is not prepared to reduce their charge as they say that their price is their minimum charge and would be the same whether one or two stairwell is cleaned. The unfortunate consequence of this is that if one block withdraws from the arrangement, then the owners of the other block would be faced with a doubling of their cleaning charge. The wish to withdraw was mentioned at the AGM at which the budget and service charges were approved, and it was after this that the intention to withdraw was confirmed in writing. So that leaves us with a situation where, after the withdrawal of two parties, the other two parties whose service charges have been fixed at the AGM would have to face a doubling of their cleaning charges. They, incidentally, are not interested in taking on their own cleaning. Has anyone here on AAM any experience of a situation like this and its resolution?
 
'the intention to withdraw' is nonsense. The stairwells are presumably part of the common areas and the families involved do not control them. They can clean them themselves if they wish but they still need to pay their share of the management fee.........unless the lease says otherwise, which I doubt.

The situation should be settled by apportioning fees in accordance with the lease.
 
Who are the Directors of the OMC? It is only them that can make decisions regarding the maintenance of the common areas. Individual owners cannot dictate what portion of the management fee they are not willing to pay. For example those on the ground floor still have to pay lift maintenance charges as part of their management fee even though they never use the lift. Common areas including stairwells are managed by the OMC. If the budget has already been agreed then service charges for the coming year should be levied as agreed at the AGM.
 
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I don't think this is workable. You pay a contractor to do work, they sign up to provide a service. Are the residents who do their own cleaning going to sign up for a standard, for a committed time period?

Another issue, if they injure themselves while "working" on the cleaning will they have their own insurance to protect themselves.

What if the two families fall out and accuse eachother of slacking on the cleaning? Who wants to adjudicate that !

Finally, they missed their opportunity to object to the budget so they could raise this at next AGM but until then the current budget is valid and they have to pay for the cleaning. Regardless though, I don't think residents can choose to withdraw, the directors and management company decide the budget, members cannot cherry pick what they want to pay for.
 
Have these residents the appropriate public liability insurance to clean a public area? What happens if someone slips on a wet floor?
 
Thank you all for your prompt and helpful comments. They assisted a lot in getting the issues clear in my own mind. :cool:
 
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