Exclusive:Rats, mould and soaring costs: Property firm Scanlans under fire by Leeds leaseholders
Leaseholders in a north Leeds apartment block say they are paying thousands in annual service charges while their building falls into disrepair - with rats, rubbish and even a fallen tree left unaddressed.
The block, a converted Victorian property, is one of several managed by Scanlans Property Management since 2021. Residents claim the company has failed to maintain communal areas, allowing problems such as water damage, mould and pest infestations to spread.
Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, a resident, who does not wish to be named, explained that leaseholders are paying thousands annually for management while the building rapidly falls into disrepair.
“For me, it’s quite frustrating day to day, because I know the amount of money that we are being charged, and you know the state of the property means I’m constantly trying to do things myself to improve the situation, which is quite stressful,” she said.
“Service charge is £3,000 a year, and once you’ve had a walk around, you can see the building’s not being maintained. No window cleaners have been here since 2021, there’s rubbish in the garden, which I’ve had to dispose of myself.”
The resident purchased her flat in 2020, a year after the building had been refurbished by its new owners. Scanlans was brought in to manage the property in 2021, while the building has changed owners twice, according to leaseholders.
But despite renewed investment in the building, problems quickly started appearing once the management company was appointed, she claimed.
The resident said: “It started within the first six months with smaller things, like the cleaners not attending, or the lock on the front door would break, and they wouldn’t fix it.
“But over the years, the issues got worse and worse, like the mould and the rats. The longer you don’t maintain a property, the bigger the issues become.
“Every time I look out my bedroom window, I can see the tree that’s falling down. It is falling down onto a row of shops in front of the property. So we’ve got the people who own the property in front complaining to us, saying, ‘This tree is falling on my shop. It’s causing damage to my roof.’”
Another leaseholder, Luke Peters, said the state of the building and the lack of management have had an impact on his mental health and contributed to him now consuming anti-depressants.
He said: “Making a property purchase at the end of lockdown was somewhat a ‘big boy’ thing for me to do. I have always rented, so taking this step to invest in my future was a big one for me.
“I have put thousands into my apartment, but the Scanlans' rain cloud has totally taken the shine off of everything.
“I tried to sell the property a couple of years ago, but due to the service they have given me, after a handful of viewings, the disrepair of many external and communal areas was raised multiple times.”
Luke is currently subletting his flat while living somewhere else, he explained: “The extortionate rise in management fees meant I could no longer afford to live there. There’s a constant worry as to what costs Scanlans are going to throw at us next.“
The residents have tried taking action themselves, banding together to conduct their own survey after insurance fees skyrocketed to highs of £15,000 a year when a new freeholder took over.
The first resident said: “We conducted a survey and paid £500 to get the true valuation of the building. We then had to go directly to the insurance management company and renegotiate the insurance premium, which was reduced pretty much by half for 2023 to 2024, and then 2024 to 2025.
“But guess what? That money has not been returned to us as the leaseholders. And then when the budget for 2025 and 2026 came out, they charged us £15,000 again.”
A spokesperson for Scanlans Property Management said: "The problems highlighted are naturally concerning and not in line with the high service standards we aim to provide to our customers at Scanlans.
“This is being reviewed with the management team and we will be reaching out to the customers to ensure we are establishing more positive lines of communication and putting plans in place to address any areas where service has fallen below expectation.
“We would urge any customer who has concerns to contact us directly so we can work alongside them to address these satisfactorily."