Yes this does happen very often, we just had some major works take place and there was a tower placed where there was no need for it. We made the contractors aware of this and it was removed immudutley. There was Scafolding on the roof where there was no works taking place. We have still recived no answers but was told we should not be on the roof. Contractors are doing as they pleases and the clerk of works look like they are working for the contractors not Camden.
Geraldine Littlechild in the invoice department is the best person to contact.
It is a cost which is unreasonable and There is no justification to charge £10,000 for a day’s work.

Sorry to hear you’ve had problems with incorrect billing. You would think Camden would have robust auditing processes in place to ensure this doesn’t occur! Clearly, the financial consequences are huge for leaseholders.

Just a query though, we recently purchased a one bedroom flat as a leaseholder and we have a leak from our neighbour’s balcony upstairs as well. I’m very interested to know why leaseholders are responsible for covering the costs associated with repairs to the ‘external’ structure of the building?? I thought we were only responsible for internal repairs? Why is the freeholder (i.e. Camden Council) not responsible for these repair charges?

So just to add to NW5-flat’s point, the freeholder doesn’t take on unlimited liabilities because that wouldn’t be sustainable as buildings do age and wear. The lease clearly states that leaseholders will have to pay for these things and that is a fact of life with any leasehold purchase (which should have hopefully been evident from the bundle of paperwork you received as part of the leasehold buying process).

What the freehold will do is coordinate with other people in the block (both tenants and leaseholders) to produce a “reasonable” outcome. For better or for worse, they are allowed to charge for this service (“management charge”) and this is set out in the lease too.