RESIDENTS of a Lace Market development are taking their freeholder to a tribunal, claiming the books have been left unbalanced following "historic mismanagement".

Last month, 126 families from a block of flats in Mapperley won £180,000 after taking freeholder Holding and Management (Solitaire) Limited and property management firm Solitaire Property Management Ltd to a tribunal.

Now, the Evening Post has been contacted by other people in Notts complaining they are paying increasing service charges to the same company without any explanations.

In April last year, Stephen Holden, who owns two apartments in the Weekday Cross development in the Lace Market, took their case to a tribunal, which ordered new management for the building.

The respondent, Holding and Management (Solitaire) Limited, was forced to accept new management of the premises under Central Management Holding.

The decision report of the Midland Leasehold Valuation Tribunal stated: "It is perfectly clear to this tribunal that serious and multiple failures of management had gone uncorrected for a long period of time."

Dr Holden said things were not being repaired but his service charge had jumped from £900 to more than £2,000 in 2008/09.

He said: "The building became a really severe crime hotspot after the entrance system and security systems weren't maintained.

"We had four arson attacks in two months."

But now Dr Holden says the accounts books do not make sense and residents have been told they owe money. So next month he will be taking Holding and Management (Solitaire) Limited and Solitaire Property Management to a further tribunal, with the support of more than 40 residents.

But it is no easy feat trying to get to the bottom of it all.

"This has been going on since 2008 and it's really tested my patience to the limit," said Dr Holden, a consultant at the QMC.

"It's been a huge amount of work, I've had to take days of annual leave, it's become almost like a second job trying to deal with this."

He is not alone.

Dino Romano, who lives at Riddles Court, in Watnall, also managed by Solitaire Property Management Ltd, says they have been given bills back-dated to 2006.

Mr Romano, who said the situation had been complicated by the sale of the freehold and a previous change in management, added: "[We want] to sit down with them and actually agree what needs paying. We have at no time ever refused to pay, we just feel that the works for which they are trying to charge us have not been undertaken."

The company said it was willing to meet Mr Romano and explain its position.

A spokeswoman for Solitaire Property Management said she could not comment on the situation at Weekday Cross.

She said: "The LVT (Leasehold Valuation Tribunal) is due to take place in April. Until this time we cannot provide any further comment on the case."

Philip Bazin, who runs the Leasehold Advice Centre, in Surrey, receives phone calls from residents across the county experiencing similar problems.

He says people looking to buy leases in such buildings should do their homework.

"What does surprise me is that with the power of the internet people don't do a bit of research about who their future landlord might be and look at service charge bills from previous owners," he said.

delia.monk@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk