Sevice charge adjustment

kissingthepink

I purchased a flat on 29th Jan 08 and have paid all service charges relevant to the current year.

In July the managing agent sent me a demand for £226.95 for an adjustment to the actual charges for 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2007. I explained that I was not the leaseholder in 2007 and that they should be chasing the previous leaseholder for this money. I may as well be speaking to a brick wall as they believe that I owe this money and they have now sent me a notice threatening legal action.

I have checked with the solicitor who dealt with the purchase for me, and she confirms that there are no monies from the vendor held on account to pay for this adjustment.

As it looks like this is going to become a legal issue I just want to hear some opinions from others as to who is responsible for this £226.95. I believe this is for the previous leaseholder and I have no intention of paying it as I did not own the flat at the time. Am I right in thinking this?

zareer

AFAIK you are not liable.

When I sold my leasehold flat in Jan, my solicitors kept £1,000 back for prior year overruns. This amount was based on managing agent queries that were undertaken as part of the conveyancing process.

I would have assumed this was usual practice with a leasehold sale, so would simply point your agents in the direction of the vendor's solicitors for redress.

kissingthepink

zareer wrote: »

AFAIK you are not liable.

When I sold my leasehold flat in Jan, my solicitors kept £1,000 back for prior year overruns. This amount was based on managing agent queries that were undertaken as part of the conveyancing process.

I would have assumed this was usual practice with a leasehold sale, so would simply point your agents in the direction of the vendor's solicitors for redress.

Thanks zareer. I agree with your thinking. I think that they might be using pressure tactics to get this money from anyone they can. However, they will not be getting it from me! I've kept all correspondence and have copies should I need it for court, should these numpties take it that far.

sooz

AFAIK, service charges & ground rents are debts on the property, not the leaseholder.

Therefore, yes, you are responsible for paying this bill, & then should chase your solicitor for not having checked, or held back any money for this eventuality.

Check with LEASE

SquatNow

Check with your SOLICITOR.

Or a better qualified one possibly...

Richard_Webster

Sorry but you ARE liable. Your solicitor should have explained the possibility to you when you bought. If he didn't do so then you have a cause to complain.

I routinely explain the point to buyers of flats in my pre-contract report, and say that it is open to them to have some money held back to cover such an adjustment.

Debt_Free_Chick

kissingthepink wrote: »

I purchased a flat on 29th Jan 08 and have paid all service charges relevant to the current year.

In July the managing agent sent me a demand for £226.95 for an adjustment to the actual charges for 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2007. I explained that I was not the leaseholder in 2007 and that they should be chasing the previous leaseholder for this money. I may as well be speaking to a brick wall as they believe that I owe this money and they have now sent me a notice threatening legal action.

I have checked with the solicitor who dealt with the purchase for me, and she confirms that there are no monies from the vendor held on account to pay for this adjustment.

Your solicitor is not answering the question that you have asked here.

Are you liable? Yes

Did the previous Leaseholder give you some money, in case this happened? No

You could ask your solicitor again - am I liable, now, for adjustments that relate to the period before I owned the property (lease)? But the answer will be "yes".

In the future, you should negotiate a price reduction for this or a retention (cash) that the previous leaseholder gives you, to cover this eventuality.

As Richard Webster explains, check what your solicitor told you at the time. They should have warned you about this and given you options as to how it could be dealt with.

kissingthepink

Thank you all for clarifying the position for me. I guess that I will have to pay it as I am liable for it. I will also speak to my solicitor to ask her what happened and why she did not account for this possibility and request monies from the vendor.