Admin Charges for a Standing Order

skyjumper

not really a topic for this particular forum, but thought this might be the best place.

got a letter from the Management Company who deals with our leasehold and maintenance works for the flats, regarding the maintenance fee for this year.

also added is "Admin charges for setting up of the Standing Order with the bank (£29.50) "

My question is- can they charge admin fee for setting up of the SO, as my understanding was that it was made directly with the bank. they have given a form -looks like the DD mandate - for signing and returning to the bank- for setting up the SO. I have never come across something like this- so wanted to check with people regarding admin charge for SO before calling up the Company on Monday

any views highly appreciated

willo65

skyjumper wrote: »

not really a topic for this particular forum, but thought this might be the best place.

got a letter from the Management Company who deals with our leasehold and maintenance works for the flats, regarding the maintenance fee for this year.

also added is "Admin charges for setting up of the Standing Order with the bank (£29.50) "

My question is- can they charge admin fee for setting up of the SO, as my understanding was that it was made directly with the bank. they have given a form -looks like the DD mandate - for signing and returning to the bank- for setting up the SO. I have never come across something like this- so wanted to check with people regarding admin charge for SO before calling up the Company on Monday

any views highly appreciated

I would ask him to remove the £29.50 admin charge and advise him you will set up the standing order yourself - then go to the bank and set it up - give him his form back incase thats what he's charging you for.

[Deleted User]

It will depend on what contract they have in place and what it says about charges they can levy. It may be the freeholder who appoints the management company.

Some flats I'm involved with managed their own affairs and have a residents' association bank account which is used to receive quarterly payments and pay out for buildings insurance, gardener, window cleaning, misc jobs etc. You could look at adopting that approach or moving management company; all depends what powers you have as a leaseholder.

Mikeyorks

Bit unusual in this day and age for SO forms to change hands? You only need their Sort Code / Account number in order to set it up yourself.

If it is a (mis-described) DD, then you'll need to look at the terms of your contract to see what Admin charges are intimated? They will have a business account and will suffer transaction charges .... so may be just blunting the edges. But if you can pay by SO .... just do it yourself.

skyjumper

thanks all,

it's the management company which has appointed this other company for collecting the money.

the funny thing is
SO- I have to fill in all the forms and sent it to my bank. but by doing so, there will be a admin charge of £29.50 which I will to pay them.

they have given other optins too

by credit card, 2.5 % fee
by debit card , 1.5% fee
both either by telephoning them or through their company home page- the charge still the above fee.

or the other option is to pay by SO, for which there is a admin charge

Extant

skyjumper wrote: »

or the other option is to pay by SO, for which there is a admin charge

Considering it is listed as "admin charge for setting up of the standing order," I'd just set it up myself and say nothing further on the issue.

If they then charged me for doing so - even if I hadn't returned the form to them or said that I had set it up myself - I would demand they remove the charge, and pay them anything owed minus said charge.

The cost of labour involved, bank charges, etc. for this sort of thing could never justify such a charge.

Mikeyorks

skyjumper wrote: »

it's the management company which has appointed this other company for collecting the money.

In which case they should be footing the out-sourcing costs. No point doing it if there's no commensurate saving? As it is, it sounds as though the arrangement is a licence to print money ..... not just collect it!

I would be looking for other than a direct business link between the 2 companies - joint directors etc - and getting a bit obnoxious if I found one.

skyjumper

just update,

i send post dates cheques, 6 in total, instead of getting the Standing Order in place. I post-dated the cheques in sucha way that it's dated a 1 week before the actual charge is due.

Hope they wont have a problem with that as the letter didn't say any charges for using cheques to pay for it.
Credit Card 3%
Debit Card 1%
Standing Order £29.50
Personal Cheques- 'no charges mentioned'

hope they accept the post dated cheques and I can live in peace
thanks for all the suggestions and advice

ffacoffipawb

skyjumper wrote: »

just update,

i send post dates cheques, 6 in total, instead of getting the Standing Order in place. I post-dated the cheques in sucha way that it's dated a 1 week before the actual charge is due.

Hope they wont have a problem with that as the letter didn't say any charges for using cheques to pay for it.
Credit Card 3%
Debit Card 1%
Standing Order £29.50
Personal Cheques- 'no charges mentioned'

hope they accept the post dated cheques and I can live in peace
thanks for all the suggestions and advice

I hope they don't cash them all in at once. It can happen.

rb10

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

I hope they don't cash them all in at once. It can happen.

And if it does happen, and take you overdrawn, the bank will probably accept no responsibility.

This is because most T&Cs will state that you must not write post-dated cheques.

agsnu

BarclaysManager wrote: »

The cost of labour involved, bank charges, etc. for this sort of thing could never justify such a charge.

Oh, the irony. :rotfl: