Maintenance charges for leasehold

PinkTwirl

Hello,

I'm not sure if I am posting this in the right place. I own a leasehold flat in England and there is a monthly charge for ground rent, maintenance, etc. It is billed every 6 months.

The 6 monthly bill has just come in and on the balance sheet for the last year, a debit has been included regarding solicitors fees that the landlord allegedly spent in pursuing a neighbour who did not pay their maintenance charge on time.

Should we be billed for this? i.e. he has taken the £500+ solicitor's fees out of the "pot" on the balance sheet meaning that all 5 owners of the flat have paid for this. If it is done practice then fair enough, if not, then we would like to pursue recovery because there is around £5000 in the pot and there is so much that needs to be done such as new carpets, exterior painting etc that he just refuses to pull his finger out over. We are worried the same happens again and the balance sheet is debited with £500+ solicitor's fees again, etc, etc.

Many thanks,
Pinky

Emmzi

no. not fair. he should pursue the non payer for his expenses as well as the actual cost. not your fault if he chose not to do this.

m_13

Check your lease. Ours says that if other leaseholders become delinquent then we all have to bear the cost of debt recovery to recover the debt or make up the debt split between the remaining leaseholders. Apparently quite a standard clause our solicitor told us.

PinkTwirl

Thanks, I'll dig out my documents from when I bought the flat and check this.

Thanks for the replies.