£180 charges for not telling management company I was sub-letting?

bazza2000_2

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone could help me.

I've just received a letter for my property which I have rented out for the past 4 years since moving in with my girlfriend. It read something like this,

It has come to our attention that you may be subletting your property.......Terms of lease require Notice/Registration to be served. The renewal fee is £75, however, beause this is retrospecitve the charge will be £180 plus £75 when you get each new tenant.

I remember speaking with the management company (which I believe has since changed hands) when I first moved out and they didn't mention anything about charges, but I don't have any documentation to back this up.

Is there anything I can do, or will I have to pay the full £180?

Thanks for any advice,

Barry.

Fire_Fox

Did your conveyancing solicitor not go through the restrictions with you when you purchased the lease? Did you read everything you were sent?

Read your long lease now to see what charges are, or are not, specified - usually admin charges are mentioned and sometimes limited. Legally all charges made to leaseholders must be "reasonable" which means they should be able to justify the charge in some way. This might be providing you with documentation or amending the buildings insurance.

Post back when you have further information from the long lease and we can go from there.

david29dpo

As above, very common with flats.

97trophy

bazza2000 wrote: »

Is there anything I can do, or will I have to pay the full £180?

You will have to pay in full.

I had the same situation 3 years ago, its a right con IMO but they have got you legally.

Geenie

The AST will state quite clearly I am sure not to sub let, so if you do, then they are more then likely within their rights to charge for it.

Goodymp

This happened to me 2 years ago. I checked with the management company before letting my flat out and was told this was fine I just had to let them know my new address and the tenants names. All correspondence from them was sent to me at my new address and then a year after first letting the flat out I got a letter asking for about £180 for a licence to sublet. I went back to the company, with all of the emails I had approving me doing this, stating there were no charges. The response was that the management co had changed and the last one had obviously made a mistake! I had no choice but to pay it.

They then issued approval, dated until end of June this year but in March I had a letter stating that I had not renewed and they had put a covenant on my account as it was out of date. I sent them a copy of the licence to sublet and they came back with an apology.

All very stressful considering I had checked everything out before letting the flat out.

VKay

Think it might be worth telling your (buildings)insurer too. I think they will want to know if it isn't you living there.

bazza2000_2

Thanks for all the responses, its looks like Im doomed to be £180 out of pocket :mad:

I'm pretty sure I asked the previous company about letting and they didn't care, typical!!!
I don't have the time to start any kind of investigation or dispute as I'm currently moving house and have a lot more stress, so they've timed it pretty well!!

Not to worry, just saved my mum £20 a month on her Virgin Media installation, free V+ box and all, Result!!!

shykins

same happened to me, i told the old company i was subletting but apparently that didnt matter

i read thru my lease and nowhere does it say they can charge for subletting etc SO i sent the company email asking them what clause in the lease they were relying on for said charge, needless to say they couldnt come up with one so i didnt pay

so go back read your lease and if there is nothing referred to subletting in it challenge them!!
HTH