advice on service charges

pickle140584

I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice on a service charge issue I have.

Basically I bought a flat almost 3 years ago and the service charge was £800 for the year which I thought was reasonable as we are in a grade 2 listed building with 3 flats and a shop. 12 months later I recieved a letter from a new managing agent who had taken over, none of us had been consulted about this, and that the charge was to increase to £1,200 per annum. Over the course of time this has now increased to £1250 per 6 months plus £25 ground rent. We paid this last payment 2 months ago and today recieved a letter for a £725 deficit payment which is demanded for payment by 1st October.

I am a first time buyer who has no clue about this kind of thing, the owners of the other 2 flats both live overseas and i am worried sick, i dont just have that kind of money to stump up and already have the flat on the market as cant afford the service charge with the increase as it is but cant sell as the service charge is putting people off

Have looked at an LVT but the paperwork is confusing and cant afford solicitors at £250 an hour

any advice much appreciated

olly300

Go to the website http://www.lease-advice.org/

I strongly suggest you get a full breakdown of what your service charges cover.

sunnysea83

pickle140584 wrote: »

Have looked at an LVT but the paperwork is confusing and cant afford solicitors at £250 an hour

any advice much appreciated

For an LVT all you need to do is complete a section 27a application form.
http://www.rpts.gov.uk/pubs_and_forms/forms.htm
send the form to your nearest panel office, along with a copy of your lease. Thats all you need to do to start with, if you need help filling out the form, ring the help line thats what their therefore.

Then once youve sent the form off, the LVT will issue directions, this sets out what you need to do and by when and what your landlord/managing agents will need todo and by when.

You do not need a solicitor for the LVT, its an independant informal tribunal service and i beleive the majority of leaseholders are not represented. I wasnt.

With regards to submiting your documentation to the lvt once youve had the directions, you will need to do a statement of case and then submit evidence, if you can get qoutes for items you being charged for on a like for like basis that are cheaper than your being asked for these are really useful to send to them

The lvt also has a duty to notify any other leaseholder who maybe effected by the LVTs decision and will therefore write to all other leaseholders and give them option to join the application.

You could even see if the other leaseholders want to apply as a joint applicant when you submit your form, only 1 form is needed and you can split the cost between you for the LVT fees.

I hope the above information helps you.

Lease will likely refer you to the LVT as they did me

Fire_Fox

You don't need an LVT until you have established what you are paying for. Firstly you need to formally request a breakdown of the charges as Olly300 suggested, read a copy of your long lease to see what is chargeable, and read the lease website inside and out so you understand the law.

Once you have these you may feel the need to formally request to view copies of the supporting documents and invoices from contractors so that you have more information. You should also find ouyt what similar properties in the area are paying - similar in terms of size (number of flats), services rendered, and listed too as this has a strong bearing on how expensive maintenance is (works need to be done a certain way).

Only once you have built a case are you ready for an LVT, and you can do this yourself without legal representation. I am reliably informed that they are very sympathetic to the lay person who brings their own case, as long as the groundwork has been done. Simply saying the service charges have increased substantially and you will lose you need to fit your arguments in with the legislation.

BitterAndTwisted

You might feel the need to examine the invoices and supporting documents but they won't make it easy for you. IF they allow you to, you will have to go to their offices to do so. I work in commercial property management and the auditors and tenants' representatives have to come to us, no matter where in the country the property is.

While you're at it, try and find out what the relationship is between the management and the contractors. This is where the "padding" can be found. And kickbacks ahoy as well. Allegedly.

Jomo

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You might feel the need to examine the invoices and supporting documents but they won't make it easy for you. IF they allow you to, you will have to go to their offices to do so. I work in commercial property management and the auditors and tenants' representatives have to come to us, no matter where in the country the property is.

While you're at it, try and find out what the relationship is between the management and the contractors. This is where the "padding" can be found. And kickbacks ahoy as well. Allegedly.

Our management company emails me all the invoices etc. on a monthly basis off their own back!

pickle140584

thanks guys will be calling the lease service at lunch and hopefully get moving forwards on challenging it

Fire_Fox

Don't waste the Leasehold Advisory Service's time until you have ALL the documents to hand. This is not yet a complicated case, and we can advise you fine at this stage. You really are not ready to challenge the charges until you know what you are paying for which means evidence as I listed in an earlier post.

sunnysea83

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You don't need an LVT until you have established what you are paying for. Firstly you need to formally request a breakdown of the charges as Olly300 suggested, read a copy of your long lease to see what is chargeable, and read the lease website inside and out so you understand the law.

Once you have these you may feel the need to formally request to view copies of the supporting documents and invoices from contractors so that you have more information. You should also find ouyt what similar properties in the area are paying - similar in terms of size (number of flats), services rendered, and listed too as this has a strong bearing on how expensive maintenance is (works need to be done a certain way).
.

You DO NOT need to have done any of the above to go to the LVT.

You can waste time getting all the above information, or you can make an lvt application now, whose directions will ask the managing agents to supply copies of all the invoices for charges etc.

Your lease is likely to just say that you have to pay your landlords fees in relation to the property etc.

As for looking at properties in the area that are simillar and seeing what they pay, without a full break down of every item of there service charge account you will NOT get a good understanding of what they are paying and its very difficult to obtain a breakdown of another block that you do not live at.

Its correct that you dont need a solicitor for the LVT, they are informal and very helpful towards lay people, most Tribunals will consist of a lawyer, valuer and lay member.

All you need to do to begin LVT proceedings is complete the application form and send it with your lease. The lvt will then contact you and tell you what to do next and by when, they normally give you at least 28 days before you need to send anything in. You can also request a pre-trial review which is really helpful as you go along to a meeting room near where you live and there is a chairman sitting on his (normally a solicitor) who will find out what your disputing and then go through the directions telling you what you need to do and when. You dont have to have done all the leg work before you go to the LVT.

With regards to understanding the legislation, the LVT does not expect a lay person to understand this, you may want to read up on lease website about section 20 notices for major works costing more than £250 etc

Also on the LVT form tick the s20c form for limitation of landlords cost, this is because the landlord can put his costs back through the service charges to leaseholders of the cost of his work etc for preparing for the LVT, however the lvt can limit this and you need to make a s20c application for this.

OP - it is useful to have a breakdown of the costs for what your being charged if you can get a copy from the M.A or landlord however you DO NOT need this to go to the LVT, on the form where it asks what your disputing you just put the amount and service charge year (if you know this) and put that youve received no breakdown, the LVT will take it from there. I would contact the M.A/L.L and ask them for a copy though.

Dont worry your not wasting Leases time or the LVTs time at all by contacting them. They offer free advice for that purpose, once youve contacted lease for the first time they will give you a reference number and everytime you rings them in the future give that reference and they have a brief log of the call and your circumstances etc.

pickle140584

Well I spoke with a lovely man at Lease at lunch who has advised me to request a statement and supporting documents, contact the other owners to ascertainb if they are in support of challenging and then to apply o the LVT.

I have also managed to call in a favour from a solicitor client of mine who is going to do me a free consultation and look over the docs for me.

Feeling like i have the ball rolling

ILW

Can you go for the LVT if the block is part commercial?