Fee for leasehold enquiries when selling?

pie81

Hi all

A quick question. I'm in the process of selling my leasehold flat. The buyers have requested that we provide various bits of information from the managing agent (eg estimated service charge for next year).

The managing agent says this information will cost us £300+VAT :eek: What's more he wants the money before he provides the information so we can't fund this out of the sale proceeds.

Before we cough up, can anyone advise as to whether (a) this sort of fee is normal/legitimate (b) if so, is it usually paid by the buyer or seller?

Seems pretty irritating that we would have to pay £345 even though it's the buyer who wants the info and all the agent has to do is photocopy a couple of docs that he will already have...

Thanks!

blckbrd

Yes the fee is legitimate, as long as your lease allows for admin fees to be charged.

The seller pays for the information up front. Usually it is requested by the seller's solicitor and passed to any prospective purchaser's solicitor.

It's not as simple as photocopying 'a couple of docs' - or it shouldn't be. As well as service charge information there are details of any debt, any current/future major works, buildings insurance, a copy of the lease (not always included), responses to any questions regarding management, breach of the terms of the lease and so on.

The fee requested doesn't seem unusual for some private Management Companies and really there's no way around it, that I'm aware of, unfortunately.

pie81

Thanks blckbrd. Guess I'd better cough up then...

onionz_2

This fee is quite high - I would expect to usually see a fee in the region of £100 - £200, plus VAT where applicable.

The information is usually essential where service charges are levied for the property, but I would say that it will not normally include a copy of the lease.

The seller would pay this fee. As an administration charge, it is possible to challenge it at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, but this will inevitably delay the sale. As a first port of call, the lease may contain provisions as to what information must be provided and, possibly, how much can be charged. It may be possible to obtain a lot of the information "as of right" without charge, but bear in mind the buyer's solicitors will be expecting to see a complete set of answers provided by the managing agent and may argue if you try to compile it yourself.

pie81

Thanks onionz. No point in challenging really since as you say it would delay sale so they have us over a barrel ...

The lease says they have to provide a copy of the insurance policy, but "at Lessee's expense" (doesn't say how much they can charge) and it doesn't say they have to provide any other information, eg service charge history, any planned works, etc.

So I guess I'll pay. Just winds me up that they can charge so much for doing very very little.

Mum_of_3_3

pie81 wrote: »

So I guess I'll pay. Just winds me up that they can charge so much for doing very very little.

I deal with the finances for out management company (we have a share of the freehold) and each time a flat is sold I have to deal with the solicitor's enquiries and this can take ages sometimes.

Normally it is only a copy of the lease and insurance certificate, but I've also had to sort out car-parking misunderstandings, letting queries (we're not allowed to as per the lease, but people still ask if they can :rolleyes: ) and there is one estate agent in town who recommend a firm of solicitors in Cardiff whose name I forget and they send 6 A4 sheets of questions many of which are variations of each other :mad:

Because I'm a mug I do it for nothing, but if I were a professional management agency then I would definitely charge for the work. However, I do think £300 is a bit steep, £150+VAT is more like it.

Good luck with the move

M_o_3

Grumlethegoat

When you say this can take ages, how long? we have been in this sale for 9 weeks now and they only sent the questions out a week ago. Everyone one else is ready to exchange.

lukeh23

Thanks for asking this, looks like I will have the same question....still I am used to throwing good money at my management agent so it will only be in tradition.

London_Town

£300 sounds a lot to me, I paid around £150 plus VAT. My solicitor asked me to pay it quickly to speed things up as I was on a tight deadline with my sale. As it happened, the deadlines were missed and I had to have my stuff in storage for a month while staying with a friend.

Most bizarre of all, I ended up getting the money refunded. I had paid to have my mail redirected and my ex-management company still wrote to me regarding routine stuff. When I rang them to explain I'd completed on my flat sale, the girl there casually told me that I'd "paid for nothing" as my buyers solicitor had never requested any information. My anger turned to delight when she agreed to my request for it to be refunded.

InkZ

Cost me £250 I think when selling my flat.

Richard_Webster

You have to pay it. £150 is more reasonable but you do not want the transaction held up because you are arguing that the fee is too high - buyers might cotton to the fact that the managing agents are expensive and that might put them off proceeding!

Really this is a national problem - some national builders have a habit of selling their freeholds on to property companies that use expensive managing agents - but until there is a groundswell of opinion among flat buyers not to buy from certain companies because of their tendency to sell on in this way, there is little that can be done.

You may think that generating that kind of groundswell is going to be an uphill struggle and who is going to take it on?