URGENT HELP needed on this please!

emsikins

Afternoon all,

Well, after what was turning into a nice Easter Weekend rapidly became otherwise with the arrival of a letter from a solicitor saying we are to pay quite a substantial amount of money within the next 14 days. The hubby and I own a flat in a new build estate, because of the estate we are required to pay maintenance charges to cover the maintenance of communal areas.

We have been paying quarterly for the last 3 years with statements arriving saying we are up to date, infact we are currently in credit by £60. So you can imagine our horror when a letter came through stating we had been withholding funds and needed to pay over £2000 within 2 weeks.

On contacting the maintenance company it turns out we have two accounts (apparently normal?), one for the building, one for the exterior gardens and it is the additional account we have failed to pay. For three years we have received no communication from the company asking for this money and when we spoke to them today they admitted the postcode they had on record was wrong and so the letters will probably have not been delivered.

The "best" they said they can do is, IF we pay £500 within 7 days they will waiver the legal fees and we have to pay the remainder by monthly direct debit over the next 9 months plus the monthly charge that should be paid normally - totalling new monthly payments of £216.27!!! :mad::mad::mad:

It is an excessive amount to pay in such a short time period, especially when they have failed to make direct contact with us before now. Should we owe the money, which it seems we do, we have no quibble over paying it, but surely we should be given more leniancy with this as it is their own clerical error that has left us in this situation.

Can anyone offer any advice on this and on the best course of action to take. There's no way we can afford to pay the amount the are wanting from us so the only option we can see is a loan, but with a loan already being paid off and credit cards we don't really want to add to it!

Please help!

princeofpounds

Someone with expertise might be along in a minute to answer, but you can also try landlordzone forums (often better on long leasehold questions like these) and I urge you to contract LEASE, which is a free government-funded advice centre for all lease-related matters. Their website gives you a wealth of info on your rights and responsibilities.

You should not be charged any legal fees as one thing I do know is that the amounts never even become due until invoiced, so you are not behind in your payments.

If you can get them to admit to any of this over email/writing, all the better.

http://www.lease-advice.org/

emsikins

Thanks princeofpounds... we have a definte admition that the postcode was wrong and would have prevented post getting to us in an email. They claim the lease asks us to pay service charges but as far as we were concerned we were paying them... we had no idea there was a second charge!

Surely, lumping them together in one charge would make so much more sense! I don't understand how they think we were happy paying one charge and just blindly ignoring another mounting up if we knew about it! Not once did they try calling us either... makes me so mad as a simple phone call asking about it would have sorted it there and then!

princeofpounds

Some places to get started:

Ask for a breakdown of the charges (in writing!):

http://www.lease-advice.org/information/faqs/faq.asp?item=44

Point out if any factors are missing that make the bill payable:

http://www.lease-advice.org/information/faqs/faq.asp?item=143

Time limit on service charges:

http://www.lease-advice.org/information/faqs/faq.asp?item=43

Read this, especially 'demands for service charges' section:
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=14

princeofpounds

Looking at all this stuff, it seems that anything* billable over 18 months ago may not be chargeable to you at all That's just a skim-read though.

I also urge you to actually read your lease. There is no law against freeholders billing leaseholders for all sorts of things they are not supposed to, and many do in order to make a dodgy buck. If none of these charges are in your lease then you can tell them to take a hike.

* service charges. Other charges like ground rent may still be due. The booklet defines them.

emsikins

Wow, that info is really helpful and I've only skimmed it myself. We are routing out the original contracts but to my recollection we didn't receive any paperwork regarding the charges. The first year's payments were included in the mortgage at the time of buying and we received our first invoice a year later for the charges we have been paying. We haven't had any other correspondance concerning the second account.

Definitely going to go further with this I think, even if we owe it it's unreasonable to expect us to pay 3 years worth of charges in 9 months when we had no prior notice of it.

Thanks so much princeofpounds.

DVardysShadow

I've not looked through the links, but I think it is probably right to pay the most recent year within say 21 to 28 days and to offer to pay over a much more extended period for the remainder

emsikins

Thank you... Just some positive suggestions is making us feel more confident. Gonna speak to them again tomorrow

Fire_Fox

AFAIK you have no legal right to ask to pay by installments, unless your long lease provides for it. You may not think it is not reasonable to ask for the balance in full, but inability to pay is not a valid excuse in the eyes of the law. Be under no illusions that if you do not handle this correctly the management company can get a CCJ for the arrears and have the amount added to your mortgage.

IIRC either the balance is owing or it is not, you can use the 18 month ruling but not if you accept that they money is owing. I suggest you communicate in writing by recorded delivery only, making it clear that you dispute the arrears. Once the arrears have been formally disputed (in writing) the management company lose the legal right to commence in order to collect and they cannot add interest. This case rightly should go to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal but it will not if you allow yourself to be panicked by the seven day deadline.

BTW I am a veteran of a three and a half year dispute with our (now ex) management company, and to date have 'evaded' paying or being taken to court by following the advice given on the LEASE website and largely communicating in writing by recorded delivery. Whether this goes to court, an LVT or mediation you will need a paper trail of your efforts to resolve this matter.

emsikins

Our lease has always been to pay in quarterly installment as the statement from three years ago which we've only just received states. We aren't disputing that it's owing and we are happy to pay. The inability doesn't lie in the fact that we couldn't pay it at the time they requested it, it's that we can't pay 3 years worth of charges in less than a year. Does this argument hold no weight? Surely the fact that it's their clerical error that's held off payment must count for something?

glottalstop

Your lease will state precisely what you have to pay and how, eg 8% of the charges twice a year in advance, and may even specify the collection dates eg April and September. It is your duty to be aware of the lease terms. It is also your duty make sure the charges are paid, even when there are billing mistakes - that could include contacting your company and asking them for a bill if you did not receive one when expected. At the end of the day it is money to pay for (necessary) work to your estate. In theory you should have put the money aside, but difficult to do if you didn't realise.

In your favour - by law every service charge demand must be accompanied by a statement of rights and obligations. In my case despite asking for an invoice it still didn't arrive, and the next time around I got sent an invoice with the wrong amount and with extra fines for previous arrears ! I have offered to pay the correct invoice as soon as it arrives, and put money aside to cover it.

Also in your favour - when you have genuine grounds to dispute or not pay a charge the collector is not allowed to add third party charges like debt collector fees. Stand firm and insist they withdraw all penalties. You may also suggest they have failed in their duty to collect fees and manage the estate, something which they add an annual fee for, and suggest a discount on that basis.

Also also in your favour - the company is obliged to carry out the works specified in the lease, whether or not they have collected your fees properly. They cannot withold works or services.

So stick to your guns and make sure you do not get ripped off, but at the end of the day I guess you will have to pay up pretty much what is owed.