What???? Housing Association want money for providing info to our buyer!

frafferty

Oh, I am :mad:
We own a house that is ex-HA. We bought it outright from the previous owner 11 years ago and we are 100% freehold. We have nothing to do with the HA apart from a maintenance charge of £5 per month which we pay towards the landscaping of the shared areas in our road.

Today our solicitor has advised us that the HA want a fee of £117 for answering our buyers enquiries. Why??? What enquiries can they possibly be answering? The only thing that we have to do with the HA is the maintenance charge and we have provided all past invoices and estimates relating to this charge already. How on earth can they justify a charge of £117? And why? Thought HA's were supposed to be non profit making. I can't see how charging £117 for information is not profit making.
So guess we can wave bye-bye to our buyers then as we certainly won't be paying.

princessamy86

What enquiries are they? Would it be cheaper to get an indemnity policy through your solicitor instead?

clutton_2

stand up to this nonsense.... its ridiculous.... give the purchasers all the paperwork whihc you have and tell them THAT's IT and that there is no more information to be purchased from HA or anywhere else.....

if you were leasehold you could understand this.. as normally HA/Councils sell RTB properties leasehold and enquiries are needed

there are NO enquiries to be made of the Council if you are freehold.......

frafferty

Solicitor has said that we have to pay it - we have no choice. It is a fee to cover updating the HA's records with details of new owner, to provide info to buyers sols relating to proposed fututure works (erm for landscaping???) increases in service charge blah de blah blah blah. Still can't see how that costs a non profit making organisation £117 though.

Running_Horse

Are you really going to lose a buyer for the sake of £117? That's cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I assume every other buyer in the future will face the same issue.

There were all sorts of legal annoyances when we sold, from FENSA certificates to Chancel Repair insurance. You can be principled and never move, or just cough up and get on with your lives.

withnell

Why not ask your buyers what they are asking about? The housing association is just charging to cover their costs in providing whatever has been requested

Richard_Webster

Have you provided actual receipts to show you are up to date with your maintenance payments (not copy invoices with your writing on saying "cheque sent dd/mm/yy")? Have you provided information form the HA saying about what they are going to charge in the future and whether the charge could go up and if so by how much?

Buyer will want to make sure there isn't some heavy increase on the way and that he doesn't get saddled with your arrears. HAs are bureaucratic and they probably charge £117 for answering far more detailed enquires about blocks of flats they manage and can't see that there is less info to give so they could charge less.

If you lose this buyer can you be sure that a future buyer won't offer you less for the property and the difference could be more than £117?

frafferty

Thank you all for your replies - food for thought.
I have just called the HA and asked them to break down the fee and they couldn't/wouldn't. I'm not particularly happy to pay a fee for our buyers enquiries when we are still at a stage when our buyers could still pull out. How many times would we be expected to pay out????
Would it be reasonable to ask that the buyer pays the fee for now and we will reimburse them once we have exchanged contracts?

DVardysShadow

Buyers are normally the ones who pay fees to 3rd parties for answering their queries. I would like to know what is different here.

RacyRed

It sounds the same or similar to the selling on pack that Local Authorities charge when an ex council property changes hands.

Your buyers didn't ask for it specifically, it appears to apply to all ex public housing and the solicitors cannot do the paper work without it. No pack, no sale.

In my experience you have no choice but to pay, no matter who your buyer is.

Don't forget these documents can take weeks to be produced and really hold things up. Ask your EA why they didn't apply for it as soon as they put your houe on the market?

Raggie

I would also add that non profit making does not mean do everything at "cost", it can mean that all profits made are re-invested for the benefit of the tenants....

As your not a tenant your a good source of income for the HA