Refunded works bill - is this money really mine?

mrak

Hello all. I have a bit of a curious one for you this morning. I welcome your input.

I've been the leaseholder of an east london flat for the past year. At the time of purchase, there was an outstanding major works bill of £15,000 on the property. After some discussion, it was eventually agreed that the vendor would settle this bill before I purchased the flat. This was a relief, as I would not have been able to afford the property had it fallen to me to pay the bill.

I had forgotten all about this bill until yesterday, when I received a letter yesterday addressed to "The Leaseholder" to tell me that - following a review - the council believe that I should only be liable for a nominal fee of £100. They have credited the remainder of the £15,000 to my service charge/ground rent account!

My questions are:
* Is this really my money? I reason that if they wrote to me asking for more money, then I'd be liable to pay the excess. Am I really entitled to this refund?
* If I am entitled to it, should I not receive some nominal interest on the balance?
* Would it be possible to withdraw some of this credit and use it to say - pay off my council tax or mortgage, etc?

Many thanks,

Mrak

jonathon

put it in a savings account and keep quite see if anyone asks for it back, well thats what i would do

mrak

jonathon wrote: »

put it in a savings account and keep quite see if anyone asks for it back, well thats what i would do

Thanks Jon. That's precisely what I resolved to do this morning. I'm ringing the housing team today.. I guess they'll be able to clarify the situation...

coper

I had a similar experience a few years ago with a flat I was buying - the lady selling was going into a home and wanted a quick sale so she paid £8000 to the management company for some major building works (complete new sewer system required if I remember correctly).

About a year later I, as the leaseholder got a cheque for £8000 as the water board were liable for the costs rather than the leaseholders.

I banked the cheque and heard no more, even when I sold the flat a few years later - happy days!

Did feel a bit guilty about taking the poor old dears' money but offset this with the fact that if they had wanted £8000 more, I would have had to pay!

I'd second the suggestion above to bank the money for a while in case anyone wants it back (always best to be on the safe side!)

EddyH_2

It's yours, if you had asked for £15k off the asking price instead and paid it yourself would you still be thinking it's not yours?

ET1976

There was a similar thread not long ago (less money involved though). I think FireFox knows about this sort of stuff.

I think it's possible that the money belongs to the account - as you say, if a situation had occured where there was money owed which was incurred before you owned the property, you would (probably) be liable to pay it.

In my view you should alert the freeholder to the fact that it was originally paid by the previous owner, and do nothing else. Then it is the freeholder's responsibility to deal with it and if they don't, and the credit stays in your account, you will be able to use it to pay future service charges/works bills.

When you move on, if there is any surplus in the account, it should stay there for the next owner.

To take the money out of the account (if this is even possible), would clearly be dishonest, IMO.

I may be totally wrong legally on this though!

mrak

Thanks very much to all of you who have responded so far. I've checked through my e-mails, and it seems things are a little more complicated than I had originally thought.

From my original correspondence with my conveyancing solicitors, it appears that the old vendors paid the outstanding bill in full, and then I paid a proportional repayment' for the portion of the tax year after exchange. As the sale went through in March, I believe I paid approx. 1/12th of this bill. I have contacted my conveyancing solicitor to establish if there's a chance of clawwing any of this money back, but I won't get my hopes up.