Urgent advice needed please!

YoJoJo

I (hubby and I) am selling my flat and moving to a house and in the middle of the conveyancing process and not at exchange of contracts yet.

We live in a building of 4 flats, each flat owns an equal share of the freehold and we have set up a management company of which each member is a Director. 'Bob' lives and owns one of the flats and is the Company Secretary and Treasurer. This system has been in place since before we lived here about 6 years ago.

We had the normal questions from our Buyers via our solicitors, which hubby and I answered (which I shall refer to as Round 1)

We have since had another 40 odd questions (Round 2), which our solicitor sent directly to us, rather than our company secretary, as she said as Directors of the company we should be able to answer most of them and to refer those we don't to 'Bob' We agreed with that, quite happily, as we thought we could get the answers back ASAP and keep things moving generally.

I am able to answer most of the questions myself but there are 7 which I cannot so I sent these to Bob almost a week ago by email, followed by another email 2 days later asking for an update, followed by printing the email out and slipping it under his door today.

I get a response via email this afternoon, saying that solicitors normally send him questions directly by post and that obviously there is normally a charge for his time in answering questions from solicitors. Also that there is a big problem answering with regards the data protection act.

It was not obvious to us he charges for his time AND he doesn't say which of the questions are a problem re the DPA!

We have asked him by email this afternoon to bring all the info we need to answer the outstanding questions to an Annual General Meeting (AGM) we and all the other flat owners are attending tomorrow night - no response yet...At this stage we have decided to ignore the comment he made about charging for his time too...

The thing is when we answered Round 1 of the questions, we only asked him for the last 3 years financial accounts/statements for our company and a copy of the buildings insurance policy and schedule; which he provided eventually. Should he charge for that info plus the new info we need (just 7 small questions). We will happily reimburse any photocopying/printing charges but he never mentioned any charges after giving us the Round 1 info!

If he can charge for his time and insists on receiving the questions directly from his solicitors then we will have to call our solicitors and ask them to re-send them to him, he will probably negotiate costs with them for his time (?), they may ask us to ok them (?) they will write and tell him costs are ok (?) he will then finally get around to answering them.

I am pulling my hair out because our FTB told us when they offered on the place they needed to be in by mid-June. We are buying a vacant possession house so our end is ok whenever we need to move.

Also, as equal directors in our company, surely we are entitled to all of the information required full stop?

I can provide a list of the questions if anyone on here would like to read them.

So sorry for the epic thread but I am so angry and frustrated right now and need some advice please.

DVardysShadow

YoJoJo wrote: »

... I get a response via email this afternoon, saying that solicitors normally send him questions directly by post and that obviously there is normally a charge for his time in answering questions from solicitors. Also that there is a big problem answering with regards the data protection act.

... Also, as equal directors in our company, surely we are entitled to all of the information required full stop?

Without knowing the questions.

Bob is plainly being a right PITA.

Let us dissect this a little bit. If Bob wants to charge for his time with the Company Secretary hat on, then Bob must charge the Management Company. He has no right to charge anyone else for it. If the Company want to charge you for Bob's time, then that is a matter for the Directors and not for Bob alone.

I suggest you think this through a little and perhaps raise it at your AGM. Perhaps the other Directors would be interested to discover what a PITA Bob will become if they wish to sell.

In terms of the questions, are any of them questions which you are entitled to know the answers to as Directors of the Management Company? Because I suggest you put that hat on to ask those questions.

As regards the DPA, this is probably make believe, it seems he is just being obstructive

Fire_Fox

What does it say in your long lease or constitution of the management company regarding administration fees? I am guessing the data protection is the solicitor asking of any of the other flats are in arrears with the service charges?

YoJoJo

Hello - thanks for replying

The questions are as follows:

1. Confirmation of the amount of money in the management fund
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]2. Confirmation that there have been no basic difficulties with regard to the Lessees in the collection of the Service Charge.[/FONT]
3. Copy/draft of any Deed of Covenant which an Assignee may be required to enter into under the provisions of the lease.
4. Confirmation of any costs levied by the freeholders solicitor in connection with any Deed of Covenent referred above.
5. Confirmation of the Registration fee currently charged in connection with the Notice of Assignment and Charge. To whom this notice should be addressed?
6. Evidence that an Asbestos Risk Assessment/Survey has been carried out on the property as required under the control of asbestos at work regulations 2002.
7. Copy of the service charge accounts for the last 3 years (I have the financial statements but the solicitors want the service charge element seperated which I know 'Bob' has to hand)


Thanks, Yojojo

YoJoJo

Fire_Fox wrote: »

What does it say in your long lease or constitution of the management company regarding administration fees? I am guessing the data protection is the solicitor asking of any of the other flats are in arrears with the service charges?

Will check out the lease bit re admin fees in a mo when I can a sec to dig them out.

That could be a concern if the data protection bit is regarding the other flats possible arrears as I think one flat is about a few months behind... oh god, is this going to put my buyers off? We are fully paid up and I know the account balance was pretty healthy at the start of the year.

Fire_Fox

YoJoJo wrote: »

Will check out the lease bit re admin fees in a mo when I can a sec to dig them out.

That could be a concern if the data protection bit is regarding the other flats possible arrears as I think one flat is about a few months behind... oh god, is this going to put my buyers off? We are fully paid up and I know the account balance was pretty healthy at the start of the year.

Depends how the management company is set up I would think, I am far from an expert of share of freehold tho! Basically any freeholder has an absolute obligation to maintain the property according to the terms of the long lease, they cannot refuse to do so simply because there is no money in the kitty. For a private company this is not an issue as money can be borrowed, for a bunch of 'volunteers' this can cause no end of problems.

If you have a healthy sinking fund and there aren't any ongoing disputes, I would have thought the arrears would be less of an issue. Leaseholders can be taken to court and then any arrears plus costs lodged against their mortgage, so it isn't the end of the world. It might be a dealbreaker if there is a long running dispute tho. Why not knock on the neighbours door and see if they are able to settle their account?

YoJoJo

Hi Fire Fox thanks for you help

We do have a healthy fund. The owner of the flat in arrears normally pays chunks off every 6 months or so but is always slightly behind I think. The rest of us pay monthly. Since we have lived here we have never had a problem with funds for maintenance or repairs to the building (touch wood). I am trying not to let this issue worry me right now! I am just concerned about getting the info from Bob sooner rather than later (a lot later)!