Ground Rent 'bill'

Sparkly

Just received an invoice for Ground rent incuding 'arrears' totalling £10 (it's £2 per year!) from a company I've never heard of (Carter Jonas) and is outside the area, Shrewsbury rather than Manchester. The ground rent collection has changed hands a few times, and each time they've collected yearly for a few years, then I've not heard from them until I get a demand for a number of years non-collection from a different company.

How can I tell if this collection company is the 'official' agent without running up a lot of peak-rate phonecalls? The last time it changed, I went into the office in my local town and despite them having a Dickensian accounting system (it took a few hours to find my info in big old books!) they were the genuine collector for the ground rent.

I'm worried that it might be some kind of scam or dodge (£10 x a few thousand houses) and I'll get a bill from the 'real' agency in a few months.

lotto-dreamer

They're a nationwide company -with offices over the country but not in Manchester itself. They've probably taken over as managing agents for your property.

Their website is-

http://www.carterjonas.co.uk/corporate/office.cfm?officeID=15

Hope this helps!

clutton_2

you are lucky to have a bill for only £10 !!! i got one for £117/ for a ground rent of £1 10s 6d p.a. !!!! They sent an "official" looking "court order" form, including their "costs" which i absolutely ignored and sent them £1.10s 6d x 6, as that is the most legally they can ever demand.

Sparkly

thanks, I tried a search but must have messed up the 'speeeling' I've also checked the contact address and that matches, so I hopefully can assume a large property company should be collecting it.

ManAtHome

A reasonable question - mine has changed a couple of times and sems to take a few years to get the biiling sorted out. Mine have always quoted the original estate name - suppose this is easy enough to find but haven't been scammed yet (hell of a "business opportunity" though...).