Problems with Management Company.

qwertinatom

Hello

In August 2010 I bought my 1st home. A little 1 bedroom flat perfect for my needs.

This flat is lease hold and therefore is managed. Within a couple of months of owning the flat I got a letter from the management company asking for £291.66p.
The money was for works that had been carried out in May 2010. The management company had "accidentily" divided the cost of the works between 12 flats and not the 6 it was supposed to have. They therefore had credited 6 with their money back and were trying to recover the costs from us 6.

As the works were carried out before I owned the flat and as it was a mistake on the management companies behalf I sent a letter explaining that I felt I was noit liable to pay this amount. They sent a letter back saying they thought I was. So I sent another letter explaining that I didn't own the property at the time the works were carried out. They sent a letter back saying that I should speak to my solicitor about money having been retained from the mortgagee for any outstanding costs.

As the flat was repossesed there was no retained money. However the company who had owned the flat had paid off all outstanding service charge on the flat. Its only due too the management companies error that this cost is outstanding.

Under the instruction of my solicitor I returned a letter explaining this. The management company never replied.......until last week when they sent a letter saying that I am now £341.66 in arrears. The original £291.66 plus £25 each for the 2 letters.

I rang them up to find out what this was about and was told that the person I needed to speak to wasn't in until Monday......So I have to contact them then.

The works that were supposedly carried out were maitenance to the stairway and walkway and replacement of the facia's and soffets. The facias and soffets have only been replaced around one flat, and even then its just plastic cladding stuck over the old ones. In fact around mine they are in terrible condition and I have birds living in the loft because of the holes. So basically they have charged £3499.92 to the 6 flats for some tarmacing and some stuck on plastic!

Do I have a leg to stand on here or do I have to pay the arrears?
It feels very unjust for me to have to pay. My property hasn't benefitted from the works, I wasn't consulted on the pricing because I didn't even own the flat at that point!
Any and all advice is greatfully appreciated.
Its kinda taking the shine off having my own little castle

P.S
Sorry for the incredibly long 1st post.

Tom_Jones

You didn't own the flat, so you are not liable, if there are any cost it should be charged to the previous owner. Send them a solicitors letter and charge them for all costs, including your time.

macman

And then it's time to get the other leaseholders involved together and boot out the management company...
Big feature on rip-off property management co's. in today 'Guardian Money'.

daveyjp

Get a solicitor to write to them reinforcing what has already been said. You don't owe the money as you were not the owner at the time the costs were incurred and any further correspondence on this issue will be treated as harassment.

BTW - The fact your flat doesn't directly benefit is not a valid argument for not paying.

qwertinatom

daveyjp wrote: »

Get a solicitor to write to them reinforcing what has already been said. You don't owe the money as you were not the owner at the time the costs were incurred and any further correspondence on this issue will be treated as harassment.

BTW - The fact your flat doesn't directly benefit is not a valid argument for not paying.

I will ring my solicitor tomorrow. Its interesting to know about the not directly benefiting part.

I have to ring the management company as well so it will be "interesting"

baldelectrician

I wouldn't ring them- can you email them?

If it gets sticky it's easier for you to prove what you (and they) have said if it's in email / writing

qwertinatom

I emailed them as well as ringing them and also got advice from my solicitor. They were reasonable and hopefully this will be sorted by the end of the week.

corners_2

Have you heard any more:wave::wave: about this?

qwertinatom

Well this is still dragging on. I recieved another arrears letter, so I emailed them regarding what had been said in the emails and phone calls from February and recieved a reply saying there was no record of the arrears being put on hold or cancelled. So I sent a copy of what their accounts manager had said. I recieved no reply.

Then today I get home to find another slightly more threatening Arrears letter. My solicitor is on Holiday until Tuesday aso I've sent the Management another strongly worded email telling them that my solicitor will be in contact. I'm just absolutely pig sick of this whole thing! Its constantly hanging over my head and really taking the shine off having my own first place

qwertinatom

Well I've asked my solicitor to write a letter to the management company. In the meantime I've just recieved a final demand notice from the Management company They have now added £275 onto the bill so now I owe £566.........Hmmmm

dave82_2

Call them up and tell them that king in 1066 owed the peasent that lived on this land 10 groats for damage caused by toops on their way to the battle of hastings. Now you live in the flat you demand the debt be settled and that with interest since 1066 they owe you 86 million pounds.

Because to me that's how fn stupid they are being!

This is one reason I refuse to live in a flat!!!