Management Pack qouted at £378! Outrageous or reasonable fee??

Tim79

Hello everyone - first time poster here, and would be ever so grateful for your help.

I am selling my leasehold flat and the bane of my life for the last 6 years (the managing agents) have decided they won't let me leave without causing that extra bit of stress and bitterness.

On my request for the standard Management Pack which the buyer's solicitors will need in due course, i was qouted a whopping £378 (inc VAT) (or single documents for £40 each!). Now i understand some managing agents chareg a small fee, others no fee and some still a reasonable fee.....am i right in saying this fee for what is essentially photocopying some paper and finding a stamp and an envelope is outrageous?

Is there anything i can do to try and at least persuade them/argue to take some money off or am i screwed?

Their pack includes:


Anticipated Expenditure, Maintenance, and Section 20 Notices as apply. Fire /Health & Safety Risk Assessments and any Asbestos Reports. Current Budget,
Current Service Charge, Ground Rent and Insurance Leaseholder account balances. The last 3 years Management Company Financial Accounts. Management
Company Memorandum and Articles of Association. Copies of current Buildings Insurance Schedule and Policy. Membership/Share transfer requirements.
Lease/Transfer post completion documentation and fee requirements. Land Registry restriction application requirements. Any Lease restriction/regulations
regarding Lettings, Pets, Alterations and Flooring. 24 frequently asked Questions and 12 points of general information for new lessees.

MrRee_2

Let's be honest - all costs in the buying and selling of property is a rip-off ... always has been.

£378 is a small part of the total costs involved, including selling price and legals.

However, you should not simply bend over and take it - if you wish to make their position a little uncomfortable ask them who their regulatory body is. Tell them that you will be referring their charge to the relevant body as you consider it outrageous (you don't actually have to do anything - just indicate that you will).

The cost may well drop on the condition that you do not cause waves - and, of course, you will accept the lower fee and keep quiet ...... it's how business is done.

sooz

You say you've had problems with the management co before.

In which case you seethe inwardly, swear never to buy a leasehold again, pay up quietly & let the next mug deal with them.

One day you will look back & be grateful it only cost you that much to never have to deal with them again

Richard_Webster

People don't make enough fuss - if national builders found nobody bought their new "apartments" because of a fear that they would sell the freehold to some toxic property company they would behave differently.

As it is anyone buying a shiny new "apartment" could well find a few years later that they are caught like this.

Trouble is that the behaviour of these managing agents etc is not generally understood by those who buy flats, so there is no pressure and builders don't have this issue to face.

ognum

I have just paid £100 to my solicitor for the 'pack' for a flat I am selling!

Tim79

Part of me is keen to just bite my tongue, swallow this extortionate cost and write a cheque. Once i have got what i need from them and moved away, then unleash hell in a tirade to them. But even then, what's the point - as Sooz says, dealing with such incompetent cowboys won't be my problem any more.

Then i see the reply from ognum and am seething that your pack cost nearly 1/4 of mine!!!! They must really pluck figures out of the air whilst pulling this scam. They clearly have me over a barrell, as i need the info in order to banish them from my life. I will try the 'reporting to regulator trick' and see where it gets me....although i fear they will then only deliberately dig their heals in and go slow to my detriment on purpose.

hanwellmike

I used to be Secretary of a Flat Management Company for many years (we owned the Freehold) and I used to provide nearly all of that information for free. We had no mechanism to charge for it.
However Management agents are there to make money and they will certainly charge for their time. Some of that information (eg Articles of Association, Membership / share requirements) rarely changes and is easily provided. But a lot of the other documentation (Financial accounts, Leaseholder account balances) will change annually so will need to be checked as the most recent version and added to the ''pack''. £378 seems excessive and worth a challenge. I would say it's no more than a morning's work for an organised person to assemble the basic paperwork and maybe another hour to photocopy. So maybe 5 or 6 hours work plus the cost of paper & postage. I would say around £150 would be more reasonable. If it could be provided electronically it should be much quicker and therefor cheaper. In the past I have certainly have provided a lot of that information in electronic format via email (scanned files).

Make sure you retain a copy of the pack in case the sale falls thru, so you don't have to ask for another full pack.

Fangg27

This is one of the reasons I don't want to buy a flat plus high service charges and the expense of renewing the lease. Realistially buying a flat would suit my lifestyle at this moment in time but all of the extra costs make it more feasible to buy a house.

AlanW1980

the management company of my old flat (County Estate Management) are the sole reason I will never buy a leashold flat ever again. Charges were extortionate and service was abysmal. They had us over a barrel.

i've just checked my emails and they charged us £200+VAT for the sellers pack or "£352.50 to reply to specific enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors" which was a total rip off so we just bought the pack and it was fine. This was around the same time last year.

definitely query it
Alan

propertyman

This sort of thread makes me sigh. It is based on assumptions and common sense with no knowledge of what is being done or commercially what things cost.

1: it is a lot of photocopying, however most firms will have the documentation on pdf or word. 6 hours work for £150, well great when can you start? if you take the costs of admin staff and roughly double that to pay for their other costs, office space and outgoings for the lights to insurance, and a little thing called profit , not to mention that 2 days a week is working to pay for the government and local council.

2; Have you seen the qustions asked? No you haven't. Are there any alterations or disputes with neighbours?" That could take a good hour or two just looking over old files to see if there were, checking old inspection reports for any breaches. " Any major works" may take some time to deal with putting together all the responses to an ongoing consultation, perhaps bring forward a letter that needs replying to and which may affect

3: The old "Not as far as we are aware" doesn't cut it, if you should have known, or haven't caught up with your inspection notes of that unauthorised satellite dish or awful replacement windows that they have done with out notification or consent, then you need to disclose it.

And these are questions that find themselves attached to contracts for which there is a legal liability.

£378 is a lot but you can pay it and challenge it as unreasonable at the LVT;

Just don't assume it is 10 minute run through the photocopier add invoice and stamp.

hanwellmike

I was assuming that this ''standard pack'' is put together to provide basic information relevant to the property. A package of information that would be sent to Purchaser's solicitor to answer most basic questions. Not in response to specific questions from the purchaser. As such a standard pack would not take much investigation and it should be a lot cheaper.

If the package was assembled by the Management Agent in response to individual questions from the Purchaser's solicitor specific to the flat being sold then yes I agree the cost could be a lot more.