Invoice for ground rent after sold property?

Ladyj_2

I'm hoping someone out there knows a bit about ground rent. We sold our flat in may this yr. The new lease holders have sent on a rent demand notice from the freeholder landlord for £450 covering rent payable 25-12-05 to 24-12-2011. To be paid on 19th sept 2011, the letter is dated 15 Aug though it wasn't sent on until last week. As I sold the property prior to the request being Made, do I actually have to pay any of his charge? Likewise the new ownerhe has sent on a request sent to him with my name on to, in effect retrospectively cover insurance that I warned the landlord he hadnt invoiced for before we sold (the freeholder was a nightmare to contact and took an age to respond to communications) The added complication is I know the people who bought our property so if the costs will fall to them it could sour any further dealings we have with them, will he pass the costs to them? Any help would really be appreciated, I don't want to state I'm not going to pay now and find I'm causing a load of trouble for myself but I also don't think it's fair to invoice for a property I no longer own, it's his fault he failed to do this at the appropriate time? Thanks

MFSaver

Assuming that the ground rent is a valid charge, you will have to pay it even though the invoice was issued late. Presumably you and the new owners should pay your respective share of the ground rent, i.e. you should cover the rent from 25-12-05 to May 2011 (I assume that you owned the flat since Dec '05) while the new lease holders pay the rent to cover the remaining period.

The same goes for the insurance charge, although I expect the service charge to include insurance. Check to make sure that the fees are valid and that you are not double paying for anything.

Mallotum_X

As you dont want to sour relations with the new owner then its probably best to pay it. Otherwise I would personally try to avoid it, even though technically you wouldnt really have any grounds.

Have you spoken to the solicitor, it they were aware of this at exchange then it may have been dealt with in the contracts as to who is responsible.

DVardysShadow

I tihnk that the liability passes with the property, unless you have contracted to guarantee all outstanding charges are settled. In your position, if i did decide to pay out of good will, I think I would pass the money to the current owners and I would apportion so that I only paid to the date I left.

JQ.

I believe DVS is correct, the debt has passed to them and they are responsible. Their solicitor should have checked that all outstanding debts were cleared prior to purchase and factored such issues into the contract. Their solicitor has messed up and perhaps you should suggest that they investigate a complaint against them or at least raise it with their own solicitor to get advice. You are not responsible.

Ladyj_2

I think the complication is that they did indeed do a "search" as thy call it to check there was no arrears, and I would have indeed agreed that from my view there were no arrears as I had not been invoiced for the insurance (or ground rent) at that time, I said I had not been invoiced for the 2010 insurance precisely to avoids this kind of situation. Is the the landlord who has to verify there are no arrears? Thanks for your help so far