No excluding VAT mentioned in Letter - Am I obliged to pay?

QfanatiQ

No excluding VAT mentioned in Letter - Am I obliged to pay?

I am not too sure where I stand on this matter, or if this is the right section

I own a flat and have service a service charge.
This goes towards the Management company that deals with our maintenance and other issues.

Recently, we all received a request that we must carry out a plumbing check.
This is being done in order to bring down our insurance premium due to a recent number in claims.

So far, I am happy with this.

In the letter they state they have negotiated a good rate of £55 per flat from Xcompany to check, in the letter we are told they are familiar with the building. We can get our own plumber if we wish. Also in the letter, it states these people are GasSafe registered (we all have gas boilers).

I was happy to proceed with the company offered so made the call and arranged for the check.

When the company visited, they person making the check did not know were certain, inlets, stop cocks, rodding access points were. So not family with the flat in anyway what so ever. I was happy to facilitate and show him where these items were. Nothing Gas side needed to be done.

his check sheet was water only and spent a total of 8 minutes in the flat.

A follow up letter was sent to those residents they thought had not done it, reiterating the fact, even if in rather a short tone. Again stating the fee of £55.

In the same week I received the invoice from the company for the check. It is £55 +VAT. The + VAT was never mentioned on the letter.

I am happy to pay the £55 even though I thoguht at the time (and since the 8 minutes spent) it is rather high for such a check.

But I am rather frustrated that this figure has jumped.

I have spent two and a half weeks trying to make contact with the person on the letter (one week she was on leave) but no call back has eve been made from the management company.

1. As no mention of + VAT was mentioned, am I obliged to pay it?
2. Is my grievance with the management company or the checking company?

The management company is a new instruction and there have been other management issues.

Excuse what must seem like a small amount of money to argue over.

Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions offered.

Cheers……Q

InsideInsurance

The arrangement was brokered between the plumbers and the managing agent and so is a B2B relationship and it is standard practice for B2B relationships to quote excl VAT.

If it is the managing agent that sent you the letter with the quoted price to which you agreed then your argument is with them and not the plumbers. I would also double check your other paperwork in connection with the managing agent to ensure there isnt anything there that states that all prices will be quoted as Net etc

QfanatiQ

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The arrangement was brokered between the plumbers and the managing agent and so is a B2B relationship and it is standard practice for B2B relationships to quote excl VAT.

If it is the managing agent that sent you the letter with the quoted price to which you agreed then your argument is with them and not the plumbers. I would also double check your other paperwork in connection with the managing agent to ensure there isnt anything there that states that all prices will be quoted as Net etc

Thanks for this. I thought that might be the crux of it.

There have only been two letters of correspondence and only on this matter in hand so far globally. Others have had grievances on other matters.

I will continue to take it up with the management agency but in the mean time duly pay the invoice to the company that carried out the works unless anyone thinks it is worth ringing them and trying to negotiate a £55 inc VAT payment?

Thanks,
…..Q

The_Pedant

I would probably argue that the agent is dealing with you, i.e. the general public (after all not many companies rent flats) and therefore they are obliged to include VAT in any price they quote to you.

If the plumber ('company'?) request anything else I would simply show the letter and say the price negotiated was £55 and therefore that is what you will pay. After all, if you called out a plumber they would quote you an inclusive price, or clearly state VAT was to be added. I would then ask the agent to confirm the matter. I would be willing to concede the point & pay the extra, but I'd make sure the agent (and possibly the plumber) had to put in some effort to properly realise what had happened, so it doesn't happen again.

arcon5

Sounds to me like the managing agent are merely agents between plumber and tenant (perhaps they recommended them for a commission). So the contract is actually between tenant and the plumbing company

texranger

it will be a b2b transaction between the plumber and the management company, so the plumber would of invoiced the management company. then the tenants would have recived an invoice from the management company which is not a b2b transaction so the invoice would be the price inclusive of VAT, but only if the management company is VAT registered and the invoice displays a valid VAT number.

arcon5

Seriously, how are people determining the transaction to be between op and the management agent?

- management agent tells all tenants they need to pay to have plumbing checked
- they tell tenants they can use their own plumber or use their recommended plumber at £55
- op chooses the latter as the advertised price looks good, by phoning the plumber to book the job in
- plumbing company invoices op for the advertised price

If management agency and plumber have an arrangement (ie perhaps plumbers paid for the recommendation) then that's nothing to do with op and the plumber. The management agency are in effect affiliates for the plumbing company.
I can't see how the contract can possibly be between op and management agents here.

QfanatiQ

Thanks for further expansion.

Yes -
The management company recommended the plumber
I get invoiced direct from plumbing company

I am due to receive a call today but about to chase and will then take up amount with Plumbing company regarding fee quoted in letter.

Thanks for taking the time to offer some views.

…..Q

vax2002

Sounds more like someone has come up with a scam to get a friends plumbing company some easy money, how many flats in the block, I bet he "checked" the lot in the day.
No it is not a very good rate, it is a damn rip off !

vax2002

Another point ? You can not "test" plumbing with a quick visual test, it requires a pressure test and you dont set that up in 8 minutes.
i would be inclined to refuse to pay stating you were under the impression they were to test the plumbing, not walk around and have a quick look at the pipes, anybody can do that and it does not cost £55 to have a quick look at the pipework.

QfanatiQ

vax2002 wrote: »

Another point ? You can not "test" plumbing with a quick visual test, it requires a pressure test and you dont set that up in 8 minutes.
i would be inclined to refuse to pay stating you were under the impression they were to test the plumbing, not walk around and have a quick look at the pipes, anybody can do that and it does not cost £55 to have a quick look at the pipework.

Yes, I know about pressure testing and I thought this was going to be done AS
The test is to prevent or discover leaks to slow down/stop claims for water damage to other flats.
As it turned out, this was just a visual test and in the letter, they are spouting this needs to be done every year.

I will report back my discussion with management when I raise this last point.

Thanks
Q