Service charge adjustment for period before I owned flat - whose liability

lazyade

Hi,

I purchased a leasehold flat June 2011. In November 2011 I received a letter from the management company saying that had been an error in the service charge account for the year ending August 2010 - ie. when I didn't own the property. The error was that some monies were supposed to be invoiced direct but this didn't happen.

It's a relatively small amount of money, £210. Can anyone advise if this is 100% my liability, pr whether the previous owner has any liability (or does my solicitor)?

Thanks

A>

G_M

When you buy a lease, you take on the obligations, pastpresent and future, of that lease.

Your solicitor therefor should check that all payments are up to date. But he cannot be blamed for not knowing of a bill that was not presented or correctly advised to him.

Your best claim would be against the previous owners - but I wouldn't hold my breath.

steve1980

Same thing happened to me. Previous owner took care of it.

propertyman

G_M wrote: »

When you buy a lease, you take on the obligations, pastpresent and future, of that lease..

That is not entirely true this is limited by any contractual provisions in the lease eg a deed of covenant, and contract terms between parties and limitation on privity of contract for leases after 1-1-96.

Section 20b of the Landlord and Terannt Act 1985 puts a limit on billing costs over 18 months after they have been incurred which requires them to be invoiced or notified that they will be invoiced, in that time.

8/2010 costs are considerably out of time and it is not your liability nor it seems the vendors.

Jellybean_Jo

OP, was there anything mentioned by your solicitor or anyone else at the time of purchase? I'm due to complete the purchase of my flat at the end of March, with the service charge due for review in April. It's been agreed in our contracts that the vendor's solicitor will hold back a portion of the funds in case this exact situation arises. Might be worth contacting your solicitor or checking any paperwork you still have to see if you had a similar agreement?

GDB2222

propertyman wrote: »

That is not entirely true this is limited by any contractual provisions in the lease eg a deed of covenant, and contract terms between parties and limitation on privity of contract for leases after 1-1-96.

Section 20b of the Landlord and Terannt Act 1985 puts a limit on billing costs over 18 months after they have been incurred which requires them to be invoiced or notified that they will be invoiced, in that time.

8/2010 costs are considerably out of time and it is not your liability nor it seems the vendors.

Costs incurred 8/2010 but notified 11/2011 - that's well within 18 months.

lazyade

Thanks for all the posts. Ref. the Landlord and Tenant Act, does this apply (as I'm the leaseholder and not the tenant)?

Second I'd like to say how poor Roberts Solicitors in Macclesfield have been. The transaction went smoothly but since this problem has cropped up they haven't responded back to emails or phone calls, despite a number of "reminders" from me. Lesson learnt, in future don't use internet solicitors for conveyancing, go to a local solicitor who you can go in and see! (plus you're supporting local business)

Given the solicitor hasn't helped and the previous leaseholder ignoring my communications I'm resigned to having to pay the £210 myself.

GDB2222

Strictly, leaseholders are tenants.

propertyman

GDB2222 wrote: »

Strictly, leaseholders are tenants.

Yes that's right they have a long tenancy with a low annual rent at a large initial premium.