Management company fees for info pack

zag2me

My solicitor just sent me through notice that my management company want to charge £95 for a "information pack" on my leasehold property that is needed for the sale. They say I cant proceed without this information.

Is this normal? 95 quid seems a fair bit for a few bits of paper

Tiglet

If this is for a "Home Information Pack", this seems cheap. However, you won't need one if you are putting your house on the market before 1st June. To avoid getting one, you need to be able to prove that the property was being advertised before 1st June. If you're not likely to want to put it up for sale until after June 1st, the easiest thing to do would be to place an advert on one of the free internet sites before that date, then you wouldn't need a pack until March 2008.

Home Information Packs are new and the legislation relating to them will probably take a bit of bedding down, so this is something to keep an eye on over the coming months.

[Deleted User]

I think the 'information pack' you are referring to, is most likely the information about the management company that is required when selling a leasehold flat. This should not be confused with the 'Home Information Pack' that will soon be required before putting a house on the market.

The information your management company will need to disclose will most likely be, copies of accounts for last 3 years, information on service charges, information on future planned work for the building, copy of buildings insurance schedule and information concerning the management company itself. TBH if all this information will be disclosed for £95 I think this is a reasonable amount of money. I know of some management companies who would ask for a couple of hundred, if not more, to do this.

I was lucky when I sold my flat as the management company was made up of the owners of the individual flats and as I was the secretary I provided the information free of charge. Be aware that although you are paying the management company for this information, this does not mean that they will provide it straight away. One of the main holdups when buying / selling leasehold flats is the management company itself as they do things in their own sweet time.

Doozergirl

Exactly what Chibi said

djm1972

Aggghhhh!!! Just gone into this holding pattern myself!

Received a letter from my solicitor yesterday containing a bunch of questions (some general, some specific to my account) received from my buyer's solicitor that would apparently be answered by a "Leasehold Information Pack" in return for the princely sum of £80.00.

:eek:

I just hope the sellers of the place i'm buying don't run out of patience :huh:

djm1972

Incidentally, the letter also includes general questions from my buyer's solicitor, and has advised that once I have provided answers she will relay back to the buyer's solicitor and ask when they will be in a position to exchange contracts.

Would this imply that it might be possible to exchange contracts prior to the leasehold information pack having been prepared by the management company?

Richard_Webster

I think the 'information pack' you are referring to, is most likely the information about the management company that is required when selling a leasehold flat. This should not be confused with the 'Home Information Pack' that will soon be required before putting a house on the market.

The information your management company will need to disclose will most likely be, copies of accounts for last 3 years, information on service charges, information on future planned work for the building, copy of buildings insurance schedule and information concerning the management company itself. TBH if all this information will be disclosed for £95 I think this is a reasonable amount of money. I know of some management companies who would ask for a couple of hundred, if not more, to do this.

I was lucky when I sold my flat as the management company was made up of the owners of the individual flats and as I was the secretary I provided the information free of charge. Be aware that although you are paying the management company for this information, this does not mean that they will provide it straight away. One of the main holdups when buying / selling leasehold flats is the management company itself as they do things in their own sweet time.

I agree - some property management companies charge about £200 for this!

Buyer's solicitor would not exchange until the pack is received and checked to be OK.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

MegS

This is the average price. We have had over £100 before now and one firm of solicitors charged £300 for this information, plus another £76.25 for answering one question they should have answered originally plus £150 for another so think yourself lucky you got off so light lol

Bun

Personally I wouldn't exchange without getting all the relevant info, but you can help things along if you supply all the details that you hold. If you have copies of the accounts since you have been there/were sent when you moved in, copy of the lease and anything else you deem important. Then they will be able to make an informed decision about exchanging early. If buyers start getting impatient ask your solicitor or estate agent to explain that by their very nature, leasehold properties generally take longer to process.

zag2me

Property management companies seem to be in a good business!! do you think I can buy shares in them?

I reluctantly paid the £95 for all this information.

lynzpower

I had to pay 250 for mine