I bought a pad, but I was never told about a massive impending Lease bill

492800

HI forumers,
I bought an ex-council flat in October.
n.b. my offer was accepted in mid June. We exchanged mid august

One month after moving in I got a letter from Lambeth council (the freeholders) telling me I would be facing a £4,000 bill to pay for a new water tank in the loft.
Having spoken to the council they said that notification was sent out in July. I guess this went to the vendors.

Yet, In all my legal paperwork there was nothing about this upcoming charge.
Surely this should have been in the legal paperwork (local searches/leasholder paperwork?)

So I was wondering, could this all have been bad luck/timing, is someone liable, do i have any recourse for this?

Any help appreciated.
Thanks

tim123456789

This information will not be forthcoming unless you (your solicitor) asked.

Did they do so? What was the answer

(obviously the question is a general one about expected maintenence)

tim

492800

Hi thanks for your reply,
I would have thought that bills like this would have shown up in the searches though. I was aware of one that was upcoming and was in the paperwork, but not this one.

I've not yet contacted my solictor as Id like to know where i stand in case of any neglegence.
Shouldn't the freeholder have given all the future bills with their paperwork?

tim123456789

This information does not show up in any searches.

Like the vendor, a FH will only needs to answer the questions asked, though he may supply other info as standard

492800

so, theoretically, do you think my solicitor could be at fault here?

brasso

Did the vendors know that a bill like this was on the way?

This is the big question. Even if they hadn't yet had the bill, if they had an inkling that this was going to happen then they should have declared it. It's a while since I've bought/sold a house but I'm pretty sure you have to declare whether you believe there are bills like this in the pipeline.

What is the charge actually for, and why are the council demanding it? If it's no longer a council house, why do you have to pay this?

Thrugelmir

492800 wrote: »

One month after moving in I got a letter from Lambeth council (the freeholders) telling me I would be facing a £4,000 bill to pay for a new water tank in the loft.

How many flats in the block?

princeofpounds

Your solicitor probably did ask the relevant questions as it is pretty standard to ask about impending major works.

Go ask them, that's all we can tell you for now. And get written confirmation of the communications the council sent out as well.

giraffe69

When we bought(also a council owned block) we asked
1. What were the bills for the last 3 years?
2. What were the expected major works in the next three year, if any?

Any major work not in the reply should only be a result of an emergency. First step as others have said is to see what your solicitor asked and what advice he would give rather than suspecting him of negligence until you actually some indication this is what it is.

4k per flat for a water tank seems a lot even if there are very few flats. As has been said how many flats are there to share the bill?

motherofstudents

[QUOTE=brasso;59702031

What is the charge actually for, and why are the council demanding it? If it's no longer a council house, why do you have to pay this?[/QUOTE]


It's a leasehold flat.

HappyMJ

So you pay water rates then and have no option of a water meter...due to a shared supply.

Wonder why the water tank needs replacing. They last a long time.

...and why on earth £4,000 for a water tank. They are just made of plastic. A large one 500 litres would only cost a couple hundred pounds plus installation which I doubt really comes to £3,800.