Mortgage company charging ground rent arrears

topturkey

Just had a letter from mortgage lender saying they have added a large amount to my mortgage account as I owe some ground rent arrears.

I knew nothing about this, and was not informed by the lender they were going to do this - the lender received a letter from a solicitor 14 days ago and went ahead and paid them by charging my mortgage account without even writing to me to warn me until after the event (and charging an admin fee on top for the privilege!!!)

Looking back at my bank statements it appears ground rent has not been paid for a few years due to some mix-up, but this was due to lack of receiving any notice from the ground rent company it was overdue rather than ignoring any letters on my part. If i'd know about it, i'd have paid!. Of course it seems now they have added several £hundred for solicitor costs and interest on what would have otherwise been owing

I will pick up with the ground rent company, but the challenge is now that they have the money from the bank, they won't want to know!!! The lender also isn't interested as they say they are just acting on what some random solicitor told them to do! (which i knew nothing about)

CAN THE BANK DO THIS WITHOUT EVEN INFORMING THEIR CUSTOMERS? DO THEY NOT OWE A DUTY OF CARE TO THEIR CUSTOMERS TO ESTABLISH THIS IS GENUINE FIRST AND GIVE THEM THE OPTION OF SETTING UP DIRECTLY AND GIVE THEM AT LEAST 28 DAYS?

I would like to point out have never been in mortgage arrears or missed any other payments.

Any advice appreciated!

Simon_gloster

Outrageous.

opinions4u

The lender has to protect their security which your non-payment of ground rent has put at risk.

Pay then write seems to be the appropriate approach. Out of interest, how did you find out?

Just had a letter from mortgage lender saying they have added a large amount to my mortgage account as I owe some ground rent arrears.

ah yes!

If the ground rent company haven't communicated properly your complaint is with them.

CAN THE BANK DO THIS WITHOUT EVEN INFORMING THEIR CUSTOMERS?

They can act before they inform. But they should inform.

DO THEY NOT OWE A DUTY OF CARE TO THEIR CUSTOMERS TO ESTABLISH THIS IS GENUINE FIRST AND GIVE THEM THE OPTION OF SETTING UP DIRECTLY AND GIVE THEM AT LEAST 28 DAYS

If the letter has come from a solicitor on their panel then they will accept it as genuine. It's more than possible that legal action was being threatened much faster than the 28 days you propose.

Simon_gloster wrote: »

Outrageous.

It really isn't.

mrginge

I thought this was fairly standard practice to be honest

Goldiegirl

From memory, when I worked at a big lender, we'd write to the customer to advise that a demand for ground rent had been made, and we'd give 14 days notice. If nothing was heard in the 14 days we'd go ahead and pay the ground rent bill.

You don't mention there's any difficulty financially in making the payment. So instead of making the lump sum payment to the managing agent you could just pay it back to the mortgage instead.

Simon_gloster

It really isn't.[/QUOTE]

Maybe I should have clarified O4U, outrageous that poster thinks the lender us unfair.

opinions4u

Simon_gloster wrote: »

Maybe I should have clarified O4U, outrageous that poster thinks the lender us unfair.

Sorry mate. It's been a long day.

topturkey

Seems quite unfair to me. Not very customer-centric of the lender to not contact their customer first to tell them what's being done
Serious lack of due diligence on either the lender or the ground rent co (but agree it's with the ground rent co in first instance) to make any real attempt to contact the leaseholder for payment first before appointing solicitors

mrginge

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong but i thought that ground rent was due whether it was invoiced, demanded or not. The onus being on the leaseholder to pay it rather than on the freeholder to chase for it.