property service charge

spender76

Hi All,
I have a flat in Birmingham, I did not pay the service charge for a year which comes to 1700,i got in touch with them and said I will pay you 200 extra a month till its all cleared but they are refusing and they are threatening to take me to court if I don't pay the lot in one go.

can you advice pls

Dovah_diva

They are perfectly within their rights to do that - your proposal means that they have to wait another 8 months for the already late payment. I'd make another offer or look to borrow the money to pay. Why didn't you pay when it was due?

MamaMoo_2

Dovah_diva wrote: »

They are perfectly within their rights to do that - your proposal means that they have to wait another 8 months for the already late payment. I'd make another offer or look to borrow the money to pay. Why didn't you pay when it was due?

Not very helpful, are you?!

Quite simply, OP, if you haven't got the money, they can't have it!
Write them a letter confirming what you can offer, and send it recorded delivery so you have proof. If they reject the offer, put this £200 each month to one side until the court case.
If they take you to court over this amount, the judge will look very unfavourably on the company if they've refused a perfectly reasonable offer of repayment. You can then show the judge that you've been putting the money aside, and offer them that amount as the lump sum, and continue the £200 payments each month.

pinkshoes

What did you do with the money??

I agree with MamaMoo, but I don't think £200 a month is a sufficient offering. I'd offer £300 a month so it's paid off in 6 months.

Make sure you put your offer in writing though.

Dovah_diva

MamaMoo wrote: »

Not very helpful, are you?!

Well I consider giving the correct information helpful, perhaps you don't?

MamaMoo wrote: »

Quite simply, OP, if you haven't got the money, they can't have it!

Write them a letter confirming what you can offer, and send it recorded delivery so you have proof. If they reject the offer, put this £200 each month to one side until the court case.
If they take you to court over this amount, the judge will look very unfavourably on the company if they've refused a perfectly reasonable offer of repayment. You can then show the judge that you've been putting the money aside, and offer them that amount as the lump sum, and continue the £200 payments each month.

I work in income recovery that specifically deals with leaseholder properties and service charge. Yes, the OP can make the offer. If it is refused the company can (and we do) refer it to the small claims court. The OP may make, and have a judge approve, a smaller offer. However, the company will still have successfully secured a judgement against the OP. Therefore, my advice stands - if they want to avoid a CCJ.

I should add that we do refuse offers made and, if necessary, do approach the lender for payment. The OP would do well to remember that failure to pay their service charges is breach of the lease. This could lead to forfeiture (although unlikely). It is a serious debt and should be treated as such.

agrinnall

MamaMoo wrote: »

Not very helpful, are you?!

Quite simply, OP, if you haven't got the money, they can't have it!

Bit judgemental aren't you?

Where does the OP say he doesn't have the money? All we know is that he wants to pay £200 a month. If the company takes him to court and wins then the bailiffs will be round seizing goods, which will cost a lot more than if he pays up now the money that he should have been paying all the time he was in arrears and doing nothing about it.

MamaMoo_2

Dovah_diva wrote: »

Well I consider giving the correct information helpful, perhaps you don't?

I do, this why I gave the OP some factual information, whereas after your first sentence you just suggested to OP that he get himself into further debt to placate the company. Terrible advice.

Dovah_diva wrote: »

I work in income recovery that specifically deals with leaseholder properties and service charge. Yes, the OP can make the offer. If it is refused the company can (and we do) refer it to the small claims court. The OP may make, and have a judge approve, a smaller offer. However, the company will still have successfully secured a judgement against the OP. Therefore, my advice stands - if they want to avoid a CCJ.

I should add that we do refuse offers made and, if necessary, do approach the lender for payment. The OP would do well to remember that failure to pay their service charges is breach of the lease. This could lead to forfeiture (although unlikely). It is a serious debt and should be treated as such.

It's a bit of a bully boy tactic, no? Money is offered, yet you go to court, running the risk of it taking longer to recoup costs, just to spite the debtor?
I should have guessed from your first post on this thread you worked in income recovery...

MamaMoo_2

agrinnall wrote: »

Bit judgemental aren't you?

Where does the OP say he doesn't have the money? All we know is that he wants to pay £200 a month. If the company takes him to court and wins then the bailiffs will be round seizing goods, which will cost a lot more than if he pays up now the money that he should have been paying all the time he was in arrears and doing nothing about it.

At no point did I say he didn't have the money, simply that if he didn't have it they couldn't have it.
If, however, he does, it's obviously entirely stupid to hold back paying on principle.

As an aside, I notice OP posted a thread this evening with regards to buying his HA flat that is a leasehold.
If OP doesn't currently own this flat, then why does he have to pay fees? If he does own this flat, I'm surprised that his wife has a council house he can afford to buy 50% of outright, and he has a HA flat.
Something doesn't add up.

I stand by my original advice. If OP can't affor it and has made a reasonable (affordable) offer, then there's not much else he can do, but it will look good for him if he has made an offer and stuck to it in the meantime.

If, however, he simply doesn't want to pay the money, then it seems quite silly not to pay if/what he can afford to.

unholyangel

Dovah_diva wrote: »

Therefore, my advice stands - if they want to avoid a CCJ.

If you want to avoid a CCJ, just pay within the allocated time (usually around a month). Going to court and losing is not enough on its own to have a CCJ registered against you. By the time its allocated at a court etc, he'll probably already have half of the money together.

It would be much easier and better (i agree) if he could borrow from relative/friend but not everyone would be willing (or even able) to offer that amount of money.

moyesforever

MamaMoo wrote: »

I do, this why I gave the OP some factual information, whereas after your first sentence you just suggested to OP that he get himself into further debt to placate the company. Terrible advice.




It's a bit of a bully boy tactic, no? Money is offered, yet you go to court, running the risk of it taking longer to recoup costs, just to spite the debtor?
I should have guessed from your first post on this thread you worked in income recovery...

It's not bully boy tactics at all. Yes the money was offered but given the OP hasn't paid their bill before I'd be going for an immediate full settlement. I suspect the OP is being selective with their 'story'.

wealdroam

Do we even know whether the OP has received a bill before?

Could it be that the management company/letting agent/landlord has failed to provide an invoice during the previous year?

Could it be that the management company/letting agent/landlord has not even advised the amount of the service charge?

With respect, all we know at the moment is that £1700 hasn't been paid.
We do not yet know the reason for that non-payment, nor do we know who is to blame for that non-payment.