Estate Management Charge

ValHaller

Tancred wrote: »

One more thing worth mentioning is that the vendor was untruthful when he completed the property questionnaire, as he ticked the 'no' box in reference to the question about whether there were any management charges in relation to the property. This could be construed as fraudulent behaviour because he must have known that there was an annual charge - he signed the deeds!

I would definitely drop the offer

bylromarha

Our solicitor couldn't find a way out of it, or a way of limiting the charges.

Wouldn't hold out too much hope of yours finding a way out either.

But let us know how you get on with it all.

Dan-Dan

Tancred wrote: »

One more thing worth mentioning is that the vendor was untruthful when he completed the property questionnaire, as he ticked the 'no' box in reference to the question about whether there were any management charges in relation to the property. This could be construed as fraudulent behaviour because he must have known that there was an annual charge - he signed the deeds!

Really?! your dealing with a numpty at best and a shark at worst Tancred!

Tancred

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Really?! your dealing with a numpty at best and a shark at worst Tancred!

I think more like a numpty. He is an idiot if he thinks that he could hide the charges by lying on the information form, but it's also possible that he just forgot and ticked the wrong box by mistake - which also makes him an idiot.

All in the hands of my solicitor now. I'll update later on.

hazyjo

We weren't informed about the service charge until we were well into the buying process. Was well peed off, but didn't go back with a revised offer.

When we sold, I made it perfectly clear on the EA's particulars that there was a yearly charge. If that lost us viewers, fine. I didn't want anyone being peed off or reducing offers later down the line.

It should have to be mentioned on the details, I think.

Jx

goosander

I used to have a similar charge in my last house, it was less than £100 per year so an annoyance rather than a serious issue. It really grated because:

a) I was paying for something that people with older properties got 'free' from the council.
b) The management company did next to nothing.
c) More than 50% of the charge was the management companies fee as opposed to fees for gardening contractors etc

Really you have to blame the government for this, they passed legislation that allows councils to opt out of maintenance of common areas of newly built estates (or charge owners separately).

We looked into getting the council to adopt our estate, but we would have needed a significant majority of the 1000+ houses to agree (would be nearly impossible to arrange) plus the council wanted 10 years worth of fees upfront - I trust out local council about as much as the management company!

Tancred

hazyjo wrote: »

We weren't informed about the service charge until we were well into the buying process. Was well peed off, but didn't go back with a revised offer.

When we sold, I made it perfectly clear on the EA's particulars that there was a yearly charge. If that lost us viewers, fine. I didn't want anyone being peed off or reducing offers later down the line.

It should have to be mentioned on the details, I think.

Jx

Well you took a risk and accepted it. I'm not sure I want to take a risk without adequate compensation from the seller. If we had known about the charge we wouldn't have offered - simple as that.

And it seems astonishing that this wasn't mentioned in the sale details.

Tancred

goosander wrote: »

I used to have a similar charge in my last house, it was less than £100 per year so an annoyance rather than a serious issue. It really grated because:

a) I was paying for something that people with older properties got 'free' from the council.
b) The management company did next to nothing.
c) More than 50% of the charge was the management companies fee as opposed to fees for gardening contractors etc

Really you have to blame the government for this, they passed legislation that allows councils to opt out of maintenance of common areas of newly built estates (or charge owners separately).

We looked into getting the council to adopt our estate, but we would have needed a significant majority of the 1000+ houses to agree (would be nearly impossible to arrange) plus the council wanted 10 years worth of fees upfront - I trust out local council about as much as the management company!

Well, opting out of local authority maintenance is all very well if and only if you receive a corresponding rebate from the council tax, otherwise it's legalised theft. I can't believe people are not up in arms about it! If this happened in France there would be revolution I suspect!

propertyman

Its not the government. Developers always paid the LA but their fees increased, along with a lot of other community payback etc, and this happened under New Labour not the Tories

Tancred

propertyman wrote: »

Its not the government. Developers always paid the LA but their fees increased, along with a lot of other community payback etc, and this happened under New Labour not the Tories

But this creates a two-tier system whereby owners of properties in estates built decades ago pay no management charge at all while residents of new estates can pay hundreds a year. Madness!

And this will also affect future house prices in these new areas because the additional charge acts as a disincentive to potential buyers - much like a service charge for a flat.