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Excessive “admin charge” made by landlord/freeholder for renewal of buildings insuran
BlueSkyBri
Posts: 2 Newbie
My ground rent is £744 per annum. This is quite a high amount to pay for a 2 bedroom flat in outer London and is calculated at 50p per £100 of the purchase price which was £153,000 in 2004. However I was aware of this when I bought the flat.
I pay my ground rent on a half yearly basis, the amount is £372 which is fine.
Also on a yearly basis my landlord (freeholder) invoices me for my share of the buildings insurance, approximately £145. Again this is fine and as there are 18 flats in my block I am assuming the overall premium for the building insurance is £2630.00 approx.
However my landlord (freeholder) also includes an admin charge of 15% for arranging this insurance – approx £22.00 per flat which totals £396.00 for the 18 flats. This seems to be an extremely high amount for simply renewing an insurance policy which has been running many years! Especially as the landlord (freeholder) has confirmed to me in writing that he also gets commission from the insurance company for renewing the policy with them.
So for the last two years I have withheld this “admin” charge and have written each time it is due asking for details of how this charge is derived. My question is do I have any right to withhold this money until I have details of how this is derived?
Incidentally my “service charges” for the property are paid to a managing agent (this is a partnership which includes the brother of the landlord/freeholder) and it has been suggested to me that it is normally the managing agent and not the landlord/freeholder who arranges the buildings insurance. However they may not be in a position to do this as they are possibly not VAT registered? Is this correct?
I pay my ground rent on a half yearly basis, the amount is £372 which is fine.
Also on a yearly basis my landlord (freeholder) invoices me for my share of the buildings insurance, approximately £145. Again this is fine and as there are 18 flats in my block I am assuming the overall premium for the building insurance is £2630.00 approx.
However my landlord (freeholder) also includes an admin charge of 15% for arranging this insurance – approx £22.00 per flat which totals £396.00 for the 18 flats. This seems to be an extremely high amount for simply renewing an insurance policy which has been running many years! Especially as the landlord (freeholder) has confirmed to me in writing that he also gets commission from the insurance company for renewing the policy with them.
So for the last two years I have withheld this “admin” charge and have written each time it is due asking for details of how this charge is derived. My question is do I have any right to withhold this money until I have details of how this is derived?
Incidentally my “service charges” for the property are paid to a managing agent (this is a partnership which includes the brother of the landlord/freeholder) and it has been suggested to me that it is normally the managing agent and not the landlord/freeholder who arranges the buildings insurance. However they may not be in a position to do this as they are possibly not VAT registered? Is this correct?
0
Comments
-
do you mean your maintenance charge is 744?
But anyway 15% admin margin is perfectly normal in this business. You will get nowhere challenging a fee at this level
tim0 -
No it is the ground rent which is £744.00 per anum.
The maintenance is £770.00 per anum0
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