consent fee for planning from leasehold management company ??

jason4656

i have put an application in for planning with the council, and the architect told me they have to inform/request not sure by sending a letter to the leasehold management company which they did, the management company have sent me a bill for £360 just to give consent for putting planning in? this seems a little OTT?? is this normal and do i have to pay it ?

keystone

Of course its OTT. These management companies charge for whatever they can, whatever they like and how much they like. I don't think you have a choice - if you don't pay up these leeches will probably just withdraw their consent.

Cheers

Ectophile

There will almost certainly be a clause in your lease that says you need their consent before making structural alterations.

So if you don't pay, they will just say "no".

Ant555

is this normal and do i have to pay it ?

As already suggested, you need their consent.

Not far away from me are some streets where many of the residents have lived for 30, 40 and even 50 years. A couple of years ago someone purchased the leasehold rights - or whatever the term is. They walked round, noted all changes and then billed dozens of households for many hundreds of pounds (In a couple of cases I have been told the bill was £1200) for alterations to their properties that had not been notified. These extensions, conservatories, porches etc were all built before the new management company were on the scene - but the new leaseholders obviously wanted to maximise their investment. They also put the ground rent up. Something like £10 per year to £110 per year.

So, I would suggest that you retain the written permission with all the other important paperwork for your house.

ValHaller

Some confusion here.

Firstly, you don't need consent from the Management Company, you need consent from the Freeholder. The Management Company may or may not act as agents of the Freeholder in this.

Secondly, freeholder consent and planning consent are 2 separate issues. The Freeholder or the Management Company might object to the planning application if you don't pay up - but if you make it clear that you will only seek freeholder consent after planning is granted, they will probably not object.

Beware that they do not charge you twice. Once for allowing you to submit a planning application - you can even apply for planning consent on property you do not own - which makes this a nonsense. And once more for the freeholder consent.

jason4656

ok a little further investigating this, my neighbour had the same issue and didnt pay.

He said there was a clause in the deeds that you have to pay as has been stated above, however, he had a solicitor writing a letter saying the clause was dated and it had a time limit on it and they didnt force the issue, he never paid, he has a huge extension.

but i am a little worried as has been mentioned above, he told me to make sure there is not a clause about the colour of my windows because i changed them from white to oak and he said they could charge me for that too!

jason4656

further update, i just phoned the solicitor who said 1 i dont have to pay, there is nothing they can do, i dont need their consent..he then read the deeds and said that the clause has expired so to ask them which clause they are using to make the charge for consent as there is no mention of it being needed.