Buying house, seller "forgot" estate charges

Mckenna

Guest101 wrote: »

Well because the council hasn't adopted the communal land.


Actually it's often the complete opposite. Public bodies must follow the supplier matrix (in my case anything over £5,000 has to have 3 quotes, anything over X (I think it's £50,000) has to be out to public tender)


In many cases works are done by the in house team and any communal charges are simply the costs split by the number of properties, each paying their share.


£400 a year - just over £1 a day is not extortionate for year round service and maintenance. (given that it likely includes roads, pavements and all communal areas)


Freehold doesn't mean there's no service charge, just there's no ground rent (since you own it)

Firstly i want to thank everyone for their input, it has been much appreciated.

For clarity and as indicated in the OP the service charge is for lawn areas at the front of HA properties that forms the front garden, it also includes lawn areas at the rear of these properties.
These particular properties are across the road, the properties on my side have no such areas and the front gardens are maintained solely by the occupiers.

The HA do not maintain either the road or pavement on this estate, this is done by the district council ( which we obviously pay tax towards)

The communal areas and waste referenced in the OP relate to the HA flats two roads behind, again for the houses the district council service the rubbish via council tax.
All the houses on the side of the road we are purchasing on receive no benefit from the estate fee not a single penny.

I tabled a reduced offer as per the idea here (albeit not as high), and to my surprise, the HA decided they will waive the estate fee from the deeds instead.
Problem solved.

glasgowdan

Excellent, the right thing, and a silence to all the posters playing devil's advocate above.

moneyistooshorttomention

Mckenna wrote: »

I tabled a reduced offer as per the idea here (albeit not as high), and to my surprise, the HA decided they will waive the estate fee from the deeds instead.
Problem solved.

Result:D:j

So Housing Associations never bluff according to some then:cool:?:rotfl::rotfl::D

I can't resist it - for once.....message to some posters on this thread = told you so!

Congratulations:D

marksoton

Mckenna wrote: »

I tabled a reduced offer as per the idea here (albeit not as high), and to my surprise, the HA decided they will waive the estate fee from the deeds instead.
Problem solved.

Not completely. The problem will still be there when you sell.