Unpaid management fees

aidso

Looking a bit of advice to see where i stand with the following:

I have recently moved into a newish estate that has a management company looking after it. I moved in the second week of February and at the end of the month received a bill for the year 01/01/2017 to 31/12/2017.
I challenged the company stating that I wasn't in the property for the month of January, confirmed by my solicitor, and asked them to recalculate the bill to which I would (begrudgingly) pay. App these guys don't do any management and its a stealth tax...but I digress...

So over the weekend I get another letter (its now been 2 months since I communicated that the bill was wrong) and they are saying the amount is still outstanding (same incorrect amount) and if they have to remind me again I will incur charges of £10 for each reminder.

Can anyone advise what to do next? Surely if my conveyancing solicitor confirms there is no way possible I was in the house before their date they need to redo the bill? While the amounts aren't huge, its the principle of paying someone else's "debt" and I'd rather not have a "black mark" on my credit if that is infact possible.

Thanks

scriv

I have recently sold a property and on completion the solicitors worked out exactly what proportion of the annual rent and other charges was payable by me. I was charged for the period right up to the completion date when my buyer then took over and was billed the remainder due for the term. This should have all been laid out clear on the completion statement.

sparky130a

But it is your debt.

At the time of purchase your solicitor should have retained fees from the vendor for that month or ensured it was paid.

Bad form on your solicitors part.

But for the sake of a month this really doesn't seem worth fighting anyway.

aidso

So my solicitor has told the management company I moved in February 3rd, but the seller's solicitor had sent them documentation that it was January 3rd. So the seller solicitor is wrong...

scriv

I'd be tempted to just pay it and move on - otherwise you are going to be bombarded by letters chasing the payment and then inflicting penalty charges on you. The management companies will be relentless in their pursuit.

It was obviously an error at completion which the two solicitors should have picked up between them, so maybe you could claim the payment back from them? But I would pay it first.

aidso

scriv wrote: »

I'd be tempted to just pay it and move on - otherwise you are going to be bombarded by letters chasing the payment and then inflicting penalty charges on you. The management companies will be relentless in their pursuit.

This is the bit that's holding me back. I've emailed them to see what the craic is

stator

You haven't said whether you purchased the house on the same day you moved in. When you moved in is irrelevent since it's the purchase date that counts.

aidso

stator wrote: »

You haven't said whether you purchased the house on the same day you moved in. When you moved in is irrelevent since it's the purchase date that counts.

Completion took place February 3rd AM. I moved in in the afternoon.

gingercordial

You own the flat, you owe all of the outstanding management fee.

However for the parts before you moved in, the person who sold it to you "should" be covering those ("should" because you can agree whatever you want between the two of you). If you didn't want to pay it out of your own pocket it should have been calculated and knocked off the purchase price, or they should have paid it to you some other way so you can just hand it over to the management company along with your chunk. If your solicitor didn't arrange for this (or didn't raise it with you to ask what you wanted to do) then you should be having words with them as it is probably too late to ask for it back from the seller.

In the meantime, you still have to pay the management company in full for the year.

scriv

Yes, backed up with my own experience, gingercordial is right.

G_M

The owner of the property is liable for all debts on the property relating to management.

You owe the full amount. If you don't pay it, you are likely to start wracking up late-payment fees and possibly legal fees.

During the conveyancing process, the buyer (or his solicitor) normally requests accounts from the management company, and agrees with the seller how to apportion that year's fees (and any outstanding debts) between them. The purchase price is then adjusted to reflect that.

If this did not happen it is either your fault, or if you payed a solicitor to do it, his fault.