Unpaid management fees

ThePants999

Just adding weight to the consensus: pay this ASAP, then talk to your conveyancing solicitor. They should have accounted for this already.

rtho782

You owe the money to the management company, who can and will only chase the current owner for everything owed by that leaseholder.

You then have a separate claim against the seller for monies he should have paid, but it's down to you to chase him for this money.

saajan_12

As between the management company and the leaseholder (=you), you owe ALL outstanding fees as per the lease. So, they are 100% correct and you will be liable for any late fees / admin charges.

As between you and the vendor, you (or your conveyancer) should have checked all leaseholders' obligations were met prior to completion. You could have agreed at that time, whether any fees would be pro-rata'd and amended the sale price accordingly. Usually this works the other way where the vendor has paid a year's fees upfront and recovers the 11months 'unused' fees from the buyer. In this case, you could have agreed that if the vendor left the bill unpaid, then they would deduct 1 month (or 34days to be precise) of the fee from the sale price.

Now, the only way you can recover anything regarding the fees is if they agreed to cover the 1 month pro rata fee or if they agreed to pay the bill before completion. Check with your conveyancer.