Solicitor wrongly apportioned service charge and ground rent

glider3560

Recently completed on a leasehold flat and had a bill from the management company for service charge and ground rent for the remainder of the year.

These figures are all rounded in this post to make calculation easier:

• Combined Service Charge + Ground Rent = £1200 per annum (1st Jan to 31st Dec)
• Seller paid £500 to date this year
• Sale completed on 31st August
• Bill from management company for £700

All seems simple. But, before completion, my solicitor requested I pay £400 (1st Sep to 31st Dec). This was sent to the seller's solicitor with the completion funds. They were supposed to be acting in my interestes, so I assumed this was correct without querying it further.



According to my calculations, the seller actually owed me £300 for the underpaid ground rent and service charge. Therefore, they now owe me £700 (£400 + £300).


Has anyone been in a similar situation? I spoke to my solicitor (several times) who are doing their best to ignore me and suggest my file is at the bottom of the pile. Should I be pursuing the solicitor for professional negligence?

ThePants999

If they ignore you then by all means make a complaint.

G_M

Have you written to your solicitor requesting a breakdown and explanation?

Have you looked up your solicitor's complaints procedure?

Red-Squirrel_2

Why was the £400 sent to the seller's solicitor? What did they do with it?

glider3560

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Why was the £400 sent to the seller's solicitor? What did they do with it?

Presumably onto their client. There seemed to be an understanding that the seller paid the management charge up to the end of the year, which is incorrect.

G_M wrote: »

Have you written to your solicitor requesting a breakdown and explanation?

Have you looked up your solicitor's complaints procedure?

I have emailed a complaint to the senior partner, as detailed in their complaints procedure. This is not the first time I had to do this, unfortunately. In each case, he has simply just passed the case to someone else.

The solicitor is part of the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme. I may contact them for further advice.

eddddy

What does your completion statement say?

It sounds like you're saying...

• Your solicitor assumed that the full year's service charge of £1200 had already been paid by the seller.

• In fact, only £500 of the service charge had been paid.

I wouldn't automatically assume that this is negligence by your solicitor.

- It could have resulted from incorrect information from the seller's solicitor, based on incorrect information from the seller.

- Or an error by the management company. The full £1200 has been paid, but they haven't credited the more recent £700 payment to the correct account. (This has happened to me.)

- In fact, it seems unlikely that your solicitor would accidentally send £700 too much , and the seller's solicitor wouldn't notice.


Alongside your investigations via the solicitor, maybe phone the management company to double-check that the £700 hasn't been received.

G_M

glider3560 wrote: »

I have emailed a complaint to the senior partner, as detailed in their complaints procedure. This is not the first time I had to do this, unfortunately. In each case, he has simply just passed the case to someone else.

The solicitor is part of the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme. I may contact them for further advice.

If you have followed the firm's complaints procedure and got no satisfaction, the next step is here:

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page

kingstreet

Are the charges definitely calendar yearly?

glider3560

eddddy wrote: »

What does your completion statement say?

It sounds like you're saying...

• Your solicitor assumed that the full year's service charge of £1200 had already been paid by the seller.

• In fact, only £500 of the service charge had been paid.

That's correct. I've confirmed it with the management company too, who again sent be an up to date statement. I'm giving the solicitor a few days, then I will escalate further. In the meantime, I've also had to clear the arrears with the management company, to stop them taking any action.

glider3560

kingstreet wrote: »

Are the charges definitely calendar yearly?

Yes, the statement shows the period they cover. Management company also confirmed separately that the account is in arrears.

G_M

glider3560 wrote: »

Yes, the statement shows the period they cover. Management company also confirmed separately that the account is in arrears.

Its worth double-checking by reading your lease. Management companies do sometimes make mistakes........