Extortionate Leasehold and Management Company Fees

Ryan_Hughes

Hi all,

I'm buying my first flat, due to complete in a couple of weeks. I've just received the completion statement and there are a load of new fees that I wasn't made aware of previously. They're from the Freeholder and Management Company, but they are so expensive for essentially just issuing a letter that says I'm the new owner.

Can anyone have a look at these and either tell me they are standard prices and I should just accept that's what scumbag freeholders and management companies do, or tell me that they are overpriced and there is some way of forcing the cost down?

• Landlord’s Notice of Assignment of Lease charge £ 200.00
• Management Company’s Notice of Assignment of Lease charge £ 240.00
• Fee for Transfer of Share/Membership of Management Company £ 120.00
• Landlord’s Fee for dealing with Deed of Covenant £ 190.00
• Completion Searches £ 30.00

Thanks in advance!

Ryan

mrschaucer

And when you sell it there'll be a "Seller's Pack" your solicitor will have to obtain from the managing agents which will again probably run into hundreds of quid. Welcome to the world of leasehold - not a great deal you can do if you want to buy the flat. Your choice.

Chappers27

In short. A rip-off. Be aware too that any work done on the shared building will be shared amongst tenants. I read on here recently that cladding was being changed on a building, and each tenant had to fork out £6,000 each. Ouch.

eddddy

The legal position is as follows.

The law says that service charges (admin charges) paid by a leaseholder must be 'reasonable'.

'Reasonable' means they reflect the work that the freeholder has to do and/or any costs they have to pay out.

If you want, you could instruct your solicitor to pay these fees 'under protest' and then challenge them at a tribunal.

You would have to ask the freeholder exactly what they do in return for the fee, to judge whether they are reasonable.



Using a different example of an admin charge, some freeholders charge £100+ for giving consent to let. However, in 3 specific cases, a tribunal decided that £40 was a reasonable charge.
See: See: http://landschamber.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//Aspx/view.aspx?id=823 (and download the the document).


A poster here reports that their freeholder reduced their 'Consent to let' fee from £120 to £40 (as a gesture of goodwill!!!), when referred to this case:
See: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72690232#Comment_72690232