Asked to pay £500 to new managing agent after completion on flat

Not_Efrim_Menuck

Hi there, I'm hoping someone is able to help on this in some way.

In late June I completed on a 1 bed leasehold flat, which is my first property. In my completion statement I was asked to pay £316 to cover the landlord's notice fee (£252) and fee for the deed of covenant (£64). I wasn't particularly pleased with the notice fee, but I paid nonetheless.

A month and a half later I've received an email from my solicitors telling me that post completion the landlord has changed their managing agent. The new agent have different fees, and I've been asked to sign a new deed of covenant and pay an additional £518. From what I gather it seems the original fee was on the high end of the normal range for this kind of thing. The new fee totalling £800+ seems extortionate and feels deeply unjust considering I settled my account as instructed in good faith.

The lease isn't registered in my name at the land registry yet and can't be until this is resolved, so I can't ignore it or tell them to do what I'd like to tell them to do with their fee. Does anyone know if there's anything I can do to challenge it, or alternatively have any recommendations on where to get good (preferably free!) advice?

Thank you

Airkraft

Not_Efrim_Menuck wrote: »

Hi there, I'm hoping someone is able to help on this in some way.

In late June I completed on a 1 bed leasehold flat, which is my first property. In my completion statement I was asked to pay £316 to cover the landlord's notice fee (£252) and fee for the deed of covenant (£64). I wasn't particularly pleased with the notice fee, but I paid nonetheless.

A month and a half later I've received an email from my solicitors telling me that post completion the landlord has changed their managing agent. The new agent have different fees, and I've been asked to sign a new deed of covenant and pay an additional £518. From what I gather it seems the original fee was on the high end of the normal range for this kind of thing. The new fee totalling £800+ seems extortionate and feels deeply unjust considering I settled my account as instructed in good faith.

The lease isn't registered in my name at the land registry yet and can't be until this is resolved, so I can't ignore it or tell them to do what I'd like to tell them to do with their fee. Does anyone know if there's anything I can do to challenge it, or alternatively have any recommendations on where to get good (preferably free!) advice?

Thank you

Surely this is a question you should ask of the conveyancer you employed to purchase the property?

eddddy

Not_Efrim_Menuck wrote: »

Does anyone know if there's anything I can do to challenge it, or alternatively have any recommendations on where to get good (preferably free!) advice?

One approach is to pay it 'under protest' and then challenge it a Tribunal - but make sure you formally tell the managing agent that you are paying 'under protest'.

A deed of covenant fee is an administration fee, and the law says that lease administration fees must be 'reasonable'. i.e. They must reflect the work involved, and/or costs incurred.

£500 doesn't sound 'reasonable'.

That equates to 10 hours of work at £50 per hour (A tribunal accepted that £50 per hour is a reasonable charge for admin work.) I doubt that anyone spent 10 hours working on that task.

See:
https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/what-can-i-do-if-i-disagree-with-an-administration-charge/

You can also get free advice here: https://clients.lease-advice.org/appointments.aspx

Not_Efrim_Menuck

Thanks for your help eddddy, I've made an appointment with LEASE. The £500 is actually the shortfall, and the total fee the new agents are requesting is over £800, which seems ... let's say disproportionate.