Service charge refund

Storkeyj

Hi,

We are selling our leasehold flat, and currently waiting for things to go through.

We pay our service charge of around £1300 in January each year, this is in advance for the upcoming year.

Can we expect to receive a refund as we have only been there for 4 months of this year? And should we push for this or should this be done normally?

Thanks!!

HampshireH

The leaseholder may not refund you. You can however write this into your sale to offset the expense

ognum

Storkeyj wrote: »

Hi,

We are selling our leasehold flat, and currently waiting for things to go through.

We pay our service charge of around £1300 in January each year, this is in advance for the upcoming year.

Can we expect to receive a refund as we have only been there for 4 months of this year? And should we push for this or should this be done normally?

Thanks!!

Your legal conveyancer should organise this through your sale and the charge paid will be proratered and charged to the purchaser on completion.

Check with your conveyancer that they are doing this, if they are not then they should.

SmashedAvacado

This is what is called "apportionment" in conveyancing. Your sale proceed should include a proportion of the monies you have paid on account of service charge and ground rent. The sale contract if a standard form is used will automatically provide for this, although it is worth reminding your solicitor to check the numbers with you.

saajan_12

Storkeyj wrote: »

Hi,

We are selling our leasehold flat, and currently waiting for things to go through.

We pay our service charge of around £1300 in January each year, this is in advance for the upcoming year.

Can we expect to receive a refund as we have only been there for 4 months of this year? And should we push for this or should this be done normally?

Thanks!!

From freeholder: NO. they are due £1300 by whoever is the leaseholder on the day in January. Just because the flat is sold doesn't mean they should have to get 4 months worth or refund the excess and chase a new leaseholder in May.

From buyer: YES. They effectively have the benefit of 8 months of service charge already paid by you. So the sale contract can include them adding a portion of the annual charge for the portion of the year they own the flat. This is fairly standard, but mention it to your solicitor that you want this and they should put it to the buyer's solicitor.