I've sold my flat but management company still chasing me for fees

ravenscroftj

I recently sold my leasehold property and as far as I can work out we did everything by the book.

The flat I owned was leased and the management company was limited by shares. I returned a signed stock transfer form and my original copy of the share certificate to my solicitor who says that on completion, these documents were passed on to the purchaser's solicitor.

I've since had a number of letters from the old management company sent to me at my old address and redirected to my new one telling me that I owe them about £100 as a "balancing charge" for services rendered last year. The charge is dated after the completion date on my sale and apparently it is the leaseholder at the time the charge is issued that is liable for it (I have a link to a solicitor's website that advises this but I'm not allowed to post links as a new user to MSE).

I've emailed the management company to tell them that I no longer own the lease and that they should chase the new owner but they say his solicitor hasn't surrendered my old share cert and had a new one issued and that until happens they will continue to chase me.

So the obvious thing to do is ignore these bills since I have no legal interest in the property or liability to pay management fees. However, I'm anxious about the management company sending bailiffs after us or putting black marks against me and I'm in the middle of applying for a new mortgage...

Any advice gratefully received.

AdrianC

They can't just "send bailiffs" or "put black marks" - only a court can do that.

They would issue a small claim against you.
You put a defence in - "I sold the flat on this date".
The court then decides if you're liable or not.
If the court says you are liable, then you have time to pay before that black mark is recorded against you.
If you still don't pay, then enforcement agents/bailiffs can be instructed.
But if the court says you aren't liable, then that's it.

middleclassbutpoor

Simple solution is go back to your solicitor and ask them to sort it and ask the management company to write to your solicitor.

It's what you paid them to do - provide clear title to your purchasers and fully relinquish you of your liabilities against the property. If this hasn't been done, they haven't finished their job.

I wouldn't get into a discussion with them- get your solicitor to sort it.

eddddy

So it sounds like you have two responsibilities:

• You were the leaseholder of a flat.
• You owned a share of the company that owned the building freehold

And:

• The bill in question was a service charge demand to you as a leaseholder.

• And not a bill sent to you as a shareholder in the company

If they're claiming the money from you as a leaseholder, it has nothing to do with your shareholding in the freehold company.

eddddy

middleclassbutpoor wrote: »

Simple solution is go back to your solicitor and ask them to sort it and ask the management company to write to your solicitor.

The amount in dispute is £100. It's not cost-effective to involve a solicitor.

The legal fees would be hugely more than the claim.

chunkytfg

eddddy wrote: »

The amount in dispute is £100. It's not cost-effective to involve a solicitor.

The legal fees would be hugely more than the claim.

I would assume the OP paid the solicitor to do 100% of the work required though and not 95% of it. It seems like they still have some work to do for which I assume they have already been paid to do!

ravenscroftj

Thanks for your input guys!

chunkytfg wrote: »

I would assume the OP paid the solicitor to do 100% of the work required though and not 95% of it. It seems like they still have some work to do for which I assume they have already been paid to do!

Quite right, I paid for fixed fee conveyancing. That said, my solicitors have implied that they have completed everything and that this final bit of work (registering the new owner as a shareholder) must be done by the buyer's solicitor. I don't know what leverage I really have over them now that the sale has completed?

need_an_answer

I am taking the wording "balancing fee" to mean that there was an overspend last year above the initial calculations of the service charge?


If so then you should pay it in the same way that if there had been a surplus that was returned to leaseholders you would also have been entitled to that.

Management companies are very quick to add "chasing"charges to any outstanding amounts owed so a £100 debt can and will escalate easily.
They are well oiled machines who think nothing of taking the legal route and it may well be better and more cost effective to settle up and move on.

middleclassbutpoor

The solicitor would have had a duty to fully discharge all liabilities of the property for the OP.

If the solicitor has had it confirmed that at the date of sale there was no outstanding liabilities then they have done their job. If they haven't, then they have failed and cannot charge for the work they should have already done.

I have interpreted the situation that the additional payment has come in after the solicitor has had it confirmed due to that being the correct information at the time, however as the paperwork hasn't yet worked through to show the property and associated leases etc being the responsibility of the new owner then it is down to them to ensure this is done and the correct person takes up the responsibility of the o/s amount.

If the o/s amount came after the sale and completion then regardless of when the costs accrued the responsibility lies with the new owner. It should have been down to them to ask the OP's solicitor to hold back an amount for anything like this. If they failed to do this - then it's not the issue of the OP.

Hope that makes sense.

ravenscroftj

middleclassbutpoor wrote: »

If the o/s amount came after the sale and completion then regardless of when the costs accrued the responsibility lies with the new owner. It should have been down to them to ask the OP's solicitor to hold back an amount for anything like this. If they failed to do this - then it's not the issue of the OP.

This is exactly the situation thanks - the buyer did request £500 be held for management costs and I believe that this situation where an unexpected deficit relating to my ownership has been incurred after completion is exactly what that pot of money is for.

So the question is: if the £100 snowballs due to admin and interest charges incurred from non-payment because the buyer's solicitor hasn't done their job properly, how do I make sure that this doesn't follow me? Presumably if it ever got as far as court I'd have an iron clad case but I'd rather not let it get that far - especially since any late payments/non payments on my credit record could impact me getting a mortgage.

So do I just begrudgingly pay the £100?

need_an_answer

Do you have an "iron clad case" ? that's for you to decide.

Yes perhaps the solicitors should have done a better job,but did you actually live in the property and accept the services of the management company during the time that the management company are now billing you for....presumably the answer is yes.


Where does that leave the previous iron clad case...the situation could be put down to an administration error on several levels however what you cant claim is that you didnt receive the benefit of whatever the service charge paid for.