apportionment of Ground Rent?

rcast1989

Hi All

So I am having a huge battle with the council over our completion statement. We as first time buyers were given two possible move in dates Friday, 23/03/2019 or Monday 01/04/2019 .

The completion had already been a month overdue as with it being a Friday we figured be easier to move everything in over that weekend so chose the Friday.
We paid an apportioned service charge for the 3 days that fell in the 18/19 financial year as well as £200 ground rent which our conveyances told us was for 2019/2020 starting on the Monday.

Low and behold we have received several email and post threats demanding payment of the "outstanding" ground rent for 2019/2020.
The council are claiming that ground rent is not apportioned (despite several threads here clearly showing it can be) and that the ground rent we paid as for 2018/2019, all 3 days of it.....

I am just looking for advice with this as council are determined to take it to small claims! Is there any law per-say saying that ground rent cannot be apportioned.

I have offered several times to pay the apportioned ground rent of £1.64 as we did with the service charge ( about £6.00) but they are not backing down.

I feel it is absolutely ridulous and refuse to give in and pay, on a sidenote surely the small claims legal fees would cost more than what they are claiming in court?!

Thank you all for your help

Fire_Fox

Is this a leasehold property? Is the local council the freeholder?

If yes to oth has the outgoing leaseholder not paid the ground rent for 2018/ 2019 in full?

rcast1989

Thank you for the reply

This was a brand new conversation of the top floor of a southwark estate . As such we are the first owners and before this the council owned the property ( which was a clothes drying room for the estate)

So prior to the conversion the property never existed . I believe it was completed in 2017 but we had to register the property as existing on every system including the councils.

So even though we moved in only 3 days prior to 19/20 they are trying to have us pay full £200 for a property that never existed and they technically owned

rcast1989

Yes it is a leasehold property to answer your questions with 125 year lease as first owners with southeark being freehodler

Fire_Fox

Your conveyancer should have clarified this with the council's solicitor before completion. Re-read all your documentation carefully and query with them if necessary.

There is no such thing as the small claims court, what are you actually being 'threatened' with?

rcast1989

They are threatening legal proceedings in accordance with pre action protocol for debt collections. The collection officer by email has mentioned small claims court as the final measure .

I have read through the leasehold and completion statement and the is not a si gle mention of the ground rent not being apportioned or even due for 18/19.

Why would I afree to move in 3 days early to end entry a bill for the full £200 that was council owned for 362 days :rotfl: it's ridiculous that they pursuing. I have offered to comprimise several times with no budge

Tom99

Have you got a copy of the lease?
Is this a new lease in which you are the named tenant?
What is the date on the lease?
When does the 125yr term start as this can be a date before the lease was actually dated and before your purchase date?
What does the lease say about ground rent, in advance or arrears and on what day(s) in the year is it due?

jbainbridge

As already said .. this should have been agreed by your solicitor before completion .. was it?

Might be worth speaking to your local councilor?

Fire_Fox

rcast1989 wrote: »

They are threatening legal proceedings in accordance with pre action protocol for debt collections. The collection officer by email has mentioned small claims court as the final measure .

I have read through the leasehold and completion statement and the is not a si gle mention of the ground rent not being apportioned or even due for 18/19.

Why would I afree to move in 3 days early to end entry a bill for the full £200 that was council owned for 362 days :rotfl: it's ridiculous that they pursuing. I have offered to comprimise several times with no budge

Ground rent and service charge disputes need resolving legally not with an informal compromise.

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Your conveyancer should have clarified this with the council's solicitor before completion. Re-read all your documentation carefully and query with them if necessary.

There is no such thing as the small claims court, what are you actually being 'threatened' with?

eddddy

rcast1989 wrote: »

The council are claiming that ground rent is not apportioned (despite several threads here clearly showing it can be) and that the ground rent we paid as for 2018/2019, all 3 days of it.....

Ground rent apportionment doesn't work in the way you are assuming.


Ground rent apportionment should have been dealt with by your solicitor, when you bought the flat...

• Your solicitor should have asked about unpaid ground rent

• your solicitor should been told that ground rent was unpaid for 2018/19 - and the amount was £200

• Then your solicitor should have deducted £198.36 from the price you paid for the flat

• And you should now pay your freeholder (£198.36 + £1.64 = ) £200 for ground rent.

So you should check your solicitor's completion statement, to see if he/she deducted £198.36 from the price paid.

If your solicitor didn't do that, you can ask them why not. (Most solicitors do it as part of their standard fee. But some 'cheapo' solicitors seem to want to charge you extra.)


But if your solicitor didn't do this, it's not your freeholder's problem.

I've made some assumptions, including that the lease started at least a year before your purchase, but it's certainly possible that you owe the full £200.

rcast1989

It is dated from the completion date . The screenshot attached shows the lease specifies pays in advance