apportionment of Ground Rent?

rcast1989

https://imgshare.io/image/IoK69

Tom99

rcast1989 wrote: »

https://imgshare.io/image/IoK69

That says you pay the 1st £200 on the date the lease is dated (not the 1st day of the Term) and annually thereafter.
What is the date on the lease? (not the Term)

rcast1989

Its says the payment is made in advance . Surely if the council own the property in 18/19 they didn't need to pay their own ground rent but if it was leasehold we would just be expected to refund them the ?

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

This part is the main issue . The £200 was deducted from the co.pletuon statement however our solicitors were under the inpression as such we were told by them this deduction was to pay for the 19/20 ground rent in advance as per the service agreement

Fire_Fox

rcast1989 wrote: »

Its says the payment is made in advance . Surely if the council own the property in 18/19 they didn't need to pay their own ground rent but if it was leasehold we would just be expected to refund them the ?

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

This part is the main issue . The £200 was deducted from the co.pletuon statement however our solicitors were under the inpression as such we were told by them this deduction was to pay for the 19/20 ground rent in advance as per the service agreement

There is a leaseholder and a freeholder from the date the long lease began. One does have to pay the other to make the books balance, even if they are the same person or same organisation. "The council" is not one entity anyway.

There should be no 'impression'. Your conveyancer should have it clearly documented exactly what was paid and exactly what dates that covers.

I purchased the 'show flat' from the developer: completing a year after every other flat in the block had been sold. I had to catch up £££ unpaid service charges BUT this was identified and resolved just prior to exchange of contracts. Likely ground rent too, I forget (15 yrs ago).

rcast1989

Tha k you all for your help . I have requested the exact documentation given to my solicitors by the council which shows that the £200 deduction was for 18/19 and not 19/20 as what we were lead to believe.

If they can produce these documents then I will hold my conveyance liable for the payment. I will report back with any update :money:

Tom99

What is the date on the lease?
What date did you completed? 23rd Mar?

rcast1989

The completion date was March 29th, the lease document I have on file has no date located in the document.

Tom99

rcast1989 wrote: »

The completion date was March 29th, the lease document I have on file has no date located in the document.

It must have a date somewhere, usually on the front page.

It's the date the ground rent starts to become payable from, so quite an important date as far as the lease is concerned.

rcast1989

Your lease commenced on 29th March 2019 and is for a term of 125 years. It expires on 28th March 2144.



As you completed the purchase of this property on 29th March 2019, you are liable for ground rent for 2018/19 as well as 2019/20.



The Completion Statement refers to the premium (£225,000.00), ground rent for 2018/19 (£200.00) and service charge apportionment for 2018/19 (£6.66).

I still not see then producing any evidence to say that I owe for 18/19 ground rent and it's pretty obvious that apportioning ground rent is a normal occurrence.

Please correct me if I am wrong but surely there is no law to say that I shouldn't just pay for the 3 days prior to 19/20 and not the other 362 days when the lease started on March 29th

eddddy

Your're muddling up a number of different things.

rcast1989 wrote: »

...it's pretty obvious that apportioning ground rent is a normal occurrence.

Your solicitor does the apportionment when you purchase.

If your solicitor did it wrong, you need to take it up with your solicitor.

It's not an excuse to refuse to pay ground rent to the council.

rcast1989 wrote: »

Please correct me if I am wrong but surely there is no law to say that I shouldn't just pay for the 3 days prior to 19/20 and not the other 362 days when the lease started on March 29th

You are wrong.

The law says you must do what your lease says.

• If your lease says you must pay £200 ground rent for 2018/2019, then the law says you must pay it.

• If your lease says that you don't have to pay £200 ground rent for 2018/2019, then the law says you don't have to pay it.

That's why Tom99 was asking about the dates on the first page of your lease.

rcast1989 wrote: »

I am just looking for advice with this as council are determined to take it to small claims!

Have the council sent you letters about this? If so, you are likely to be charged costs for each letter that has been sent.

Eventually, this may be passed to the council's solicitors. If that happens, you are likely to be charged for the cost of their solicitor's fees. (Which could be quite high.)

It might be sensible to pay the £200 under protest, then argue about it, to avoid costs escalating.