Estates & Management (Scam or Legit)????

Le_Fronc

Apologies if this is the wrong thread, wasn't sure where to post.
I am a home owner having lived at the same address for 16 years (paying with mortgage). Every since I moved in I have received repeated letters from Estates & Management who apparently hold the ground rent on my property.

They repeatedly send me letters that vary in aggressive and threatening tone in relation to the annual ground rent of £2.67.

E & M letters regularly include quotes of exorbitant fees buying them out of the ground rent, and for such a small amount ignoring them has seemed to be the best policy as I doubt they will take me to court for such a paltry sum (despite their repeated threats).

The latest letter I received was a true masterpiece. I was a police officer for 16 years and so consider myself fairly good with legalese, but was stumped by this one:

"We act on behalf of our client.
We write following a request to change the ownership details for the above mentioned property.
Please note that we cannot acknowledge a new owner until notice of transfer has been properly served on our client and all outstanding balances in relation to rent, Insurance and/or services charges (if applicable) have been cleared.

Please also note that we require full payment of our fees, in advance, in all cases before we will process the notice. To obtain a pack outlining our fees and requirements, please refer to our website www.e-m.uk.com and search for "buying or selling".

If notice was served on another party please provide us with a receipted of the notice to enable us to update our records."

My questions are:
What does this mean!?!
Do E & M have any legal basis upon which to demand money?
As I consider their practices to be unethical at best, what is my best route of complaint? 

davidmcn

More appropriate on the House Buying, Renting and Selling board.

dj1471

What did your solicitor say about ground rent when you purchased the property? What type of property is it?

 Sounds very much like you need to fill in a form to advise them of the change in ownership of the property and arrange to pay them what you owe.

 Why are you being so stubborn for such a small amount of money?

Aylesbury_Duck

None of us know the details of your property, but it appears you have a ground rent obligation. 

As a police officer of 16 years, you probably should have known better than to ignore the letters and demands for payment for 16 years and just ask your conveyancing solicitor what it was all about.  I'd get that legal advice before you start throwing your weight around and looking silly if you're wrong. 

steampowered

It sounds like you own a leasehold property and these people own the freehold?

If you are selling the property, your conveyancing solicitor may need consent from the freeholder before you can sell. You will only be able to get this consent if your ground round is up to date. If you aren't trying to sell I would be concerned that either some fraud is going on or the writer intended to send the letter to somebody else.

Please read the lease to your property which sets out what ground rent you are liable for. If you are liable, you should pay it. Otherwise you will only end up having to pay the grount rent plus interest plus costs in order to get permission to sell when it comes to that.

The absolute "worst case scenario" is that your lease gets forfeit for non-payment of ground rent, but that would require a court process and you'd have ample opportunity to pay before it got that far. Best to understand what is in your lease though.

Le_Fronc

Aylesbury_Duck said:

As a police officer of 16 years, you probably should have known better than to ignore the letters and demands for payment for 16 years and just ask your conveyancing solicitor what it was all about.  I'd get that legal advice before you start throwing your weight around and looking silly if you're wrong. 

Don't worry, I pay it every couple of years (sorry I didn't make that clear). I wasn't sure about the current letter contents as I am not selling.

Aylesbury_Duck

I see.  Check your deeds and see what they say.  If they're not clear, I'd ask the solicitor that did the conveyancing 16 years ago.  As has been mentioned, if you do want to sell at any point, you're going to have to know what it's all about anyway.  It's also worth checking that there isn't a clause that allows them to escalate the charge at some point.

eddddy

Le_Fronc said:

Don't worry, I pay it every couple of years (sorry I didn't make that clear). I wasn't sure about the current letter contents as I am not selling.

The contents of the letter are correct and legal - but if you're not selling your property, it sounds like it doesn't apply to you.

Perhaps somebody else is selling their property (or transferring ownership), and they've sent the letter to you by mistake.

In simple terms, if you sell or transfer the property, you have to register the change of owner with the freeholder. And the freeholder can charge you a fee for doing that registration. And the freeholder can refuse to register the change of owner, if you don't pay the fee and/or you have ground rent arrears.

Keep_pedalling

Either they have made a mistake, or someone is trying to do a land grab on your property. I would not ignore it, but call them to find out why you have been sent this as you are not selling.

how much have they been asking for you to buy the freehold!