I'm still getting chased for ground rent on a property I don't own

propertyowner001

So as the title suggests I'm being chased by the land owners for ground rent of a leasehold property I sold over a year ago. 

I rang them to question why this was happening and they said that they hadn't received notice of the new leaseholders. Based on the conversation I had, they believed that my solicitor had done everything on their side. 

Am I correct in believing that my buyer's solicitor is the one who has over looked this task and should have informed the land owners of the new leaseholders? 

I ideally don't want to have to contact my solicitor, pay fees etc to get her to tell their solicitor to do something . 

I have reached out to the estate agents to ask the buyers to get their solicitor to follow up on this, (especially as the buyers used their recommended local solicitor) but im worried this will end up as a tennis game of "not my job". 

propertyhunter

This happened to me, but with service charges. I just sent an email with my solicitor in copy and the solicitor of the buyer - and said please liaise to ensure that the service charge invoices are sent to the new legal owner. Thereafter it was fine. You can do the same in response to the freeholder's request for ground rent. 

I don't think an email copying in solicitors will cost you anything. 

How did you get the notice about GR? Redirected mail to your current address? 

eddddy

Most leases specify that the new leaseholder has to notify the landlord (who is usually the freeholder) when the ownership of the property changes.

The landlord/freeholder might add admin fees, and then solicitors fees to the overdue ground rent payment - and eventually apply to court to forfeit the lease (i.e. repossess the property.)



In your position, I would write to the new owner politely reminding them that they (or their solicitor) needs to submit a Notice of Transfer to the landlord/freeholder, and pay the outstanding ground rent (and fees) otherwise their lease might be forfeited and their property might be repossessed.

propertyowner001

propertyhunter said:

This happened to me, but with service charges. I just sent an email with my solicitor in copy and the solicitor of the buyer - and said please liaise to ensure that the service charge invoices are sent to the new legal owner. Thereafter it was fine. You can do the same in response to the freeholder's request for ground rent. 

I don't think an email copying in solicitors will cost you anything. 

How did you get the notice about GR? Redirected mail to your current address? 

Yes, I still have a postal redirect going, which is how I saw the notice. They also have my email address, which they chased me on just after the sale. 

If I here more I will try and obtain the email address of the buyers solicitor and do what you suggested. Thank you

eddddy

propertyowner001 said:

If I here more I will try and obtain the email address of the buyers solicitor and do what you suggested. Thank you

I guess it depends a bit on the size of the solicitors firm and whether you have the name of the individual solicitor and/or a case reference number.

If they're one of the big conveyancing warehouses that deal with thousands of transactions and you just send an email to info@********.com, it might not reach anyone who's prepared to search for the case, open the file and look into it.

But if it's a small firm of solicitors, you might have more luck.


Whereas the new owner should know their case reference number etc, so they might have more luck in contacting the right person.

propertyhunter

I got the details of the buyer's solicitor from the memorandum of sale the EA sent me and email correspondence from them forwarded to me from my solicitor during the conveyancing process - chances are you already have it somewhere. 

propertyowner001

propertyhunter said:

I got the details of the buyer's solicitor from the memorandum of sale the EA sent me and email correspondence from them forwarded to me from my solicitor during the conveyancing process - chances are you already have it somewhere. 

You're right! I've searched my emails and have managed to get the details. Thank you so much. 

googler

Do you have any documentation from the sale that you could scan or photograph, and send it to them to get them off your back? 

propertyowner001

googler said:

Do you have any documentation from the sale that you could scan or photograph, and send it to them to get them off your back? 

Based on what the land owners told me, they need some sort of official notice from the buyer's solicitor to update records. 

As far as their concerned I'm still the freeholder until they see that, even if logically its obvious I don't own it anymore. 

eddddy

googler said:

Do you have any documentation from the sale that you could scan or photograph, and send it to them to get them off your back? 

The freeholder probably won't act on any information provided by the OP.  The Notice of Transfer needs to come from the new leasehold owner.

The freeholder may fully believe that the OP has sold the property, and have sympathy for the OP's situation, but until the freeholder gets the Notice of Transfer from the new leasehold owner, the freeholder has to keep chasing the OP for ground rent.

3card

If this isnt paid and the freeholder wanted to be heavy could they forfeit the lease and then the new owners lose out through their own fault?