Service charge has increased 108%

Richard1212

Looking forward to hearing outcome from StrictGold.......................

[Deleted User]

It's now been over 7 days and not a word from them. I guess I should pay and carry on trying to dispute or find out why it has gone up?

Richard1212

Just my opinion but I'd send a follow-up letter and say that you regard the matter as one of urgency and give them a bit longer to answer in writing. I still think it has to be a mistake on FirstPort's part---and the more you pester them , the more they will need do some work out the source of your problem. They have a bad reputation so it might be useful to tell them that, if you have not received a substantive reply with 14 days, you will report them to ARMA – The Association of Residential Managing Agents.
Good luck SG.

eddddy

Deleted_User said:

It's now been over 7 days and not a word from them. I guess I should pay and carry on trying to dispute or find out why it has gone up?

The safest advice is to pay the full amount under protest - and be prepared to challenge it at a tribunal.

(Make sure you say you're paying under protest, because you don't think the charges are reasonable, and you will consider challenging them at a tribunal.)

If you fail to pay part of the charges, the freeholder (or their management company) can do the following:

• Add late fees to your bill
• Add solicitors fees to your bill
• Contact your mortgage lender and ask them to pay your bill
• Start legal proceedings to forfeit your lease (i.e. repossess your flat)

So if you don't pay it now, and extra fees get added, and then you lose at tribunal - you'll have to pay all the extra fees.

If you do pay now, no extra fees will be added, even if you lose at tribunal - so there'll be no extra fees to pay

And if you win at tribunal - you get the overpayment back.

[Deleted User]

I guess I should be thankful they are not demanding payment, since I only found out the payment had doubled three months after it was due! due to their failure to transfer the property to me in the first place which was the cause of the delay. I will be sure to pay the full amount by March when the next half year of £1000 is due! and carry on protesting until they give me a reply. Should I hear I will post an update. Thanks.

Jonboy_1984

Just a wayward thought, there wasn’t any sort of lease extension when you purchased?

A family member enquired about an informal extension last year, and part of the offer received was updating the service charge terms from payment in arrears to collection upfront (based on estimates).

[Deleted User]

Jonboy_1984 said:

Just a wayward thought, there wasn’t any sort of lease extension when you purchased?

A family member enquired about an informal extension last year, and part of the offer received was updating the service charge terms from payment in arrears to collection upfront (based on estimates).

No the lease was already over 180 years at purchase.

eddddy

Deleted_User said:

I guess I should be thankful they are not demanding payment, since I only found out the payment had doubled three months after it was due! due to their failure to transfer the property to me in the first place which was the cause of the delay. I will be sure to pay the full amount by March when the next half year of £1000 is due! and carry on protesting until they give me a reply. Should I hear I will post an update. Thanks.

They are probably demanding payment from the previous owner. And they're probably adding late fees (and solicitor's fees) already.


What's probably happened is...

• There were outstanding service charges at completion

• The management company refused to accept a 'notice of transfer' until the outstanding service charges were paid

• So the management company have continued to bill the previous owner until the service charges are paid and the 'notice of transfer' is actioned.

Hopefully, the outstanding service charge and fees will be paid by the previous owner, the 'notice of transfer' will be recorded - and everything will be ok.


But... the freeholder (or their management company) might decide to start court proceedings to forfeit the lease (i.e. repossess the flat) for non-payment of service charges. So you could end up losing the flat as a result, even though it's not you who has caused the problem.

[Deleted User]

eddddy said:

Deleted_User said:

I guess I should be thankful they are not demanding payment, since I only found out the payment had doubled three months after it was due! due to their failure to transfer the property to me in the first place which was the cause of the delay. I will be sure to pay the full amount by March when the next half year of £1000 is due! and carry on protesting until they give me a reply. Should I hear I will post an update. Thanks.

They are probably demanding payment from the previous owner. And they're probably adding late fees (and solicitor's fees) already.


What's probably happened is...

• There were outstanding service charges at completion

• The management company refused to accept a 'notice of transfer' until the outstanding service charges were paid

• So the management company have continued to bill the previous owner until the service charges are paid and the 'notice of transfer' is actioned.

Hopefully, the outstanding service charge and fees will be paid by the previous owner, the 'notice of transfer' will be recorded - and everything will be ok.


But... the freeholder (or their management company) might decide to start court proceedings to forfeit the lease (i.e. repossess the flat) for non-payment of service charges. So you could end up losing the flat as a result, even though it's not you who has caused the problem.

That wouldn’t be the case because the whole purchase was held up because we were waiting for firstport to confirm the service charge had been paid up until October. That covered me for three months after ownership of myself of the property.

I think it would be very hard for firstport to forfeit the lease as I have made a payment, they told my solicitors the service was covered until after I took over ship, and they have taken ages to confirm anything with me, as well as failing to respond. The notice of transfer was completed.

Richard1212

The mystery goes on, SG. Looking forward to hearing all about the outcome when FirstPort finally reply to your letter ( and follow-up letters to "chase" them ). Till then....all the best.
PS : Google "criticisms of  Peverel/FirstPort " to see how bad they are ?                               
They once offered me their "services" and I said NO WAY.