Freehold Management Fees

Willis75

Just looking for a bit of advice.

am selling my house it is just 18 months old. Just exchanged contracts and completing tomorrow.

I live on a new build estate which is not finished. It will be taken over by a management company when the estate is finally finished next February. 

There is a proposed management company who when contacted said no management fees will be due until the estate is taken over and there will be no back dated fees of £150 per year. Payments will commence once they take over.

Just got my completion statement and the solicitor has added £200 Mamagent Fees plus VAT. (Im pretty sure that they dont attract VAT, but thatvis not the issue)

 I have an issue in being charged fees when they are not due, The solicitor has gone home so cant sort it before morning.

Just wonder, anyone in the know, is the solicitor responsible for deducting fees if they are actually owing OR should the management company invoice me as such? What as it got to do with a solicitor?

user1977

Is it a disbursement your solicitor is passing on to the management company? Or is it an additional fee charged by your solicitor for the complication of it being a sale which involves a management commpany?

TBG01

As above, get clarity from the Solicitor what the fee is for.

It could be for the work involved with dealing the management company, which attracts VAt. It could be for serving notice to the management company which attracts VAT. It could be for entering into a Deed of Covenant with the management company which attracts VAT.

Things that certainly have got to do with the Solicitor.

daveyjp

Fees relating to the fact there is a management company that will need to be involved with the sale and will charge for their time in dealing with it.

Your agreement with the management comlany may set out the fees charged for a sale of the property.

Willis75

user1977 said:

Is it a disbursement your solicitor is passing on to the management company? Or is it an additional fee charged by your solicitor for the complication of it being a sale which involves a management commpany?

There is no management company at the moment. As I stated in my post, only a potential one. 

My solicitor checked at the beginning of the sale with the one proposed. They confirmed they had not been appointed and if and when they were, they would not act until the estate was fully finished. No one on the estate has ever paid any fees because there is no one to pay them to.

eddddy

Willis75 said:

There is a proposed management company who when contacted said no management fees will be due until the estate is taken over and there will be no back dated fees of £150 per year. Payments will commence once they take over.

Just to clarify - were you told that no management fees were payable to that specific management company, or were you told that no management fees were payable to anyone?

And is that stated in the contract/deed? Or is it something that a salesperson told you, for example?

You cannot necessarily rely on what a salesperson says - it needs to be in the contract.

Willis75 said:

My solicitor checked at the beginning of the sale with the one proposed. They confirmed they had not been appointed and if and when they were, they would not act until the estate was fully finished. No one on the estate has ever paid any fees because there is no one to pay them to.

That management company might not have been appointed yet, that doesn't necessarily mean that no estate management fees are payable in the meantime.

The estate management fees would probably be for things like grass cutting, gardening, litter picking, etc.

If, for example, the housebuilder is getting that work done, it could be that you have to pay an estate management fee to the housebuilder - until they appoint the management company.

As I say, it depends on what the contract/deed says.