Ground Rent Pack

Medge

penners324 said:

These companies have a set amount of information they hand over.

Quickest and easiest option is to get your solicitor to request the pack (surprised they haven't done so) and you then pay your solicitor 

So our solicitor gave us the option to either pay them direct and they would send the money on or we could cut out the middle man and pay them direct ourselves. Speed and effort are no concern, it’s more we just don’t understand why we have to pay for this in the first place because in our eyes the information that will be received isn’t proportionate to the almost £400 it will cost.  Our original hope was we could find a compromise which would work for our buyer without costing us all this money (because this is a lot of money for us). We also understand that sometimes it is the specific document that is needed but our buyer’s solicitors just won’t answer any of our questions and are taking the approach of telling us we just need to pay it no questions asked. Currently we just want them to be a little more specific about what they need it for so we can make the same request of our ground rent company (so we stand a better chance if we do take them to tribunal) but they won’t even answer us that.  

penners324

Just pay it. 

It's a standard charge. The buying solicitor will only accept the pack from the landlord and leaseholders management company. 

penners324

If you take this to a tribunal you would delay your sale by months, whilst this sorted out 

Medge

penners324 said:

Just pay it. 

It's a standard charge. The buying solicitor will only accept the pack from the landlord and leaseholders management company. 

But even if we pay it we’re still going to look to take our ground rent company to tribunal because £400 is ridiculous for a single piece of paper with some easily obtained information and we want to be in best possible position to do this. So I still don’t see why this should be such a big ask for our buyers solicitor to provide.

its easy to sit and say to just pay it when you don’t understand the financial situation around it or how much £400 means to someone. Effectively we will need to look to delay the move/ chain in order to afford this. 

Medge

penners324 said:

If you take this to a tribunal you would delay your sale by months, whilst this sorted out 

As pp suggested we’d likely pay (when we are physically able to) now and then look to take the company to tribunal. Yeah more potential risk of not getting the money back but it’s money we need and again not a reasonable ask for the service being provided. And as I said earlier the company is already being taken to court because of their charges so not like there isn’t precedence for it. 

Mildreds_Earrings

Hello @Medge can you please let us know the outcome? We have exactly the same scenario as you but this is a leasehold house, not an apartment in a block.

After four weeks of absolutely nothing happening, I finally get a call saying its because we refused to pay for the management pack, which is £450 for a glossy brochure from the management company, confirming that our £3 annual ground rent payments are up to date! They are cash buyers, so we don't know why their Solicitors are saying they won't proceed until we pay the extortionate fee of £450 for the management pack, not like their mortgage provider needs it and like you, our Solicitor didn't insist we needed this when we purchased the property either. We have provided the original lease and all the original documents, buildings insurance policy, annual ground rent statement but they want the glossy brochures we have to pay £450 and then wait 4-6 weeks for them to produce it. We are beyond frustrated! 

BonaDea

I think the problem the OP had back in January was that despite the management pack having been sent, her buyer's solicitor was asking for an additional 'ground rent pack' to confirm ground rent had been paid.  In her case the information would already have been given via question 3.2 on LPE1 in the management pack.  If you haven't provided a management pack your problem is not the same as the OP's.  And the management pack is not a glossy brochure, or anything to do with marketing, by the way!  Its basic organising forms are LPE1 and LPE2, here:  https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/property/leasehold-forms

Pagenmum

Hello All,
I've just had an email from our leasehold company telling me it will be £444 for the pack - electronically PLUS £12 per additional question!!? This is my response:
Good afternoon Shaneez,

Thankyou for getting back to me so quickly, i am speaking to my husband about the costs involved in this as coming on top of the new windows we have just had to replace due to the renovation on the apartment block not happening, after promises made over 10years ago, we are really struggling to meet all these unexpected extra costs in order to sell the flat.

£444 plus £12 per question seems absolutely extortionate to me, especially as the pack will be sent electronically and mostly contain information that is standard or already available to you in the latest accounts and end of year reports. 

As someone who has worked in administration for over 30 years i am struggling to see how your company have come to that figure and would appreciate an itemised bill before I decide whether to send this information over to the Leasehold Advisory Services.

Please can you let me have the details of your ombudsman/regulatory body in case I need to raise this with them.

In the meantime, as we do not have any choice in the matter, we will look to get yet another loan in order to pay for the management pack.

I will send you confirmation when this is done.

Sincerely,

Vicki Fuery 

PS I am assuming I will not be charged £12 for asking for your regulatory body details

BarelySentientAI

Writing snarky emails to the management company probably isn't the best approach.

What resolution do you actually expect from that message other than being able to smirk about sending it?

eddddy

Pagenmum said:

Hello All,
I've just had an email from our leasehold company telling me it will be £444 for the pack - electronically PLUS £12 per additional question!!? 

<snip>

I think a more appropriate approach might be along these lines:

"Please provide a breakdown of the £444 fee - for example, the employee time it will take to complete this request, plus any out of pocket expenses.

I do not believe that £444 is a reasonable fee for this request, so I hope that you will reconsider. If not, I will pay the fee under protest, and consider challenging it at a tribunal."


But you need to bear in mind...

• Freeholders/Management companies are not generally legally required to provide these packs. If you annoy them, they could refuse to produce one. (And/or they could potentially outwit you by saying "Unless you withdraw your protest, and agree to pay £444, we won't prepare the pack.)

• Tribunals seem a bit inconsistent about allowing leaseholders to challenge this type of fee - because leases don't generally require Freeholders/Management Companies to produce these packs. (So it's a kind of private arrangement that's outside the scope of the lease.)