Bought an apartment, found after 1 year there was an £800 bill comming

Fonsek87

Hi all

I bought an apartment end June 22, and as normal there were £300 left during 1 year to cover for unexpected bills coming after the sell. I am a first time buyer, so please bear with me but my solicitors, PCS legal (I would recommend to avoid them), explained this process which sounds very reasonable.

I was passed a bill of £800+ after that period of 1 year that I had to raise these pending payments. As well, MTVH (the landlord) is not the best at communicating so initially I thought that I just had to pay this for something I couldn't fully understand (avoid MTVH where possible as well).

It took me a while, and thanks to a neighbour to understand that those £800 belong to new security doors that were planned and communicated to the owners in Feb 22, before I bought the apartment.

I have asked for advice to PCS legal, but they deny to get involved/comment/advice, but the seller did not communicate this charge to me at the time of the sale.

What should be my first steps? I don't know if it is worthy to get advice from a solicitor for this amount.

DE_612183

I think I understand you.

You normally pay £300 a year for communal bills etc for the block of flats you live in.

You've now had a bill for your flats contribution to Security Doors.

When were the doors installed - before or after you moved in?

It may be that the seller was aware of this charge coming but did not disclose it - you may want to contact your solicitors to find out if they did / did not disclose - and what options you have now it has come to light.

Fonsek87

DE_612183 said:

I think I understand you.

You normally pay £300 a year for communal bills etc for the block of flats you live in.

You've now had a bill for your flats contribution to Security Doors.

When were the doors installed - before or after you moved in?

It may be that the seller was aware of this charge coming but did not disclose it - you may want to contact your solicitors to find out if they did / did not disclose - and what options you have now it has come to light.

I asked my solicitor and review the paperwork and the seller did not disclose it. (I cannot tell when they were installed because the landlord is MTVH and we get charged for work that actually does not get done... so prefer not to enter in that... but MTVH communicated that charge will happen in Feb 22 before I bought)

My solicitor denies to comment about my options, it is PCS legal... as well bad experience.

anselld

You must know if they were fitted before or after your occupation, but from the timing it looks like around the time you completed so the main beneficiary of the new doors is yourself.  So even if the buyer had disclosed, which would have been the decent thing, it was not necessarily going to be a point which you could use to reduce your purchase price.

eddddy

I think you're saying...

• The solicitors kept a £300 retention -  in case there was a service charge shortfall at the end of the year. i.e. The actual Service Charge was more than the estimate at the beginning of the year.

• The seller was informed about a future bill of £800+ for security doors in Feb 2022, but the seller (and presumably the freeholder) didn't tell you 

So just to clarify, presumably you got a TA7 form (Leasehold Information Form) from the seller, when you were buying, and the seller answered "No" to this question:

5.5 Does the seller know of any expense (e.g. the cost of redecoration of outside or communal areas not usually incurred annually) likely to be shown in the service charge accounts within the next three years? If Yes, please give details:

If so, you might have a case for claiming some or all of the £800+ from your seller. But it might be a hard fight.



And just to clarify, based on what you say, it sounds like you owe the £800+ to MTVH. So even if you cannot get any money back from the seller, you still have to pay this.

Fonsek87

eddddy said:

I think you're saying...

• The solicitors kept a £300 retention -  in case there was a service charge shortfall at the end of the year. i.e. The actual Service Charge was more than the estimate at the beginning of the year.

• The seller was informed about a future bill of £800+ for security doors in Feb 2022, but the seller (and presumably the freeholder) didn't tell you 

So just to clarify, presumably you got a TA7 form (Leasehold Information Form) from the seller, when you were buying, and the seller answered "No" to this question:

5.5 Does the seller know of any expense (e.g. the cost of redecoration of outside or communal areas not usually incurred annually) likely to be shown in the service charge accounts within the next three years? If Yes, please give details:

If so, you might have a case for claiming some or all of the £800+ from your seller. But it might be a hard fight.



And just to clarify, based on what you say, it sounds like you owe the £800+ to MTVH. So even if you cannot get any money back from the seller, you still have to pay this.

Thank you for the reply, you understood all points. Thank you for the comment I just reviewed that TA7 and regrettably it is unmarked, so I guess I have no case here.

DE_612183

Fonsek87 said:

eddddy said:

I think you're saying...

• The solicitors kept a £300 retention -  in case there was a service charge shortfall at the end of the year. i.e. The actual Service Charge was more than the estimate at the beginning of the year.

• The seller was informed about a future bill of £800+ for security doors in Feb 2022, but the seller (and presumably the freeholder) didn't tell you 

So just to clarify, presumably you got a TA7 form (Leasehold Information Form) from the seller, when you were buying, and the seller answered "No" to this question:

5.5 Does the seller know of any expense (e.g. the cost of redecoration of outside or communal areas not usually incurred annually) likely to be shown in the service charge accounts within the next three years? If Yes, please give details:

If so, you might have a case for claiming some or all of the £800+ from your seller. But it might be a hard fight.



And just to clarify, based on what you say, it sounds like you owe the £800+ to MTVH. So even if you cannot get any money back from the seller, you still have to pay this.

Thank you for the reply, you understood all points. Thank you for the comment I just reviewed that TA7 and regrettably it is unmarked, so I guess I have no case here.

Well, if they left it blank - did your solicitor point this out?

If not, that is an error on their part.

GDB2222

DE_612183 said:

Fonsek87 said:

eddddy said:

I think you're saying...

• The solicitors kept a £300 retention -  in case there was a service charge shortfall at the end of the year. i.e. The actual Service Charge was more than the estimate at the beginning of the year.

• The seller was informed about a future bill of £800+ for security doors in Feb 2022, but the seller (and presumably the freeholder) didn't tell you 

So just to clarify, presumably you got a TA7 form (Leasehold Information Form) from the seller, when you were buying, and the seller answered "No" to this question:

5.5 Does the seller know of any expense (e.g. the cost of redecoration of outside or communal areas not usually incurred annually) likely to be shown in the service charge accounts within the next three years? If Yes, please give details:

If so, you might have a case for claiming some or all of the £800+ from your seller. But it might be a hard fight.



And just to clarify, based on what you say, it sounds like you owe the £800+ to MTVH. So even if you cannot get any money back from the seller, you still have to pay this.

Thank you for the reply, you understood all points. Thank you for the comment I just reviewed that TA7 and regrettably it is unmarked, so I guess I have no case here.

Well, if they left it blank - did your solicitor point this out?

If not, that is an error on their part.

Indeed. What is the point of these forms unless the solicitor points out the anomalies?  I'd send a formal complaint to the solicitor, asking for an explanation - unless, of course, they did point this out, and you decided to go ahead against their advice.