ground rent question

Mihangel

hi i completed the buying of a property on the 31/08/07 and at the time i had to pay a years ground rent. On Firday i received a reminder that i had to pay a years ground rent as of 1st Jan what can i do?
Somebody has told me that my solicitor should have only paid a proportion of the years ground rent on completetion and not the full amount. The lease company want £80 to confirm if i have paid (thats a admin fee)

any advice appreciated

msmicawber

Hi Mike,

Are you sure they're asking for this year's ground rent and not next year's? I'd have thought if you only bought the property in August, then the ground rent should have been paid up to date by the previous owner and that you'd only be liable for September to December of this year. One of the things your solicitor should have done was to make sure that there were no payments outstanding on the property and, if so, make you aware of them. Have you looked back at the paperwork from your solicitor to see if the answer's there?

clutton_2

i have a sneaky feeling that ground rent can be claimed up to 7 years in arrears ....... and that the rent is payable whether it was demanded from you or not - even if the previous owner has not paid it, you will still have to. How much is it ? some of my properties built 100 years ago have a ground rent of £0.75 per annum - hardly worth shouting about .

dont pay admin charges - if they are not in the lease, then the ground rent holder has no legal authority to charge you any more than the amount in the lease - the details of the exact amount payable will be written in the lease which should be in the deeds which your solicitor gave you / and / or kept in his office.

KiKi

Hi Mike

As a previous poster suggested, check your paperwork from your move. Your solicitor should have broken down the bill in terms of the charges; you should be able to see from there whether or not you have paid the year, or a proportion.

The Managing Agent (I assume that's what you mean by lease company) should have a record of whether or not you've paid - there's no need to charge you for *them* to check!! All they'll do is check with your solicitor, or check your paperwork.

Get it in writing from them that they will NOT charge you any interest on the ground rent due whilst you check out that it has been paid. Check it out with your solicitor (just ask for confirmation or a breakdown if necessary...they should be able to provide a copy free of charge, it's hardly onerous). Then get back to them ASAP.

Hope you get it sorted.
KiKi