Service charge demand for sold leasehold flat

brainiack

Morning all, I recently sold my leasehold flat on 1st November 2024. 

Today, I have received via the online portal I previously used to access my First Port account for service charge etc and make payments, a demand/invoice for the year’s service charge, to be paid by end of 2024. 

Does this mean my solicitor or the buyers solicitor has screwed up? Why is my name still on the account? 

What’s the best course of action regarding this? As I could even play dumb and act like I haven’t received anything and let First Port work it out for themselves? But I appreciate there is still a chance First Port won’t work it out without me explicitly telling them or going back to my solicitor to get them to sort it. 

Additionally, this demand is late and refers to August 24 - July 25. Therefore I didn’t pay or get asked for a rentention or otherwise on completing. Am I liable for the 2 months charge when I was still the owner, despite First Port being late issuing this invoice (dated after my completion) and the buyers solicitors not picking it up which isn’t my fault now after the event. 

Flugelhorn

I have heard of people being later charged for amounts of money that related to the time when it was their flat - usually the solicitor arrange a retention but that is to assure it is paid quickly, don't think it stops you having to pay the bill for the time you were there 

brainiack

My priority is to be no longer associated with anything to do with the property, which should have been sorted but clearly hasn’t been. 

Who’s dropped the ball and how to I cover myself here? The new leaseholder should be registered on the property title and be beginning service charge payments. If I’m being issued these documents then they’re likely sitting in blissful ignorance. 

Flugelhorn

Not sure that FirstPort have the best reputation ..,. in one flat I own the directors decided enough was enough and went elsewhere (we ended up with them in the first place as part of a merger) .

Suspect the delay is with them not registering the details on the system - have they some sort of online portal you can check? pretty sure we had one. 

Whatever just phone them up and tell them that they haven't got the right details and to sort it out 

loubel

Chances are the buyer's solicitor hasn't yet served notice of the transfer. Once they do this you will stop getting service charge demands.

You will need to check your contract to see whether you will need to pay for your share of the charges. But this would be between you and the buyer, not the management company.

Herzlos

You only sold a few weeks ago, so the bill may have been generated before they knew about the change.

The right thing to do is probably send the new buyer the pro-rata fee for August->October when you were the owner and get them to settle the bill directly.

eddddy

Just to double check... is the date of the bill after 1st November?

Assuming it is...

...the buyer's solicitor is responsible for sending FirstPort a "Notice of Transfer" - i.e. telling FirstPort that the flat has a new owner.

So any of the following might have happened...

• 1) The buyer's solicitor hasn't sent the notice of transfer to FirstPort yet

• 2) The bill was generated (printed) before FirstPort received the notice of transfer

• 3) The buyer's solicitor says they sent the notice of transfer to FirstPort, but FirstPort say they haven't received it

• 4) FirstPort agree that they have received the notice of transfer, but failed to update their billing system

(Coincidentally, a leaseholder with FirstPort posted a few weeks ago to say that option 3 above had happened to them.)


In theory, you could ignore the bill. But to save everyone future hassle (including yourself), you could

• phone FirstPort and ask if you're still shown as the owner, or whether they now have a notice of transfer

• tell the buyer what's happened - and suggest they need to resolve it, to avoid 'late fees' and the risk of having their flat repossessed. And send them a copy of the bill, so that they can pay it.

brainiack

Thanks all for your replies, makes sense what has likely happened now. 

I suspect either or both 3&4 above have occurred, I’ve sent the invoice to my estate agent who is forwarding it to the buyers and their legal representative for actioning. 

I’ll follow up separately with First Port if it’s possible to get hold of them without hours on the phone! 

km1500

loubel said:

Chances are the buyer's solicitor hasn't yet served notice of the transfer. Once they do this you will stop getting service charge demands.

You will need to check your contract to see whether you will need to pay for your share of the charges. But this would be between you and the buyer, not the management company.

This is the most likely explanation

firstport keep you as the person liable for the debt until a solicitor tells them otherwise

you cannot just tell them you have moved yourself

you should chase your solicitor or the purchaser's solicitor and ask them to notify firstport

make sure they notify all the account numbers as firstport tend to have one account for ground rent, one account for service charge etc