Money owed by a previous home owner

Adaaam75

Good afternoon all,

I desperately need your advice as a land management company is threatening to take us to court over an outstanding debt.

We bought our house in July 2023, and at the time of exchange and completion, our solicitor confirmed there were no outstanding debts or arrears to clear by the previous owners on the property. Earlier this year, the property management company for the estate informed us that there was an outstanding debt of £112 on the property, owed by the previous home owner from 2021. This outstanding arrears was only discovered by the management company after we had moved in and during a takeover of the firm earlier this year.

Initially, the management company asked our solicitor for the buyers solicitors details to pursue the debt but since then have stated the debt belongs to the property address and is therefore our responsibility to pay!

Our solicitor has written to the management company stating there were no debts owed at the time of completion and had we been aware of the outstanding debt, we wouldn't have exchanged until it was paid. The management company have put a hold on the debt while they look into it but have since maintained it is our debt and remains our responsibility to pay.

Can we please have some advice on this as our solicitor has suggested we take the line of least resistance and pay it! What if the debt was £2000???

Any formative advice would be greatly received.

Voyager2002

If the debt is genuinely owed, and is indeed owed by the address rather than the previous owner, then your solicitor should have warned you about it. So write to them inviting them to pay it, and perhaps they could reclaim the funds from their professional liability insurance.

user1977

Voyager2002 said:

If the debt is genuinely owed, and is indeed owed by the address rather than the previous owner, then your solicitor should have warned you about it. So write to them inviting them to pay it, and perhaps they could reclaim the funds from their professional liability insurance.

It’s £112, not anything worthy of an insurance claim (their excess is probably well into the thousands).

Ergates

Voyager2002 said:

If the debt is genuinely owed, and is indeed owed by the address rather than the previous owner, then your solicitor should have warned you about it. So write to them inviting them to pay it, and perhaps they could reclaim the funds from their professional liability insurance.

"This outstanding arrears was only discovered by the management company after we had moved in and during a takeover of the firm earlier this year."

If the land management company didn't know about it, there is no real way the solicitor could have known about it.


I would suggest to the land management company that seeing as this was clearly their mistake then they should waive it.

DullGreyGuy

Adaaam75 said:

Good afternoon all,

I desperately need your advice as a land management company is threatening to take us to court over an outstanding debt.

We bought our house in July 2023, and at the time of exchange and completion, our solicitor confirmed there were no outstanding debts or arrears to clear by the previous owners on the property. Earlier this year, the property management company for the estate informed us that there was an outstanding debt of £112 on the property, owed by the previous home owner from 2021. This outstanding arrears was only discovered by the management company after we had moved in and during a takeover of the firm earlier this year.

Initially, the management company asked our solicitor for the buyers solicitors details to pursue the debt but since then have stated the debt belongs to the property address and is therefore our responsibility to pay!

Our solicitor has written to the management company stating there were no debts owed at the time of completion and had we been aware of the outstanding debt, we wouldn't have exchanged until it was paid. The management company have put a hold on the debt while they look into it but have since maintained it is our debt and remains our responsibility to pay.

Can we please have some advice on this as our solicitor has suggested we take the line of least resistance and pay it! What if the debt was £2000???

Any formative advice would be greatly received.

Freehold or leasehold?

Do you know what's actually happened? Was the previous owner billed but short paid? Is it actually in relation to something that happened back then but the management company has only been billed now?

My experience is only in relation to leasehold, and thankfully my direct experience was a credit rather than debit. If it was invoiced at the time and they just didnt spot the error then it's the former owners problem. If it wasnt invoiced then it's the current owners. In our case the management company got over a £34,000 refund on water 9 months after we bought the place so, inline with the lease, we got 1/34th of it. Clearly the money had be accrued over the years but because it only came to light after our purchase we got the full credit for it. 

Okell

Adaaam75 said:

... Our solicitor has written to the management company ...

Why do you think someone here will know more than your solicitor does?

If you don't trust your solicitor I'd suggest you'd be better off posting on the House buying, renting & selling — MoneySavingExpert Forum board rather than here...

Grumpy_chap

Adaaam75 said:

Good afternoon all,

I desperately need your advice as a land management company is threatening to take us to court over an outstanding debt.

We bought our house in July 2023, and at the time of exchange and completion, our solicitor confirmed there were no outstanding debts or arrears to clear by the previous owners on the property. Earlier this year, the property management company for the estate informed us that there was an outstanding debt of £112 on the property, owed by the previous home owner from 2021. This outstanding arrears was only discovered by the management company after we had moved in and during a takeover of the firm earlier this year.

Initially, the management company asked our solicitor for the buyers solicitors details to pursue the debt but since then have stated the debt belongs to the property address and is therefore our responsibility to pay!

Our solicitor has written to the management company stating there were no debts owed at the time of completion and had we been aware of the outstanding debt, we wouldn't have exchanged until it was paid. The management company have put a hold on the debt while they look into it but have since maintained it is our debt and remains our responsibility to pay.

Can we please have some advice on this as our solicitor has suggested we take the line of least resistance and pay it! What if the debt was £2000???

Any formative advice would be greatly received.

For the sake of £112, I'd probably just pay the sum requested and be done.
It would be worth trying to tie that payment to a clear statement that it is full and final settlement of all fees that accrued prior to your purchase of the property in July 2023.  If the new management company have only found this amount dating back from 2021 and did not know about it prior, you need the certainty that they won't suddenly "find" other historical amounts and try to claim them.