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Payment charges from a "property management" service
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leafy65
Posts: 1 Newbie
Hi,
I live on a new build site and I am a freeholder but we have a property management service called Gateway who I think are responsible for managing communal sites. Gateway charge us fees regularly and recently they sent us a letter saying that we hadn't paid a "balancing charge" of £21.56 on 11th June and they had tacked on an additional late payment charge of £30 after 2 weeks. I'm confident I never received the initial letter as I deal with all my bills straight away, mark them with the word "PAID" and put them in a folder (yes, I'm a little type A how did you guess!).
Annoyingly, we happened to receive this late payment letter while we were on holiday and have now been tapped with a second late payment charge of £50 plus VAT (stated on the late payment letter, we haven't received the bill for this yet). I've been told to dispute the charges on the website but that I should pay everything (£21.56+30+50+VAT) and then wait for the outcome of the dispute and possibly receive the late payment charges back if they agree to refund us.
Should I pay now and hope for the best, or just pay the £21.56 and refuse to pay the late payment charge?
Additional info
1. The late payment letter was dated 23rd June
2. We left on holiday on the morning of 28th June and I'm confident that we hadn't received the letter at this date
3. I have receipts to prove I've been abroad
4. Yes they have done this sort of thing before and I've just paid up but frankly I'm a little sick of them and don't fancy rolling over again if this is going to be a recurrent issue
5. We don't have any other method of communication from them, they don't provide bills by email
6. They also don't provide a schedule of payments so we know when to expect them
Thanks for reading the very long post and I'm grateful for anyone's advice
I live on a new build site and I am a freeholder but we have a property management service called Gateway who I think are responsible for managing communal sites. Gateway charge us fees regularly and recently they sent us a letter saying that we hadn't paid a "balancing charge" of £21.56 on 11th June and they had tacked on an additional late payment charge of £30 after 2 weeks. I'm confident I never received the initial letter as I deal with all my bills straight away, mark them with the word "PAID" and put them in a folder (yes, I'm a little type A how did you guess!).
Annoyingly, we happened to receive this late payment letter while we were on holiday and have now been tapped with a second late payment charge of £50 plus VAT (stated on the late payment letter, we haven't received the bill for this yet). I've been told to dispute the charges on the website but that I should pay everything (£21.56+30+50+VAT) and then wait for the outcome of the dispute and possibly receive the late payment charges back if they agree to refund us.
Should I pay now and hope for the best, or just pay the £21.56 and refuse to pay the late payment charge?
Additional info
1. The late payment letter was dated 23rd June
2. We left on holiday on the morning of 28th June and I'm confident that we hadn't received the letter at this date
3. I have receipts to prove I've been abroad
4. Yes they have done this sort of thing before and I've just paid up but frankly I'm a little sick of them and don't fancy rolling over again if this is going to be a recurrent issue
5. We don't have any other method of communication from them, they don't provide bills by email
6. They also don't provide a schedule of payments so we know when to expect them
Thanks for reading the very long post and I'm grateful for anyone's advice
0
Comments
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I would be tempted to just pay the original amount, but then I'm a thrawn old bu$$er and would rather go down fighting.
Probably best to read your T&Cs first. I would also be asking neighbours about their experiences. See how you can get rid of them (bet that would be a nightmare) and set up neighbours cooperative?
Why in this day and age are they still sending letters?0 -
Would be better asking team to move to
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Life in the slow lane1
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