The Cost of Management Packs

Trevor_Withell

I am currently in the process of selling my late mother's retirement flat, a leasehold property, and was informed by my solicitor that I was required to obtain a Management Pack (MP) prior to the exchange of contracts. We only purchased the property 24 months ago and this wasn't a requirement at that time.

The property was, until recently managed, by Churchill Management and I requested the MP from them to be told that it was £395. The money was paid to them only to discover that they had resigned from the management of the property and transferred the management to First Port. The £395 was returned after 20 days sitting on my money!
First Port then quoted £440 for the MP with a 15 working days turnaround. However, this could be expedited by throwing more money at it - up to £660.

Surely these Management Packs need to be regulated?

The seller has to purchase them - but of no value to the seller - the contents are not that complex, they are only valid for 6 months and the management company can charge whatever price they can get away with.

Seems very unfair and needs more control. Who can address this problem? 

eddddy

It's been addressed in the Leasehold and Freehold reform act 2024. 

The Act allows for a cap to be put on the cost of management packs (£200+vat has been mentioned) and a time limit for producing them.

But unfortunately, the act hasn't come into force yet. And some parts of the Act (not relating to management packs) are being challenged in court, so it's probably uncertain when this stuff will come into force.
 

Trevor_Withell said:

We only purchased the property 24 months ago and this wasn't a requirement at that time.

Your solicitor would have almost certainly required the relevant information from Churchill Management.

If you bought directly from Churchill, they probably supplied the information directly to your solicitor.

If you bought 'second hand', the seller would have almost certainly paid for a management pack from Churchill.