Extra charges after I have completed on a remortgage .

tomp2494

Hi

I recently completed (1st Aug) on a new mortgage on my leasehold flat. 

Two weeks later I am getting e-mails from the solicitor, saying I need to pay £250 for a "notice of charge" to a new ground rent agent. 
I paid £120 already to the old agent, and am now being asked to fork out an additional £130.00 to cover the difference. 
I have paid the completion statement sent by the solicitor. 
Should I pay the extra costs? 

In addition, I am being charged £200.00 for a notice of transfer, by the same solicitor that is dealing with my remortgage . When I completed on a transfer of equity earlier this year, I did this via a different solicitor.  I do not believe I should pay this 200 as my other solicitor surely should have notified the old rent agent which they have not done so? 

Please advise what if anything I should pay.

thanks. 

eddddy

It's a bit difficult to follow what you're saying.

I think you're saying that:

• There was a transfer of equity (i.e. a change of ownership) of your leasehold flat recently
• Additionally, you remortgaged your leasehold flat on a different date (1st August) - presumably with a new/different lender

If that's correct, ...

• Almost all leases will say that you (or your solicitor) have to serve a "Notice of Transfer" on the freeholder and/or management company, when ownership is transferred.

• Almost all leases will say that you (or your solicitor) have to serve a "Notice of Charge" on the freeholder and/or management company, when a new charge is registered against a flat.

So you should read your lease to double check that your lease requires these 2 types of notice to be served.

The law says that the freeholder and/or management company can charge a 'reasonable' fee for dealing with these notices.


£200 for a "Notice of Transfer" and £250 for a "Notice of Charge" sounds a bit steep. If you want, you can probably challenge those fees at a tribunal.

These fees are set by the the freeholder and/or management company. (But your solicitor might also be charging you a fee for writing and serving the notices.)



But I'm not sure what you mean by "Ground Rent Agent", and what you mean by "old agent" and "new agent".