England - can I go to tribunal for overcharges on service charges and buildings works once I've sold

Gandtea

As part of the sale, I'm having to pay for the service charges and building works cost to date (fair enough!), but if I was keeping the property I would be going to tribunal for some of these costs - I'm having to pay £40k now, and am putting away a retention of £20k for any other future costs that might come up for the building works to date. I think probably about £30k of these costs I shouldn't be paying for. 

In the LPE01 form (its the official leaseholder form) it was written that there have been no claims or disputes (which is true).

I would like to write an email after the sale goes through saying 'I've paid these charge in protest', in the hope that I could go to tribunal later to reclaim back some of the money.

The two questions are, could I be in trouble with the buyer at a later date if I do that, and would I actually be able to receive any money back after going to tribunal, as I'm no longer the buyer?

My conveyancing solicitor is a bit rubbish and I don't trust them - they are advising me to just let it go. It may be that this is the right answer, but I want a second opinion.

Edit: please help - feeling a bit desperate.

eddddy

Gandtea said:

As part of the sale, I'm having to pay for the service charges and building works cost to date (fair enough!), but if I was keeping the property I would be going to tribunal for some of these costs - I'm having to pay £40k now, and am putting away a retention of £20k for any other future costs that might come up for the building works to date. 

If you have received a service charge bill (or bills) for £40k addressed to you which are due for payment before your sale completion date - you can challenge them at a tribunal after the sale.

But the retention is different. If your buyer gets a service charge bill (for say £20k) after completion, you cannot challenge that bill. Only your buyer can challenge that bill.

(And I guess the buyer will simply pay the £20k bill using the retention money - so they have no incentive to challenge the bill.)

Gandtea said:

I would like to write an email after the sale goes through saying 'I've paid these charge in protest', in the hope that I could go to tribunal later to reclaim back some of the money.

The law says you don't have to write that email - you can go to tribunal, as long as you haven't agreed that the £40k is due.

So if you simply pay the £40k and say nothing, you can go to tribunal. But if, for example, the freeholder says "Do you agree with the bill?" and you reply "yes" - you probably can't go to tribunal.

So maybe tell your solicitor not to say anything on your behalf to the freeholder that indicates that you agree with the bill.

Gandtea said:

My conveyancing solicitor is a bit rubbish and I don't trust them - they are advising me to just let it go. It may be that this is the right answer, but I want a second opinion.

This is Landlord and Tenant legislation -  specifically Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sections 19, 27A, etc

Many conveyancing solicitors won't be experienced in Landlord and Tenant legislation, so might shy away from giving advice on it.

Gandtea

eddddy said:

Gandtea said:

As part of the sale, I'm having to pay for the service charges and building works cost to date (fair enough!), but if I was keeping the property I would be going to tribunal for some of these costs - I'm having to pay £40k now, and am putting away a retention of £20k for any other future costs that might come up for the building works to date. 

If you have received a service charge bill (or bills) for £40k addressed to you which are due for payment before your sale completion date - you can challenge them at a tribunal after the sale.

But the retention is different. If your buyer gets a service charge bill (for say £20k) after completion, you cannot challenge that bill. Only your buyer can challenge that bill.

(And I guess the buyer will simply pay the £20k bill using the retention money - so they have no incentive to challenge the bill.)

Gandtea said:

I would like to write an email after the sale goes through saying 'I've paid these charge in protest', in the hope that I could go to tribunal later to reclaim back some of the money.

The law says you don't have to write that email - you can go to tribunal, as long as you haven't agreed that the £40k is due.

So if you simply pay the £40k and say nothing, you can go to tribunal. But if, for example, the freeholder says "Do you agree with the bill?" and you reply "yes" - you probably can't go to tribunal.

So maybe tell your solicitor not to say anything on your behalf to the freeholder that indicates that you agree with the bill.

Gandtea said:

My conveyancing solicitor is a bit rubbish and I don't trust them - they are advising me to just let it go. It may be that this is the right answer, but I want a second opinion.

This is Landlord and Tenant legislation -  specifically Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sections 19, 27A, etc

Many conveyancing solicitors won't be experienced in Landlord and Tenant legislation, so might shy away from giving advice on it.

Thank you so much for this Eddy! 

Do I legally need to tell the buyer anything? I'm worried they will want to cancel their contract or something.

eddddy

Gandtea said:

Do I legally need to tell the buyer anything? I'm worried they will want to cancel their contract or something.

You'll probably be asked to complete a TA7 Leasehold Information Form (if you haven't already), which will be passed to the buyer. It includes questions like:



It's up to you how you answer those questions. If you say something misleading, in theory the buyer could later claim damages from you.

Have you got good 'watertight' evidence that the £40k service charge is unreasonable? How much of the £40k are you hoping/expecting to get back? 


FWIW, here's a link to a sample TA7: https://www.juno.legal/documents/leasehold_information_form_ta7.pdf

Gandtea

eddddy said:

Gandtea said:

Do I legally need to tell the buyer anything? I'm worried they will want to cancel their contract or something.

You'll probably be asked to complete a TA7 Leasehold Information Form (if you haven't already), which will be passed to the buyer. It includes questions like:



It's up to you how you answer those questions. If you say something misleading, in theory the buyer could later claim damages from you.

Have you got good 'watertight' evidence that the £40k service charge is unreasonable? How much of the £40k are you hoping/expecting to get back?

I don't have watertight evidence but I think we have a good case.

There haven't been any other problems, just this. We only received the bills while selling the property, and I haven't had time to properly scrutinise them, but because of what happened (a roof collapse due to poor workmanship of builders), I think we have a good case. 

I put no for these answers. What happens if I dont change anything and the sale goes through? How could it bite me later?

I'm terrified of the sale not going through.

eddddy

Gandtea said:

...but because of what happened (a roof collapse due to poor workmanship of builders), I think we have a good case. 

TBH, without more info, that doesn't sound like a good case.

I'm assuming you bought a flat in a building, and the roof of that building collapsed.

Your lease probably says that the freeholder / management company is responsible for repairing the roof, and also says you are responsible for contributing to the cost of repairing the roof.

What do you think the freeholder / management company has done that is not reasonable?


(If there was poor workmanship by the builders - did the builders give some kind of warranty?)