Paying money for Major Works before moving

KiKi

Hi all

Not often I ask for advice on here, but would appreciate any views.

I sold my leasehold flat in March 07 and moved into a new house which I love and am very grateful for.

When I came to sell the old flat, an issue arose which is that the guttering needed replacing at the back of the building, and part of a roof. My leasehold flat was responsible for 20% of the total costs.

Obviously, no-one was going to buy the place knowing that cost was coming, so I paid for it (£3200 for my 20%), as the works were taking place in June 07.

I have since discovered that the works haven't taken place at all.

I'm not being greedy here, I was happy to pay my share, and quite rightly, too. But if the money hasn't been used for the works, and the Freeholder (well, the Management Company acting for the freeholder) still has it, am I within my rights to claim it back if they are no longer planning to do the works?

I wouldn't bother if it was just a couple of hundred. But I paid out £3200 on the understanding that the works were being undertaken 3 months after I sold the flat, and that seemed reasonable; they made the demand in December, I sold in March, they do the works in June. And that's a lot of money!

Does anyone have any experience or legal knowledge of this sort of position? If I can't claim it back, I can't; I'm not going to contest anything that they can legally do. But just wanted to see if it's worth it before I approach my solicitor.

Thanks if anyone can help.

KiKi

silvercar

It may depend how it was paid. If it was held in a solicitors client account awaiting a call for funds then you could ask for repayment. If it went to the managing agents as pre-payment for your flat's share of costs it may remain there until the work takes place.

nutmegman

Did you ask for a brealdown of the £3200 before you paid it? The reason i ask is this really annoys me how can people be sure they are not taken for a ride on this maintenance costs. My advice is to ask to review three quotes etc.

£16000 YES 16K - BUYS A lot of guttering

I really need to know the terms of the payment before i can advise further. However, I suspect you have a weak position here.

KiKi

Silvercar - it went straight to the Managing Agents, not my solicitor.

nutmegman - I asked for a breakdown, there were three quotes. I'm sorry you get annoyed by people who feel sure they are not being taken for a ride. But I never said I wasn't; in fact, I've no doubt I was.

At the end of the day, the quotes were there, I needed to move and there was no recourse to challenge on my own.

But the cost isn't an issue anymore, and not worth debating!

I was just wondering if anyone knows if I have any recourse to go back to them.

There was nothing specifically stated about using the money within a set period of time; it was an excess demand that was made for Major Works at the end of 06 and I paid up.

TIA.

KiKi

silvercar

When we bought the sellers had to leave a few hundred pounds with their solicitors in case a problem with a pipe occured. The agreement was that the money would be returned to them if a problem didn't re-occur within the first 6 months. Don't think your case gives you any way of getting the money back. SOunds like the guttering willl need replacing and you have paid for it; as you no longer live there, you don't need to worry about when it gets done.

KiKi

Hi Silvercar

Thanks, yes I also left a retainer with the solicitor for any other excess! I'm getting some of that back later this week, though - hurrah!

I also think I probably don't have any recourse; just thought it was worth asking if anyone knew of anything different!

Cheers.
KiKi