Management pack - First I've heard of it?

ThePants999 wrote: »

OK, you've got an "estate rentcharge". That's exactly what I had on my last house. (Well, almost exactly - we had a residents' association in the form of a charitable trust instead of a management company, but that's unimportant.)

Let me explain how it works - and having thrown away my paperwork relating to that house, I just paid £3 to the Land Registry to remind myself, I hope you're grateful

- While they owned the land, the builders gave themselves a Grant of Estate Rentcharge, which basically says that the owner of the rentcharge has to do things (maintain the estate), and is allowed to collect money from the grantor of the rentcharge in return. The "Part 11" you've got is almost certainly a piece of the Deed of Grant of Estate Rentcharge that set this up - the section that details the obligations of the rentcharge owner.

Here's an example I found of such a deed: http://eiv.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Rentcharge.pdf

- They would also have noted this in the Charges Register on the title.

- They added a restriction to the proprietorship register that says that the title can't be transferred without their consent.

- Then they created a deed of covenant, or deed of transfer, that the buyer has to sign on purchasing the property. It basically commits the buyer to taking over as the "grantor" of the rentcharge (and therefore paying it), and also commits the buyer not to sell the property without making the subsequent buyer do exactly the same thing.

To give you an example, my title contained this in the Property Register:



And it had this in the Proprietorship Register:



And finally, it had this in the Charges Register:



The deed of transfer said this:



Dig out your files from when you bought the place. What did your solicitor get you to sign? I expect it included such a deed (which $$$$$$$ refers to as the "transfer deed"). Assuming your builder's system wasn't materially different to mine, then:
- the deed of transfer compels you to pay the service charge ("rentcharge")
- I suspect that there probably ISN'T anything in writing saying that you have to buy the management pack for £X, but there IS something in writing saying you can't sell the house without the management company's consent, and they won't give their consent unless you pay them! (They've got a little bit of work to do because they need to warrant to the buyer's solicitor that you're up to date with the rentcharge and they won't be inheriting any arrears, and they have to sort out a new deed of transfer with the buyer.)

If you genuinely believe you signed no such deed, hop over to the Land Registry, pay £3 and have a look at your title register.