Thread: being taken to court by Management company due to Arrears on fees help required !!

Hi there im new to this forum - hoping somebody could help or give me some advice?

I own an apartment which is in a high rise building and is on a leasehold. There is a management company who i pay £100 a month to for the maintenance and upkeep etc.

Unfortunately due to circumstances i have fallen behind with payments to the management company and am in arrears to the tune of £1900.

they instructed a solicitors to claim the money back from me. Back in September i made an offer of £150 per month to pay back this debt. i paid one installment whilst i was waiting for a reply, but I did not get a response until after christmas when the offer was turned down and they threatened me with legal action.

I again explained my financial position to them and increased my offer to £200 to be reviewed on a 3 month basis (my pay fluctuates as i get paid commission and there was a possibility that i could make interim payments or even pay the debt off in full)

The solicitors replied that they would put this offer to the management company but that i should make payments anyway. I replied that i was not going to make any further payments until i had an agreement that they would not instigate proceedings against me.

Another 6 weeks went by without a reply so i contacted them again and asked them to accept my offer. Without warning i have now received a county court application for the full amount outstanding!

At no point have i stated that i was contesting the amount owed and have constantly asked them to come to an agreement with me which they have just ignored.

So i now have to reply to the court application, the only option i can see is for me to admit the claim and make an offer of payment?

I have some questions and would welcome any advice?

1 Even though i have made an offer of £200 previously, can i reduce this on admition of the claim?

2 It says in my agreement with the management company that if i default on the fees that they can gain entry to my property? Does this mean that if they have a judgment against me that they can throw me out of my own flat?

3 Can they get a judgment against me even though i have made a reasonable offer to pay?

Any help would be appreciated, i have until this Friday to reply to the claim.

Many thanks

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Do you still have a mortgage on the property? I used to run a management company and if leaseholders had serious arrears, I would contact their mortgage provider who would simply add the cost on to the mortgage. If you have a mortgage, contact your provider immediately because yes, this could lead to the landlord reposessing your property.

Your repayment offer seems reasonable and the court probably won't order the forfeiture of your lease BUT this is your home and investment and you can't be too careful here.

You might find the following link useful:
Leasehold Advisory Service

I cannot advise on how you should respond to the claim as I am not a litigator. However, the chances of the management company forfeiting the lease are remote to the point of being almost impossible. Forfeiture would place a valuable asset in the hands of the management company - a penalty wholly disproportionate to the amount owed and the law will not allow this.

I agree with Aequitas (again)

However what you could do is find if theres any evidence that shows they did not live up to their end of the contract

Things such as lawns not attended to, stairwells not cleaned regularly, lighting not kept in good working order, rubbish not removed etc:

Also they should have an inspection regime & I understand the law may have changed recently which requires they supply you with a copy.

If any of the above have been neglected by the company you may have grounds for a counter claim but in supprt of any such claim you will need fellow occupants to supply you with 'statements of truth'

Many thanks for your advice.

The Management company have also written to my lender asking them to pay the debt in full (i dont understand this as they have also instigated proceedings against me?)

My Mortgagae company have asked my permission to pay this and add to the mortgage (which is fine by me!)

However they have also stated that this would be classed as arrears on my mortgage account and be per sued in the normal way (ie if i cant pay then they would look to repossess)

so what should i do? Take my chances with the CCJ and make an offer to pay or let my mortgage company pay and face being repossessed?

Seems like a rock and a hard place?

Collect the evidence if any of breach of contract then can advise further