Regalty/Plumlife Estates.have made up £702 in charges and demand payment

[andydd]

Didnt see this the first time around...

 

Despite some previous posts saying otherwise..a Freeholder MAY be able to charge extra admin fees BUT only if the lease allows (does yours ?), most older leases do not but some newer ones have clauses about late payment & extra fees, etc

 

Note though that the lease is a contract between you and Freeholder NOT management company (unless its a rarer tripartite lease in which management agent is also a party), otherwise the MC just does the FHs bidding, there is no direct contract between you and MC and he has no right to sue.

 

Even if he clears the above hurdles, admin fees must be correctly demanded in accordance with > https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/summaries-rights-obligations-administration-charges-england/

 

Also you can ask an FTT if they are "reasonable" (assuming they are payable under the lease & MC has right to sue).

 

Also of relevance is new legislation asking FTT to disallow any such fees (cant recall exact legislation at the mo but its similar to previous S20C order for service charges)

 

You mention S146 earlier, thjis seems wrong coz only a FH can go down forfeit path and also it cant be done if amount is less that £350 (for admin charges this amount CANT be made up of late payment or any sort of legal/.default fee..so in reality going down forfeit path for ONLY admin charges is nearly impossible).

[andydd]

It appears that you are also behind with service charge payments ?

 

It does also appear that the lease gives them the right to charge extra costs if you are late paying.

 

What you need to do is write and say you are asking for a breakdown of costs as per S21 of The Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 to request a breakdown of costs (also mention that as they are threatening legal action you are requesting a breakdown as the CPR disclosure/pre-litigation rules) - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/21

 

If you receive something back you can then use S22 to visit them and inspect invoices, etc (although may not be easy if they are not close) > https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/22

 

Did the service charge & admin charges demands comply with the law..i.e did they include Summary of Rights ?

[andydd]

Hi.

 

For any pure service charge cost..the stat barred limit is 12 years but for any resulting admin cost its 6 years as is ground rent.

 

Im not sure about the 18 Feb 16 cost..whilst nearly all leases do allow costs to be claimed even if its not gone to court, most leases have wording like.."in contemplation of s146 or forfeiture costs"..BUT for them to "contemplate" you must of genuinely owed an amount of over £350 or if less for more than 3 years........this £350 amount is normally comprised of service charge costs..IF it includes admin charges then normally they dont count..i.e a landlord cant claim you owe £250 service charges....and then bump it up to £350 by added on £100 admin charges for late payment..the amount is still £250 and therefore the forfeit/s146 doesnt apply.

 

Also even if s146 did apply..they have to show they were actually really contemplating it....and not just saying it to add on costs..there is lots of contradictory case law about this and its a right bloody mess !

[andydd]

Seems like they are playing silly buggers, who is your actual Freeholder ? So are they saying they are changing from one management company to another ?

 

have you got a copy of the lease you could scan ?

 

Could also do with seeing all the letters received to try and get my head around it all.

 

Am I correct in saying..you havnt told us the name of the actual Freeholder yet ?

 

The management company was Plumlife then Regalty Estates and will soon be Realty Property Management ?

 

Andy

[andydd]

Found this > https://decisions.lease-advice.org//app/uploads/decisions/act85/7001-8000/7470.pdf

 

Regalty (acting as a management agent here but not as the actual Freeholder) admit that demands sent out by them were invalid.

[andydd]

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06958866/officers

[andydd]

You need to know on what basis the above fees are being charged.

 

Do you have a copy of the demand (re-dact personal info).

 

Late payment fee.

 

You would of had to be genuinely late paying something, and that amount would have to be owing and demanded correctly (S166 for GR, Summary of rights for service charge, etc).

 

The lease would have to allow such fees, many if not most, do not.

 

The demand itself would have to be demanded as an admin charge and come with admin charge - summary of rights

 

The amount would have to be reasonable.

 

 

Legal Fees

 

Most leases allow S146/Forfeiture fees which can in some circumstances be used by the Fh to recover costs even if no legal action, the wording is normally "incidental to", BUT its a complex area of law and a FH would have to show you were in breach of the lease, owe over £350 (this cant be default admin/legal costs) and more importantly that he was genuinely pursing you for breach/forfeiture.

[andydd]

Yes..in Leasehold..the lease is assigned from one party to the next..so freeholders, leaseholders and managing agents may change but the debts are assigned to the next person..its even possible to buy a flat and find that you are responsible for previous owners debts (this is normally checked my your conveyancer).

 

Yes any admin fee over 6 years old that you havnt paid towards or acknowledged you owe would now be statuted barred.

 

In letter point out that you didnt receive correct summary of rights for service charges and/or summary of rights for admin charges so amount wasnt payable in first place.

 

You paid the maintenance & insurance of £270 odd.

 

The S146 costs is not valid as at the time they couldnt start breach/forfeit proceedings coz amount was under £350, in any event you paid the actual service charge..they cant add on admin fees to try and bring amount to over £350, see https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/section/167

 

See (3) that says that admin/default charges cant be added on...so in reality the £350 must consist of pure service charges.

 

Also that was years ago...if they were genuinelly going to pursue s146 forfeiture they should of gone to court/ftt to prove breach....it looks like theyve done nothoing.