Ground Rent Arrears

[Marktw]

I purchased a Leasehold property on 30 Oct 2014.

 

Since then I have had no demand for ground rent until this morning.

 

I have received 13 x 6 monthly demands for ground rent dating back to July 2011 totalling £975.00.

 

 

All of the demands are stating that payment is due on 7 October 2017 so there is no suggestion that previous demands have been sent.

 

I have yet to discuss this with the solicitor who undertook the conveyancing.

 

Can anyone tell me the legal position with this?

[AndyOrch]

Welcome to CAG Marktw

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/leasehold-property/service-charges-and-other-expenses

 

Regards

 

Andy

[mariner51]

What month(s) does your Lease state Ground Rent is due?

How much is the Ground Rent for each 6 month period?

What is the date on current Demand?

What Arrears are noted? from what date?

[Marktw]

Thank you for your replies.

 

The Lease states that the ground rent is yearly from January to December the sum of £150.

 

Ground rent is therefore £75 for each 6 month period.

 

I have received 13 demands for £75 dating back to 1 Jul 2011 and all state that I am required to make payment on 7th October 2017.

 

None are dated but statement is dated 7th September 2017. The statement lists the 13 demands of £75 for each period.

 

For example the first demand is worded as follows:

 

This notice requires you to pay rent of £75 on 7th Oct 2017.

 

This rent is payable in respect of the period 1 Jul 2011 to 31 Dec 2011

 

In accordance with the terms of your lease the amount of £75 was due on 1 Jul 2011.

[andydd]

This seems legit, they can claim 6 years worth (in line with stat limits legislation), it sounds as if the demands are in order, Id simply pay up as if you dont you maybe liable for further sums as they total more than £350, the right to forfeit kicks in.

 

Normally FHs would send a GR demand each year and its a bit odd to save up 6 years worth but its legal.

 

Normally your conveyancer would check that there are no outstanding sums (such as 2011 - 2014) so someone is at fault here.

 

Andy

[Marktw]

Yes, in any other business if you forget to invoice a customer you lose the cash. The law is outrageous that you are liable for ground rent before the property was purchased. I can feel a letter to my MP coming on!

 

Certainly I will take up the matter with the solicitor.

 

many thanks for your reply Andy.

[mariner51]

You are not liable for GR before the property was built, but the Law allows last 6 years due to be duly invoiced. To advise further, you would need to copy & paste the redacted invoice exactly as received.

[Marktw]

Thank you.

 

I will refer to my solicitor.

[andydd]

You are not liable for GR before the property was built, but the Law allows last 6 years due to be duly invoiced. To advise further, you would need to copy & paste the redacted invoice exactly as received.

 

GR and service charge debts stay with the property not the person, that is why solicitor/conveyancers have to make sure there are no outstanding amounts before the new person buy the property..coz if there are he effectively takes on the debt too.

 

MPs are well aware of the unfairness and change in leasehold has been a long time coming, Ive been to court umpteen times against my FH but mostly won

 

Andy

[ericsbrother]

yep, if your solicitor has failed to find out about this then theymay well be footing the bill but that will depend on wheat their standard conveyancing work involves and what instructions you gave them. If you have the address of the person who sold you the property you may ahve a case for recovering the monies due to misrepresntation of thier position.

[AndyOrch]

When I sold my Fathers home my Conveyancer simply adjusted the purchase price for the GR outstanding for the previous years unpaid dues up until the exchange date.

[andydd]

Often ground rent is relatively low (under £100) so 6 years worth would at most be a few hundred, service charges are more important as there could be major works costing many thousands that havnt been paid for that the new owners suddenly finds himself liable for.

[Ethel Street]

This seems legit, they can claim 6 years worth (in line with stat limits legislation), it sounds as if the demands are in order, Id simply pay up as if you dont you maybe liable for further sums as they total more than £350, the right to forfeit kicks in.

 

Normally FHs would send a GR demand each year and its a bit odd to save up 6 years worth but its legal.

 

Normally your conveyancer would check that there are no outstanding sums (such as 2011 - 2014) so someone is at fault here.

 

Andy

 

As they have gone back exactly 6 years I wouldn't be surprised if they'd actually failed to invoice GR for much longer than that and only now realised their error and gone back the maximum they can. A friend of mine bought a flat where the freeholder hadn't collected the GR for years and years and couldn't be traced so conveyancer couldn't get the usual confirmation the GR was paid up to date. Original freeholder on lease was a private individual who had died over 20 years ago and whoever in his family had inherited it had never identified themself to the leaseholders and never asked for GR. Not sure the legal position in that case or how it was resolved. The servcie charges seemed to have been sorted out though, don't know how.

[andydd]

In my case it turns out I had been overpaying GR and I was able to go back 12 years using the "fraud, concealment or mistake" clause of Limitations Act law and get all my overpayments back plus 8% interest which came to a nice tidy sum, my FH did not look a happy bunny in court (although why he chose to fight it is a mystery).