Property management fees

StevieG10

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Hi there, new to this site so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I bought a new build house in Belfast a couple years ago which included a property management company agreement for upkeep of commmunal areas etc... I have had a number of letters asking for payment of fees to date. I have tried in two occasions to sign up to their online portal to pay these fees but both times I received no response to my email (instructed within letters to register via email).

This fact alongside the poor upkeep of the area has led me to not pay the fees to date. Basically if they couldn’t bother responding to my email then I didn’t want to make the efffort in chasing it up. The area has been poorly kept and we’ve had letters from local MPs detailing the issues and how they are trying to address it with the developer etc...

I received a letter from solicitors on behalf of Charterhouse the Property management company asking for the £300 owed and slapping on another £300 in legal fees. I’ve no issue in paying the £300 owed but to pay double this within 14 days seems excessive given they haven’t been faultless either...

Can anyone help with what my options are? If any...
 
It is quiet common with these fees that they can put a legal charge on your property if you don’t pay.

This means that they have a claim on the property which ranks ahead of any mortgage. If they notify the bank the bank will pay and add the amount to your mortgage. Plus more charges, no doubt

If that is the case there is nothing you can do except pay now before things get worse.
 
Firstly I think most of the people here are in the Republic, so it might be hard to get detailed advice, but from a quick look it seems like it works similarly in the North to here.

Generally there will be a property management company that holds the common areas and is responsible for the upkeep etc., and each unit in the development has a "share" in this company - so you as the owners own that company. Because you all don't want to be worrying about running that company, you'll tend to appoint a few Directors (probably some of your neighbours) to run it for a year and they will appoint a management agent to look after the property, collecting fees etc. (Charterhouse in your case). But as I say that agent is appointed by the management company that you own and is collecting the fees for a company that you own.

As you own the management company you should be turning up to its regular meetings and taking an active part in voting on what will be done, if you have a problem with the quality of work the agent is doing you just shout that out and if others agree you either warn them or replace them with a new company, just like you would change to a new car insurance provider if you were not happy.


FWIW as one of those neighbours acting as a Director on an owners management company, it's incredibly frustrating to have other owners moaning about fees and hassling you about getting a light bulb fixed when you're running their company for them, so I'd ask you to go into it with an open mind initially :). If you find it's a complete mess and the developer still holds the management company or the Board, then that's different and you'd probably want to get other members together and try to rectify it (usually requires legal advice).

As cremeegg pointed out, in the Republic at least you are not able to sell a property if there are management company fees outstanding, the buyers solicitor will pick it up in due diligence and insist they are paid by the vendor. In the company I'm involved with we add interest to reduce late payments.

Again you'll need to confirm exactly how it works in NI, but if it is how it should be here then you are likely an owner of the management company and need to figure out when the meetings are so you can start to have more of a say at them.
 
Send them the 300 you owe and state that as this is the first contact you've had that you will not be paying any legal charge. Might work as they have reached their initial goal.
 
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