Service Charge

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biggerry

Guest
I bought an apartment in August of this year. A couple of days before Christmas I got the bill for the service charge for the next 6 months i.e. from Jan 1 '05 to June 30 '05. Included on this bill was an extra €698 which was the Jul 1 '04 to Dec 31 '04 portion of the service charge.

I accept that I'm liable for the portion from the time I bough the apartment up to Dec 31, but do I have to pay the other portion of this? If I don't pay this, will the "other" amount continue to appear on my service charge statement??
 
The charge in dispute is presumably for July 2004 (c. €116) seeing that you accept that you are liable for the charges from August? Is there any possibility that you signed the management company agreement before the property was actually signed over to you? Check the terms & conditions of this agreement (should be included with the deeds of the property presumably held by your mortgage lender) and when you signed it to find out when your liability for charges started. Alternatively ask your solicitor or query the charge for July with the .
 
Thanks Clubman. My question is indeed whether I'm liable for the July and August period.

We signed the contracts and paid the 10% deposit in June but the deal wasn't completed until the end of August. There were a few reason's for the delay. Firstly there was a tenant in situ and their lease was up at the end of July. We were on holidays the first 2 weeks of August and didn't want to sign during this time. Then there was some delays with getting the cheque from the building society, but all was OK by Aug 28, so we signed and got the keys.

Unfortunately our solicitor has stopped practicing for personal reasons, so he can’t be contacted anymore.

By paying the initial deposit in July, does this make me liable for the full 6 month period??

FYI: I have sent a mail today to the management company to see what they have to say. I'll let you know.
 
I can't see how you'd be liable for July and August. You didn't own the apartment then. It's probably just an admin mistake - they wrote to you (the Dec owner) for the previous 6 months arrears. Looks like the previous owner is trying to pull a fast one. Or maybe he forgot ;)

AFAIK, you don't own the apartment until you and the seller sign the contract. You can be in your solicitor's office, with the contract in front of you & a pen in your hand, and still walk away!
 
FYI: Got this reply this morning via e-mail from the management company:

"The total amount due on your account as of today is €1,349.70 which includes current period's service charge i.e. €651.14. The remaining amount is €698.56, out of which €432.76 is your share of service charge and €265.80 is previous owner's share of service charge. This is calculated on the basis of property owned for number of days. Though €265.80 is previous owner's share, usually it is between the seller and the purchaser to settle among themselves the service charge due on the account. We, , the Property Managers are just related with service charge amount and not as to who pays how much. My advice to you would be talk to your solicitor at the time of your buying the property. He will have to chase up the seller's solicitor and get this money paid. Basically, even before the sale goes through your solicitor will have to check what is due from the selling owner and get it paid."

I'll pay them €1083.90 which will cover Jan - Jun 05 plus the last few days of Aug '04 to Dec 31 '04.
 
even before the sale goes through your solicitor will have to check what is due from the selling owner and get it paid."
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That's correct - your solicitor should have ensured that the previous owner cleared the balance due to the Mgt Company up to the date of sale. Clearly, the solicitor did not do that. That does not mean the sloicitor is responsible for his apparent error.

In the end, someone will have to pay, and it seems to me you are the only person around now. It's your apartment and your building (or share thereof) that will be affected if the service charges are not paid. It's not a great position to be in, but I think you're stuck with it.
 
That's correct - your solicitor should have ensured that the previous owner cleared the balance due to the Mgt Company up to the date of sale. Clearly, the solicitor did not do that. That does not mean the solicitor is responsible for his apparent error.
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I agree but I would still give him or her a call and get a bit irate and see if he/she will try to get the money out of the last owner.
AFAIK there is no legal obligation on you to pay bills that the last owner left outstanding but it is possible that there was a clause in the contract of sale that both you and the last owner signed that required them to clear all outstanding bills against the property. I'm not sure what the legalities are but I know I was told that I had to pay all service charges due before I sold an apartment a few years back. Have a read of your copy of the contract of sale.
 
This sounds like incompetence on behalf of your solicitor. If you can't get the money out of him/her, you're stuck with it, I'm afraid.
 
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