Letter before action

[Shocky1]

Hello,

I received an email from a solicitor representing the landlord and management company (we have a leasehold house) with a 'Letter before action' attached to the email.
It is regarding failure to pay service charges/ground rent despite formal demand. It also states that there are sums owing to the landlord which means we are in breach of our lease. It also goes on to state we are obligated to pay their clients legal costs (not cheap...!)

I accept that we have not paid the service charge therefore I have paid the full amount of money requested (around £900!).

However, we never received any correspondence regarding this matter as it appears the correspondence was sent to our old address.
The 'Letter before action' sent via email was the first correspondence I had received so I was grateful to receive the email from the solicitor. They must have got my email address from the management company.

I informed the solicitor about this and they asked me to send them an email with our correct address so they can pass on to landlord/management company.
I was told by the solicitor I could speak to them regarding the matter on 22nd September.

We bought the house 2 years ago and wrongly assumed the landlord and management company would have our correspondence address as part of conveyancing process.
We did pay our service charge/ground rent last year and we did receive correspondence but that was due to Royal Mail diverting correspondence from our old address to our new address.
With hindsight I should have changed the address then. Lesson learnt!

As I have paid the full amount owed I assume the matter will be closed now and we don't need to worry.
Furthermore, is it worth following up in any way?

Kind regards.

[atticus]

What might you wish to follow up, and with whom?

[Shocky1]

Hi Atticus,

Thanks for your message.

I am really not sure if there is anything worth following up on.
I find it odd that the management company did not have my correspondence address when we bought the house. However, I should have noticed this earlier really!

I assume that now I have paid the money that is owed the matter will be closed and I do not need to worry?

[atticus]

That seems a fair assumption.

[Shocky1]

Thank you Atticus.

I have done some research and I can see that I am not the only one to get stung by correspondence regarding ground rent getting sent to old addresses.
This particular management company is known for it. They then involve their solicitor, freeze the account online and the invoice is emailed.

However, I should have noticed correspondence address was wrong last year. Therefore, I have no desire to pursue this any further!
Although I am surprised they didn't have my correspondence address. I assumed they would have had a notice of transfer when we bought the house?

I spoke to the solicitor and they said I could speak to the management company on 22nd September. Do you suggest I email prior to this date (bearing in mind it normal takes 3-5 days to get a response?).

[R0b]

Although I am surprised they didn't have my correspondence address. I assumed they would have had a notice of transfer when we bought the house?

That's correct. On the TP1 form there is a section that requires an address for notices to be served, mainly for the land registry to contact you if there was something about the property that you need to be aware of like a restriction. This would normally be the address of the property but it can be different and it's your job to make sure this address is up to date at all times. The landlord can also use this address to serve ground rent and service charges.

Your lease agreement might contain your address prior to the one you moved into and you should check that carefully because I assume there will be something in there about serving notices. Again, unless you have agreed otherwise, I would assume that all charges would be sent to the property in question unless either the agreement stipulated that notices are to be sent to the address listed in the agreement (which might be your old address) unless you notify them of a different address for these charges to be served.

Assuming everything has been done properly and the address for serving the charges and rent is the leasehold property, the management company is in the wrong and would not be able to recover any legal fees or other costs and expenses since there would be no breach of contract on your part, but theirs. You've paid the outstanding charges already and that's all you need to pay.

However, if you failed to notify the company of the change of address, then you're at fault and liable to pay whatever the lease says you are responsible for, which as a minimum would be legal and recovery fees. Worst case, you may end up forfeiting your lease as a result of the default, especially if it happens on multiple occasions.

I'm curious how the solicitor found out the 'new' address to serve the letter before action, presumably doing the job of the management company should have done in the first place. I'm not exactly sure what you want to send to the management company or the solicitor unless you know where you stand as the more you engage, the more fees that rack up and you have to potentially pay for.

[Shocky1]

Hi Rob,

Thank you for your message.

I have just found out that our last correspondence with the management company was on Friday 22nd October 2021. We recieved a letter from the management company regarding the upcoming rent review for our property.
The management company used the correct address in this instance so it must be on file as the correspondence address.

The solicitor served the letter by action via email. They must have got my email address from the management company.
I can see that on the letter they list our previous address as correspondence address.

This was the same correspondence address the company who issue the service charge used when they sent the invoice for last years service charges.
In hindsight this is when I should have acted...!

I will check the lease agreement once the management company unlock my account as this is available to view online.

Regarding the address on the TP1 form, will this be available through ordering the title plan and title register online?

However, as stated earlier in the thread I have paid the full amount requested on 12th September including legal fees and administration costs.
The letter before action sent via email was enough to scare me and I didn't want to dispute the claim given the potential consequences if I was wrong.

I also contacted the solicitor on 13th September and they said I can communicate with the management company on 22nd September as the money will have cleared by then. They asked me to send my correspondence address on an email which I did. They said they would pass this on to both of their clients.

[R0b]

Sorry I missed where you said the legal fees were already paid. It's well worth checked the documents but seems strange that they have communicated to your current address previous yet the solicitor has got your old address so something doesn't add up.

If it turns out you are in the right and the management company were wrong, you may want to consider legal action directly against them for the recovery of those additional fees if they were not due as a result of their own negligence - that depends on whether the amount involved is significant enough for you to go down this route.

You could contact the management company to verify the address they have on file but if you have already given it to the solicitor then they could have updated it already by the time you called although doesn't stop you from taking action as above if you so wish.

As for the TP1, that information is usually reserved for the Land Registry to serve notices and communications to you, so it wouldn't be on the title for everyone to see.

[Shocky1]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your advice.

From what I can tell from checking all previous correspondence the management company which manages the service charges has my old address.
They sent a invoice last year regarding service charges to our old address which was diverted to us due to a divert we set up when we moved house. We paid that invoice but in hindsight we should have notified them they had sent it to the wrong address!

I can see that the management company that manages the ground rent must have our new address. As stated in previous message they sent a letter to our new address.

[Shocky1]

Please see above. Continued from previous message...

I have also checked my statement of account on an email and can see I paid the ground rent for this year. Funnily enough the statement has the correct address listed.

Therefore, I can conclude that the management company which manages the service charge does not have my new address and the management company that manages ground rent does have my correct address.
Therefore the solicitor must have got my address from the company which manages service charge and my email address from company which manages ground rent.

I will email both management companies and ask them to verify my correspondence address. Do you suggest I do this today? The solicitor did state I could speak to the management companies from the 22nd onwards.

The solicitor representing both parties did ask me to confirm my correspondence address on an email. Therefore, as you stated in your previous post the solicitor has most likely passed this on to both parties.

I am not sure why one management company has the correct address and the other doesn't.
However, I am glad I have paid the total balance requested. It puts my mind at ease.
I will check the address on the lease when I can access my account which should be tomorrow.

[R0b]

I don't think there is any point speculating and the only way of formally verifying which address notices are to be sent for ground rent and service charges will be detailed in your lease agreement. There should be a notices clause that will explain where notices are sent but also check any ground rent/service charge clause and see what it says there about notices.

Work that one out first and then decide how you want to respond to them in terms of updating your address. Or if you don't care about recovering any overpaid fees or expenses then just contact them tomorrow and make sure it's updated.

The solicitor is their legal rep so you should only converse with them directly unless otherwise told and you have been told you can contact them tomorrow, not today so I suggest you follow that instruction.

[Shocky1]

Hello Rob,

Thanks again for your message.

Would you suggest making contact with the management companies via email or via phone?

Kind regards.

[R0b]

Telephone is fine but I would follow up with an email to confirm what was discussed and that your address for notices of ground rent/service charges should be X, just on the off chance this happens again.