Freeholder

[Truly Skint]

Hi

I have a rental property which I have owned for 8 years. I have recently received a demand from the freehold manager for a tenat registration fee payable for eaach new tenancy. I have not had this demand before nor have I ever seen this demand at any time since purchasing the property.

Can somebody advise on whether this it is legal to place such a demand if no notificatiopn was received at the time of purchase ? The only demand that IO am aware os is the ground rent which I pay religiously

Any assistance woud be greatly received

Many thanks

[Carryon Regardless]

Sounds similar to Estates & Management.

They have bought freeholds cheap and then aim to make profit where possible. Often they claim for items not within the specific deed. Their letters are generic I expect.

I had a request from E & M (nearly 6 years ago) to inform them of existing extensions, double glazing, sky dishes and more, I ignored it. I knew from other reports that they would request a £250 fee for each item so to my mind they would have to get off their butts and find out what had been done to claim for.

How will they know what tenancies you have or have had ?

If not already in your AST inform T's to pass all such correspondence to you, it's not their business to communicate with them anyway.,

I would imagine that soon enough you will be offered the rights to purchase. Be cautious as often the rights have been divided in some way so what you buy is only part.

Any one can claim for anything, legally. If such a claim could be justified in court is beyond my knowledge and possibly down to the double Dutch wording of a 100 year old document. Let 'em work for it, make 'em state the terms they are claiming under 'if they pursue'.

[Richlist]

Another cynical reply from CoR. Freeholds often come up for sale and they are bought for the income they can generate.....I've nearly bought them myself in the past.

If your lease permits the freeholder to charge for tenant registration then they can charge.

Check if your lease contains permission for them to do this and if so pay up. Your solicitor should have pointed this out to you at purchase but, no matter if they weren't charging, if the lease allows it then they can do it now.

[Truly Skint]

Thank you both. In all honesty, I cant recall seeing a copy of the lease documentation. Would this have been provided by the solicitor as part of the propertypurchase ?

[Mortitia]

The full lease should have been looked over by your solicitor as time of purchase. He could still have a copy on file so ask to see it. The main lease is probably with your lender and they will charge for you to have a copy. Try the solicitor 1st and don't get sucked into an appointment to discuss what they should have told you at the outset.

Mortitia