am being asked 4 solicitors costs for unpaid bill but was thrown out of court as i paid it. do i have to pay?

Question

It's from the managment company that manages the flats where I live. It was for an unpaid service charge, but I paid it and they still instructed solicitors and it went to court. The court struck off the case because they didnt respond to their requests. Each time the service charge is due now they send a request for about £300 for the costs but I havent paid it but im worried in case I am legally obliged to.

Answer 1

NO, it was their mistake, not yours. The best thing you can do is put this demand in the hands of a solicitor, and let them deal with it, since they clearly don't want to listen to you. Then they can incur more costs which are not your problem either. Numpties.

Answer 2

The answers given so far are no doubt morally justified in their outrage, but are not much help as regards the legal position.

The first thing to do is check your lease. I suspect there is a clause in there which entitles the manageing agents/freeholder to treat legal costs as service charge - it's very common.
This gives rise to three questions:
1. is it your bill?
2. Are they entitled to charge it, and
3. Can you challenge it.

1. I don't know how many flats there are in your block, but if the freeeholder is treating the legal costs as service charge, it should be split equally across all the flats, irrespective of whetehr you are the 'cause' or not.

2.The lease will indentify exactly what can be levied as service charge. if it's not in the lease, it is irrecoverable.

3. The Leasehold valuation tribunal (LVT) is where to take any service-charge dispute. It's fairly quick, it's fairly simple and it's failry informal. And it's free. Use the servcies of the LVT more regularly and it'll keep your freeholder in check

As an aside: Have you not considered buying the freeehold?

Answer 3

If you instructed a solicitor then you have to pay them unless you asked the court for an order for costs; that is to say an order compelling your opponent to pay your costs in defending the case. If you did not ask then you have to pay your own costs but not theirs.

If they are making spurious demands for payment then you can be equally insistent about your costs, possibly wasted costs, in having to go back to court for an order that you are not responsible for their legal costs.

You are not legally obliged to pay any court costs unless you are ordered by the court to do so, but if you keep getting demands then you should perhaps go back to court for finality to the matter. Don't forget to ask for your costs!

The Service Charges (Summary of Rights and Obligations and Transitional Provision) Regulations set out the form that a landlord must send with any demand for a tenant or leaseholder to pay their service charges. Any demand from the landlord for payment must be accompanied by an L&T205 form setting out your rights. Section 152 requires landlords to provide a statement of the service charge account to tenants within six months of the end of the accounting period. Section 156 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 requires landlords to hold service charge monies for separate groups of service charge payers in separate client accounts. Make sure that your landlord has complied with the correct notice requirements. In the case of Sinclair Gardens Investments (Kensington) Ltd v Poets Chase Freehold Company Ltd, for example, the High Court held that an initial notice that failed to meet the statutory requirements was invalid.

Answer 4

No just keep paying the service charge but keep a full record of the case that was thrown out. To get the £300 they need to take you to court again and you can produce your evidence so it get thrown out again. It might be a good idea to write to them by recorded delivery telling them you are doing this and keep a copy of the letter. They are clearly incompetent. Also if you know who the owners of the building are who are employing the management company you could send them a copy of your letter.

Answer 5

It could all depend on exactly when you paid the outstanding charge that was owing.

If you can prove that you made payment before they advised you that the matter would be taken to court, then you shouldn't be liable for the court costs. You should have received notification that you were being taken to court and this should have given a date that you were to pay by.

I suggest you take all relevant paperwork that you have along to your local Citizens Advice Bureau where they can assess what has happened and advise you on the best course of action.

CAB - http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm#searchbox

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

,Your best option is to seek professional advice put your self on the right side of the law. If you are UK based I understand there is a free consultation period with some solicitors,but citizens advice is also a good idea for you to begin, but do not in any event ignore any demand from the management company.

Answer 7

Hi
If you have all the paper work on this, IGNORE ALL DEMANDS but keep the letters after an amount of time -say 6 months- write to them and inform them that you will proceed with a court case agents them for harassment unless thy diciest,

Answer 8

If YOU hired a solicitor, you have to pay them. You can only be required to pay THEIR solicitor if the COURT orders you to. If the court dismissed the case without issuing that order, they are not going to issue the order.

Answer 9

Get some advice from the CAB, take that to the management group and then let them take you to court again. There should be a lot of precident for this sort of thing.

Answer 10

go back to the original magistrate`s office clerk for your answer, they may be able to releive you of your burden the same way the original problem was solved, all to your advantage