Management company can't make up their mind...

Monokne

Howdy,
Wanted to run this past you guys in case anyone's had the same issue with mismanaged apartments.

Last year, I paid about half my management fees up front, and then rang them to set up a way of paying them over the next while, which they were fine with. They told me they'd call me back, but never did. The company ran into trouble toward the end of the year and our bins were never changed, insurance not paid, etc, etc so I held off sending them any more cash.

So I got a bill off them at the end of 2010 and the few hundred quid I still owed them had disappeared. I borrowed some cash, paid all this years up front and was happy enough. Now they've sent me a bill for what was left of last years, PLUS a ton of interest, having never responded to me when I contacted them about paying it last year.

I have a friend with a law degree who reckons that since they sent me a bill for my 2011 fees with no mention of what was previously owed and I paid it in full, that they cannot then decide that I did still owe the previous outstanding amount and bill me for it, so I should just refuse to pay. He says I definitely have the legal high ground. I actually don't mind paying them though, but my issue is they are demanding it all in one go which I cannot do.

Wondered if anyone else had dealt with such incompetent management companies and if so, what you did?

Cheers all

Kenny

Ste.phen

IMHO, as regards any alleged 'legal high ground' it depends on whether you had a bill for 2011 or a statement of account showing all invoices and payments. It's not unusual for an invoice to make no mention of other amounts owed from other invoices.

I'm not sure why forgetting to mention a debt in a letter would mean you don't owe them the money anymore, apart from wishful thinking.

Also, it sounds like your management company had serious cash problems and possibly had to change agent, they're likely only getting around to cleaning up the mess left by their predecessors now.

Faolchu

first off you may have actually breached your contract by not paying your 2010 in full or on time depending on the terms in the head lease.

as ste.phen says was is an invoice or statement of account? if its an invoice then it would only be for that accounting period i.e. 2011. if it was a statement of account then it should show all payments made by you and all invoices sent to you from the day you joined. but you're in a transition period with a new agent so thing can slip through the cracks as they try sort out the mess from the old agent.

Also if i remember right E&OE is implied so they can rebill if they sent you an incorrect invoice. maybe they noticed the omission and rebilled? or maybe its a case of they billed you for 2011 seperate to 2010, as in they sent 2 invoices, 2011 with no penelties and 2010 with your late penalties applied?

As for interest, a lot of Management companies are now having to resort to this to get people to pay, I know ours have tried time and again the softly softly approach of writing and asking them to pay and nothing happened so a decision was made to apply a late fee, and it worked lots of people that wanted to pay over 12 months suddenly found the money to pay in full.



I'm curious would you be complaining as much if they said you only owed half of 2011 fees? would you have a person with a law degree review it for you so you had teh "legal higher Ground"? or would you keep quiet and make off like a bandit?

On a side note you mention

The company ran into trouble toward the end of the year and our bins were never changed, insurance not paid, etc, etc so I held off sending them any more cash.

WOW just WOW so you knew they were in trouble, knew you had an outstanding debt and didint pay what you owed. is it any wonder they ended up in that position where they couldnt keep services running. do you think these services are paid for by good intentions? Management companies are not for profit so any money that comes is is spent either on services or for a sink fund for unexpected events or major refurbishments.

also as ste.phen said maybe the new agent is cleaning up the mess left by the old agent. I've experienced it and a lot of others here could tell you horror stories of the piles of crap left to sort out by bad agents and sometimes the newer agent misses a few people debts as they try sort out papers that are just dumped in a box or even as most experience work with no history as the old agent takes their sweet ass time handng it over because its "in storage" and reconcile shareholder accounts this with bank statements and so on

pay your bill that you are legally obliged to that's my advice, and i dont have a law degree

Kosseegan

Monokne wrote: »

I have a friend with a law degree ...

Cheers all

Kenny

Do not do anything you are advised to do by a "friend with a law degree". There is nothing so expensive as a cheap expert. Unless a law graduate goes on to qualify professionally and/or work in a specific area of legal activity, their advice will be useless from a practical point of view.
The best thing to do is negotiate. Offer the the original amount and ask them to waive the interest.