Residents Fee

[josadler7]

Hi
I live on a small, mostly private housing estate where we have a management company setup to administer the common areas – children’s play area, fences and a few areas of grass here and there. All residents have to pay two payments of £35 a year to help with upkeep. This is normally no problem but one resident has refused payment for the last few years. She gives no reason and is not short of money, she just doesn’t want to pay.
The outstanding sum is now >£300, does anybody have a similar experience or know how to deal with this?
Thank you.
J

[murraymints]

When you say have to pay....is it written into lease...condition of sale etc or is it something your man co has stipulated ?

[josadler7]

Yes it's in the deeds

[murraymints]

If it were in Scotland I would formally request payment by recorded delivery letter and if she does not cough up seek redress through small claims court.. give her 28 days to make payment advise in your letter that failure to pay will result in small claims procedure.. don't know if you abysmally claims courts in England though..

[Baldric]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Business-and-Finance/Personal-Finance/Question1224725.html

[murraymints]

Have ....predictive thingy going mad

[The Builder]

She's clearly in breach of the conditions of her lease. I would guess the Management Co. could take her to the Small Claims Court.

Keep looking in here. Buildersmate will probably pick this up.

[murraymints]

You have small claims court in England builder ? Then defo that's what I'd do...

[buildersmate]

I guess a cheap starting point could be name and shame - but perhaps everyone on the estate already knows and she's just thick-skinned?

After that, it sounds like a good one for Small Claims Court as I agree it is hard to see how she is not in breach of some contractual obligation that she has signed.

[DocHH]

Could the Management Company place a charge for any outstanding fees on the property of the non-payer, which would be payable on the sale of the property? Interest might also be chargeable. I suspect any Solicitor dealing with the sale and/or purchase would wish that the debt was settled prior to the sale being completed.

[buildersmate]

Indeed they could, and that is an option available to ANY creditor when their debtor is a property owner. However it requires a Court Order firstly and that is infinitely more costly than going to the Small Claims Court.

[Maydup]

Perhaps the management company could pay a solicitor to write a single letter demanding payment within 7 days or further legal action will follow. It usually works.

[boxtops]

sounds good to me, maydup - I bet she still benefits from the estate looking nice.

[murraymints]

Doesn't need a solicitor to write requesting payment with view to small claims court proceedings....have done it myself successfully on several occasions in

[society]

Maydup suggestion is exactly what was done when I had similar problem some years ago, and it worked.