2008 Community fees, I didn't buy until 2009!

Hi

I've just had 45.51 euros taken from my bank account for Oct, Nov and Dec 2008 community fees, but I didn't buy our apartment until Sept 2009!

I've challenged ML on this and was sent the following passage which basically indicates that I am liable for the charge and it looks like I'm also expected to pay for the Jan to Aug 2009.

I never signed up to this and it can't be right that I'm paying charges for a period when I didn't even own the property.

Looks like I'm being made to pay for someone else's tardiness in not collecting the fees originally

Has anybody else experienced this?

I'd like this raised at the next meeting with ML are the Presidents prepared to raise this?

Thanks

Who did you purchase the Property From?

Hi Mick

I bought through PW as the estate agent but the property was originally owned by another UK guy, however I can't really see the relevance of that.

The conveyance was performed by solitors and title was passed to me on 17th Sept. 2009, all of which I can evidence with the deeds.

Regards

Adrian 

 Adrian,

The law states that when a property is transferred the seller must provide a certificate stating that either the property is debt free or the amount of the outstanding debt.  This should then be written in to the deeds.  The only way out of this is for the buyer to sign a waver foregoing this requirement.   ( I can post the paragraph from the HPA if you need )

So, you should check your deeds and with our lawyers.

Unfortunately Mileniun are acting within the law, as the new owner should of been made aware of any outstanding debt at the time of purchase, so the problem lies not with them but either the lawyer or the Notary if it's not in your deeds.

Phil

I can remember people stating this previously.  People were worried that some owners may refuse to pay their community fees and then sell the property and leave the community out of pocket.

Several people pointed out that the fees stayed with the property so owners couldn't get around paying their fees.

Phil do you know if the banks are being hit up for any properties they took off Polaris or if Polaris have paid for the properties they still own.

Shane

 Hi Shane,

Both PW and the banks are paying the fees on their properties, but sometimes they get a month or two behind.

So, my advice to any prospective buyer would be to ensure that the properties are up to date on their fees before buying.  As I have said below, it is s legal requirement to declare any debt so if there is one, either insist it is paid or get it deducted from the price.

Phil

I had a similar issue with the 2008 Payments not being paid by the previous owner, which I have now had to pay and I have asked my solicitor to try and recover as they should have checked this for me before buying.

But what I have been told is that PW never requested any payments from anybody for 2008, therefore when my solicitor did a check for outstanding bills, the only payments outstanding were for 2009 and the solicitor held the money back from the sale price to pay off the fees for 2009.

So Phil is correct and the solicitor should have done a search and held back any payments not paid by the previous owner for 2009. But if nobody has requested the money for 2008 until now, then it would not have shown up.

It is now ML that is requesting this money for the first time and when I contacted them about this I was told it was all legal and they provided me with a detailed document to prove it, which I gave to my Solicitor to check. Hopefully the solicitor wont charge me for this, as I have accused them of missing the outstanding fees.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Marshman

Yes, my solicitor did the same and held back some money for payments not made by the previous owner which included money owed in Community Charges, IBI, Non residents tax and money owing to the water & electricity companies.

I'll check out 2008/2009 situation.

Thanks for the advice.