Service Charges made easier – SLC

Moving into and living in an apartment block and enjoying the facilities and communal areas is great. Unknown to many residents is that there is a lot of thankless work being undertaken on their behalf by some of their fellow residents who sit on the board of the Residents’ Management Company (RMC).

There can be many challenges ahead for those RMC directors when the decision has been made to manage their own apartment block instead of appointing a managing agent.

One area that can be the most difficult and awkward for RMC directors is having to collect and chase for payment of service charges and ground rents. It is a very sensitive area and demanding money from fellow residents can prove to be thankless.

When a leaseholder does not pay a service charge demand on time, a RMC director then has the task of politely chasing for payment and having no alternative but to warn of potential legal action.

Once that final stage is reached and payment has not been made by the leaseholder it is better then for the RMC directors to keep themselves at arms length and instruct a solicitor to get involved as in most cases the late paying leaseholder is probably not communicating with the RMC.
Choosing which law firm to use is the next process the directors will have to go through. Whilst forfeiture proceedings are the ultimate remedy for non payment, the legal process is relatively straightforward once payment is not made by the leaseholder, but it is important to use a firm of solicitors that has experience in and specialist knowledge of dealing with these issues – a law firm that understands the urgency of making sure arrears are recovered quickly, to enable the apartment block to be maintained and managed as everyone would like.

Most modern leases allow for recovery of all legal costs to be paid for by the late paying leaseholder, as such, a firm such as SLC Solicitors will not ask for any payment of fees from the RMC as they recover costs from the defaulting leaseholder. The benefit being that whatever cash flow the RMC has, it can retain those funds for general maintenance and expenses rather than pay them away in legal costs.

The process of transfer to SLC is very easy and the recovery of monies due can be commenced within 24 hours of receipt of the relevant details of the debt.

Not only do we recover all our legal costs, which means the RMC doesn’t get charged, but we also recover late payment interest on the debt and any reasonable administration charges that the RMC might levy on the leaseholder for late payment.

To find out more about how easy it is to instruct us and how we can help you turn your arrears into payments quickly please call us on
0845 1 700 700 and ask to speak with Karen Bolland or Neil Shearing.

We won’t start the clock running when you call!

Neil Shearing, SLC Solicitors
www.servicechargearrears.com