Admin charges for an unpaid invoice I didn't receive...?

Transform_IT

Transform_IT

Transform_IT

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2012
Posts
482
Hi all,

Me and my wife live on a new build estate and have done it for 4.5 years. We pay an annual maintenance fee for the upkeep of the gardens and other areas. - the amount changes each year. We receive the invoice/charge annually (it runs from Jan - Jan; however, it usually doesn't arrive until mid-April). We only received this year's charge last Friday, with a threatening letter saying that if we didn't pay immediately, they would take us to court. Due to the apparent outstanding payment, they have slapped a £60.00 administration charge.

We have always paid these immediately on receipt of the invoice (which is never received in January and usually appears in March/April). I have challenged the admin fee and asked for proof of postage for the previously claimed requests. They have responded, saying it is still payable and must be sent within seven days.

Any thoughts on where I stand?

Thanks,

T_IT.
 
Stand your ground, what with the post service at the minute I don't see how even proof of postage is worth anything, you'd need proof of delivery surely.

As above though, do it yourself.
 
Tell them you have not received that invoice. Requested evidence with address of postage by third party, stamped proof it was posted via royal mail, and evidence that it was received by you.

Inform them you will be making the payment minus the fine . Also request payment of you postage and admin fee ( your hourly rate) regarding your response to the letter dated xxxxx.
 
Mail sent by regular first class post is deemed served for legal purposes, no proof required. That said, whether you have to pay in your particular case is another matter. Check the terms of your contract and seek legal advice, because IANAL and probably YANAL and everyone else here INAL and if they are they won't tell you for free anyway. :p
 
Mrwong said:
Tell them you have not received that invoice. Requested evidence with address of postage by third party, stamped proof it was posted via royal mail, and evidence that it was received by you.

Inform them you will be making the payment minus the fine . Also request payment of you postage and admin fee ( your hourly rate) regarding your response to the letter dated xxxxx.
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As above, first class is served. You can't unilaterally charge them for replying, as there's been no consideration or agreement to terms lol. Just speak to a human there, OP and tell them you're happy to pay on receipt of the invoice (which you have now just received). If they get arsey say you dispute you owe the extra admin fee, pay the invoice amount immediately and see how you get on. Likely if you have to live there and they have a contractual hold over you, it's going to be cheaper and easier on the BP to just cough up. I'd fight first though... Don't want them getting cosy issuing 'admin fees' on the first "second" invoice every year because they know people just cough up.
 
Phone them like a reasonable grown up and explain. Most companies admin staff are not into drama and just want it sorted to move onto the next garbage issue they need to deal with.
 
Transform_IT said:
Hi all,

Me and my wife live on a new build estate and have done it for 4.5 years. We pay an annual maintenance fee for the upkeep of the gardens and other areas. - the amount changes each year. We receive the invoice/charge annually (it runs from Jan - Jan; however, it usually doesn't arrive until mid-April). We only received this year's charge last Friday, with a threatening letter saying that if we didn't pay immediately, they would take us to court. Due to the apparent outstanding payment, they have slapped a £60.00 administration charge.

We have always paid these immediately on receipt of the invoice (which is never received in January and usually appears in March/April). I have challenged the admin fee and asked for proof of postage for the previously claimed requests. They have responded, saying it is still payable and must be sent within seven days.

Any thoughts on where I stand?

Thanks,

T_IT.
Click to expand...
Only by reading fully the terms and conditions of any contracts you have signed can someone answer your question. Anything other is pure guesswork.

I have to mention this seemingly minor point as it's a real bugbear of mine. It's not "me and my wife". Even if you despise her, it's "my wife and I" ;) Sorry for the pedantry, it's something that's always irked me excessively for some reason...

A sixty quid administration charge sounds a lot to me, good luck if you resist.
 
I don't get how first class post can be considered as served. At the minute were missing loads of mail we were expecting months ago, hospital letters we know get sent on a specific day arrive weeks later on average.
 
Malevolence said:
Tell them to jog on, and from now on you'll not be paying as you're going to start looking after your own garden.
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robj20 said:
As above though, do it yourself.
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If it's the same as the maintenance fee I pay it's not optional. Some company is paid by everyone in the new build area to look after common areas and stuff. I dunno, every time they send a letter detailing what they've been spending it on it seems it mostly goes to admin of collecting the money...
 
Malevolence said:
Tell them to jog on, and from now on you'll not be paying as you're going to start looking after your own garden.
Click to expand...

It'll likely be a service fee similar to ground rent, so it'll be part of the property covenants that the owner will need to pay.

One thing OP, if you know it arrives around mid April, why have you left it 2 months rather than chase up to find a bill is due? You'll know from your covenants that it's a service that needs to be paid for every year you own the property.
 
Personally I'd phone them and tell them in no uncertain terms you are happy to pay the the invoice amount but not the "admin" charge. I would then pay the invoice amount and consider the matter closed.

The court expect both parties to make a reasonable attempt to resolve the situation and small claims (which is most likely what this would be) should be a last resort. They would also consider whether the admin fee is reasonable, which - lets face it - £60 for sending a reminder letter isn't even close.

The above advice is not based on any kind of legal background and IANAL, however personally I'd be happy to take the risk purely on principle because to be perfectly honest I can't stand lying, cheating, money grabbing little **** scumbag **** like these cowboys sound like.

If they want to be little **** about it, I'd also start taking note of what maintenance is done and when, and if it's not 100% perfect and on time, I'd be raising a formal complaint every single time and demanding a rebate for breach of contract. You almost certainly won't actually get any kind of refund, but regardless, it's going to cost them time (and so money) to have to constantly deal with you. If they want to be **** and charge you a ridiculous admin fee, they can damn well earn it ;). But then I'm petty, and take great pleasure in messing with incompetent **** who can't do their jobs properly (sadly seems to be an ever increasing number of people/companies these days :()
 
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I paid the invoice Monday night - £270.00. Today I received this response:

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we do not send out any post out via recorded delivery however if you would like me to do this in future we can do so at a cost to yourself.

I understand that you state you have not received any correspondence from us but from our point of view we cannot see why you wouldn’t have received it if we have the correct address for you and numerous letters have been sent and received. As a gesture of good will I am going to reduce the admin fee to £30.00 from £60.00 making the outstanding balance on your account £300.00. As offered previously a payment plan for the outstanding balance would be £50.00 a month for the period July to December 2023. This will allow you to bring the account up to date monthly then moving forward we now have your email address so correspondence can be emailed over to you to ensure you get a copy.

Please let me know if you are happy with my proposal and I will make a note on your account.
 
I am tempted to respond with this - thoughts:

Good afternoon,

I sent the £270.00 payment on Monday, 20/06/2022, following receipt of the letter I received on Friday, 17/06/2022. This should be in your account; please let me know if it hasn't arrived.

As previously stated, I haven't received any previous requests regarding this invoice/payment. During the period you claim these requests have been sent, I have been in touch with your office via phone and email for the past several months while undergoing remortgage, and not once has it been mentioned this payment was outstanding. In answer to your comment stating the following: I understand that you state you have not received any correspondence from us but from our point of view we cannot see why you wouldn't have received it if we have the correct address for you and numerous letters have been sent and received. I don't believe that is a satisfactory response, considering the pressures and stress Royal Mail have been under recently and the staff shortages they are still facing, which has left thousands of parcels and letters undelivered.

You talk about reducing the admin fee from £60.00 to £30.00 as a gesture of goodwill, and I am unsure what you mean by a gesture of goodwill? You are emailing me regarding this, and spending so much time makes me question if a percentage of the annual charge is to cover administration charges. Whilst I don't typically charge for my time, as I am extremely busy with work/life, should you continue to request payment of an admin charge, for every response I send, I, too, will be invoicing for administration charges.

Kind regards,
 
Does your lease allow for an administration charge to made in these circumstances? If your lease does not then the Management Company needs to prove that they have the authority to make sure a charge. They can’t simply charge you for something if the Lease does not specifically allow them to do so.

Demands for payment of an Administration Fee must be (by law) accompanied by a ‘summary of tenant’s rights and obligations’. If no such summary was included you are legally entitled to withhold payment of the administration charge. This is stated in Schedule 11 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
 
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