Hi
I was hoping someone on here might know something about this please. One of the flat owners in our building is refusing to pay the management company charges. This person is also a director of the management company. Does anyone know if they are legally obliged to pay?
Thanks
SabreCat

The answer will generally lie in the lease. It is there that you will find a covenant (a promise in writing) to pay the service charge. Failure to pay is a breach of the covenant and the landlord/freeholder can forfeit the lease. The difficulty will be in getting the landlord/freeholder to enforce the covenant on behalf of the other lessees.

You should take advice from a solicitor.

This isn't legal advice but ....... the person refusing to pay is on quite tricky ground. Even if they have a valid problem with the company they should be taking this up separately and resolving it. Somebody refused to pay at the flats where I used to live and ended up with a solicitors letter on their mat. The conclusion was that they paid all the outstanding charges and the legal bill! If this person has a gripe about the way things are done they should address it.

Thanks for your help. We are trying to sell our flat for the second time and it is making things really difficult.

oh dear. You definitely need legal advice on this one. These sorts of things can be protracted, complicated, costly, and frustrating.

You need to get yourself full information on who exactly is not paying, why, and how much money is involved.

It may turn out to be a simple misunderstanding (he is late, not refusing to pay, or he has already paid but the payment hasn't been acknowledged, or he has carried out a repair himself and witheld that amount from his service charge bill); or it may turn out to be more complicated.

Without full information, all you can do is worry.

Ary.