To think our neighbours are ridiculous for paying this and refuse to pay my "share"

[Hiphopapotamus4]

A house on our road came up for sale recently (its empty at the moment, was rented) and as you do, I had a nosey at the particulars on Right Move. In the description in says that there is a service charge of £500 per year. I thought this was odd as we pay no such charge and it's not a flat or leasehold or anything like that so I couldn't figure out what the charge was for.

I ran into another neighbour who made a comment about the price it was for sale for so I commented that I noticed it had a service charge and how odd that was. Neighbour gave me a funny look and said "yes, well we all pay the service charge" I said that we don't and have never been told anything about it or asked for payment. I asked her what it was for exactly and she didn't really know but kept saying "we all have to pay it".

Now, she has obviously been and spoken to some of the other neighbours about this and they are now annoyed that we don't pay when everyone else does. They want us to start paying it so that their share becomes less. However NOBODY knows what it is for, they all just pay it without questioning it. I said I wouldn't be paying anything unless they can tell me what it is for and what "service" I am receiving.

AIBU to think they have all been a bit foolish to pay so much money without questioning it and that they should stop paying it/find out what it's for rather than ask me to contribute!

To be clear, this is a fairly normal road with no communal areas and no "services" (other than the usual bin collections etc). Apparently the invoice just says "service charge" and does not specify exactly what service it is.

(I am currently the "bad neighbour" and need to make amends - may have to bribe the neighbourhood with homemade chocolate brownies then convince them to stage a mass refusal of payment and demand for refunds!)

Intriguing. If they think you contributing would make their share less, then the total bill is a fixed sum (5,500 based on 11 households). If you pay your 500 you are only saving them 50 quid or so, if they are so concerned about 50 quid you would think they would have investigated more about the original charge.
(This may have made more sense in my own head...)

I hope you don't get landed with a huge bill op.

It seems to be a collective charge rather than per house seeing as they say you paying would reduce their payment.

Even more weird.

Everyone stop placemarking and use the watch function, otherwise the op won't be able to come back and update us as the thread will be full

yes that was a placemark

Place marking

How very very odd!

Do you own or rent OP?

aree they sure its to the council not a privatee company for maintenance

still seems a lot though my dsis pays about 150 a year for upkeep of the private green in her road

Sorry if this has already been said but you can search for your own and also a 'liable' neighbour's property deeds on the website below - £3 per property, see of there are any obvious charges etc referred to:

eservices.landregistry.gov.uk

Could it be a parish council charge, there's an area where I live has this, not sure if they have to pay the regular council tax too. Also I used to live on a newish estate, they had a service charge too, was for mowing a postage size stamp patch of grass.
Very strange OP.

They'll be paying it as they're part of a management company. This can also include freehold houses.

Your deeds and their deeds will explain what is and isn't covered by service charges and if indeed you/they're part of a man co. As well as the percentage of total cost they/you should pay.

Presuming you're in England, the landlord and tenant act dictates how service charges are spent, money held & information relating to what the service charges is provided to those who pay it.

I should know, I do this for a living. What I also know is that half the people my company sends service charge invoices to don't understand it or know what they're paying for despite being given all the information as they, for some reason, choose to ignore letters etc.

How peculiar. I've never heard of a service charge being paid by freeholders. Sounds fishy to me

Definitely not fishy. You can be a freeholder but tied in to a management company whereby there are service charges to cover man co costs and maintenance of communal land such as green spaces.

placemarking

Hope you get to the bottom of this.

Popcorn is nice an all but...noodles

This makes absolutely no sense at all

It might be an idea to do some anonymous digging with the EA first just in case it turns out you're in for a massive bill. At least then you won't run the risk of pissing your neighbours off even more by raising the issue again before you know where you stand.

The weird thing is that it's paid to the council. That makes it all official-like.

Also, a flat £500, year in year out, irrespective of number of occupants, size of house, sounds suspiciously like a poll tax. Not saying it's THE poll tax, but potential grounds for dispute, should it come to that.

Have any of the other 11 homes changed hands since you bought yours? Are they paying it?

Are you at one end of the road?

Really hope you don't get lumbered with a £500/pa bill, and you should definitely dispute any request for back payments. In your shoes, I'd check your purchase documents before contacting the council.

Good luck!

🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♀️

This is extremely odd.

Also, OP has neither confirmed not denied she's in Sicily.

Just 🚙 here overnight. 😊

I'm sure the neighbour will be up by now!

Of your neighbours are willingly paying bills that they don't know what they are for. Couldn't you send them all a bill each year for, say, maintenance.

It might be a nice little earner

I'm just wondering, if the new houses are built on the foundations of Alms Houses and the original owners/landowners had decided to build replacements and "charge" later tennants so much, to cover the buildings costs?