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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

999 replies

Hiphopapotamus4 · 16/05/2017 21:20

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!)

OP posts:
DonkeyExplosion · 17/05/2017 09:44

The council probably won't speak to you in the first instance if you just ring up. However, if you go round to her house and make the call together - so your neighbour calls, gives the relevant ID details and then says she'd like you to handle the call for her, that ought to be okay I reckon.

whydoesitalwayshappentome · 17/05/2017 09:44

It just seems strange to me that the bill only says service charge. In my view surely a council generated bill would detail the breakdown of said service charge?

DeepfriedPizza · 17/05/2017 09:45

parks butt

sheepflower · 17/05/2017 09:49

This sounds like a scan sadly, hope you get to the bottom of it. Good luck. Confused

Magpiemagpie · 17/05/2017 09:49

My parents house back on to a private piece of land owned by the electricity board
There is two gates at either end and you can drive up it to access your back garden & drive

All of the houses that surround it around 150 in total all pay £200 a year to have a key and to drive to their house / driveways

Sionella · 17/05/2017 09:49

You need to go onto the land registry website and order a copy of your title, OP. Usually costs about £3. That will tell you if you're freehold and if there are any services due, or leasehold, with a ground rent/other services.

Without that, you can't know if you owe anything or not. There is also a 6 year time limit on service charge and rent claims, so even if you do have to pay it, it will be capped!

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 17/05/2017 09:51

someone mentioned Bristol upthread, and I know lots of houses are built on old mining areas and people are prone to wake up in the morning, open their back doors and find a gaping abyss to the centre of the earth out there instead of their lovely back garden.

so it could be some sort of "insurance" maybe

I am laying my money on the no street light/unadopted road scenario though.

IfYouGoDownToTheWoodsToday · 17/05/2017 09:51

I dont think it's a scam.

We once bought a house on an unadopted, I remember our solicitor looking into whether or not there was a service charge and finding out there wasn't. But there can be, from the council if the Rd is unadopted. We were liable for the upkeep of the lane, so I wonder if in your case OP, the council is responsible for the road so this charge is to cover that.

OP! If you phone on behalf of your lady neighbour, make sure she's with you as the council will want to speak to her to ask her permission, for you to speak on her behalf.

PaddingtonLoverOfMarmalade · 17/05/2017 09:55

When I owned a housing association property I had to pay a service charge. But they sent a statement each year breaking down how much had been spent, and if they did major work they'd get quotes beforehand (and placemarking, obviously.)

ClarkWGriswold · 17/05/2017 09:55

This is like the Sandpiper scam on Better Call Saul - with elderly people and everything! You need to call Jimmy McGill

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 17/05/2017 09:57

Is it an old British by-law that every road/cul-de-sac has to have a "Roger?"

Yes, I live in a cul de sac with Roger 2 doors down!

noenemee · 17/05/2017 09:57

@SouthPole, surely a service charge demand has to be accompanied, by law, with a Summary of (tenants') Rights and Obligations?

perhaps this was Andrew the neighbour just didn't provide it. It's all very odd.

thatdearoctopus · 17/05/2017 10:00

Our Roger was a bastard. Then he died and the house was sold.
Hey presto! A new Roger moved in.

I rest my case.

NancyJoan · 17/05/2017 10:01

OP. Leave work. This is more important.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 17/05/2017 10:01

You know if you don't have a "Roger" on your street it's probably you...

Blatherskite · 17/05/2017 10:01

How very odd. It can only be a scam surely?

LindaBoughtAPeaShooter · 17/05/2017 10:02

I'm intrigued as to what this might be - imagine if it was a mistake and your neighbours got a huge refund. You'd be a hero. Although I'm sure, somehow, Roger would take the credit...Grin

Sunnymeg · 17/05/2017 10:02

I think that the unadopted road scenario is the most likely. If there is a charge which you are liable for, then it should have been flagged up by your conveyancing solicitor when the property was purchased. If there is a charge that you were unaware of you can then take it up with the solicitor. They have to have insurance against this sort if error. Otherwise it may be that your house doesn't have any liability for payments whereas other houses do, this might be to do with when the houses were actually built and sold originally. My Mum lives in a cul de sac of six houses. Five houses have to pay for the upkeep of the road, the first one built doesn't as when it was originally sold the tarmac hadn't been laid and it was a dirt track. Something like that could be possible and might mean your property is exempt from the service charge.

KrayKray00 · 17/05/2017 10:03

Oh yes, it is an old British Law because I live in a cul-de-sac with a Roger too!

not placemarking or anything...

rizlett · 17/05/2017 10:04

My Roger's right next door - but I also have a Brian..

Middleoftheroad · 17/05/2017 10:04

Any news OP? Not been this intrigued since Police 5

Gileswithachainsaw · 17/05/2017 10:06

You know if you don't have a "Roger" on your street it's probably you

Grin I just spat out my coffee

Is there some kind of checklist to determin our Roger status

Sionella · 17/05/2017 10:06

I have a Roger.

In fact, a Roger and a rogerette. Ironically they can't stand one another!

sunshinemeg · 17/05/2017 10:06

There is a car park opposite Bristol zoo. Run for years with a cheap parking fee. One day the attendant didn't show up. The zoo phoned the council. Nothing to do with them. He had been claiming the parking fee for years and when he had enough just disappeared! It's like that I bet

SarahOoo · 17/05/2017 10:06

How do they pay this charge??? To the same account as the council tax?? Someone probably asked this but I'm also placemarking 😂😂