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!)

Because it adds to the excitement!

If it is an unadopted road then:

Does it ever get gritted when it snows?

Do you have any potholes? Who mends them?

Our Roger always wears a bright coloured sweater over a shirt and beige chinos.

When it snows and the children on the road come out to play in it he turns an alarming shade of puce.

The Roger on my old street wore shorts year round and took off his tshirt to reveal a mahogany coloured beer belly, between 1st April and 31st October.

Ystarted reading this thread at the beginning, and now it's 23 pages long!

Haven't read it all, so,not quite sure why Roger features. I knew a Roger at school are was tall, so that's how I think of Rogers.

The neighbours will be pleased if they are getting a several thousand pound refund. I can't believe no-one has questioned it either before.

Intriguing. My parents live on a private road, no sign to indicate it's private, and they don't pay a service charge. However, when they wanted the road tarmacked (previously not) they had to agree with everyone if they wanted it doing, and how much they each pay based on who drives over most and who wanted it most etc - some people refused to pay as they were happy with it rough, others desperately wanted it done and paid more!

Pancakes, I read that link you posted and it's incredible especially as it's not just one flat but so many others as well. Looks like the solicitors are trying to dodge some responsibility, like the guy said the conveyancing was what he paid them for after all. Likewise why are they doing so much work on this case 'free of charge' if they're not in any way liable. That's not usual lawyer behaviour ime although to be fair I know nothing on this subject

We used to live on an unadopted estate. We paid for all the roads, street lighting, grass cutting, play parks.. for a whole estate it was less than £500 a year!

I find Pancakes link fascinating. In reality I can't see how the solicitor is at fault. They did the checks on the right house, the buyer took the keys to the wrong house. Our solicitor never actually turned up to our house to check we were moving into the right one.

We live on a new build estate. Ours and a few streets are HA. A few further up were affordable housing.

A woman who lives in 1 of the bought houses told me she had a service charge to pay each year. About £300 I think. When questioned the council told her it was for the green space we had.

However the 'green space' that the developer had to gift back to the council and give the council a lump sum to develop the green space was actually sold by the council to another developer.

So the local council made a green space and a portion of land being gifted back to them as a regulation for planning.

Took a lump sum from the developer to develop the land.

Sold the land and 'invested' the lump sum into a park 1.5 miles away.

And then charged local residents to maintain the green space that is currently part derelict land and part overflow carpark for a local business.

Neighbour now doesn't pay the service charge and has tried desperately to find out when we are getting our green space.

So you should never just blindly pay charges you don't understand.

Roger is married to Margaret. She drinks a bit too much but they both love their grandchildren.

.

We had a charge for the septic tank when we lived in a courtyard development. The tank was on a local farmer's land and fees kept going up. Two new barn conversions were built and one neighbour told us that "they do not have to pay it" because they had an agreement when they moved in. What? they get to use the septic tank while the rest of us pay for it. Who did they have the agreement with?

We also live down a private road. When we bought our solicitor told us there was nothing in the deeds requiring us to contribute towards maintenance. Again, the owner renovated a barn and dug the road up for utilities. He then asked us to pay to put it back. We refused, his road, his mess up.

This is very strange and it is a lot of money. I hope you get to the bottom of it. The estate agents wont know because they do not have access to the deeds. However, they can ring the solicitors acting for the sellers.

228agreenend The OP said one of her neighbours is called Roger, and he is taking it upon himself to go round to all the houses in the road to ask them nosey questions about their finances whether they are paying the £500.
Kind of spiralled from there. It seems that every road has one.

We'd better not fill this thread up before the OP gets back (from work!!! Huh. What a lack of dedication to the thread) and can't find us to update.

Suddenly being a property lawyer sounds exciting - and potentially as entertaining to watch on a Saturday night as tracking down villains.

Could this be the next Nordic-noir entertainment or would that be too much Ikea for anyone's weekend?

(Nordic-blanc ?)

Totally changing the subject here but why do so many people placemark threads like this?

It ends up making the threads far longer than they would be otherwise.

My question is who becomes Roger's when the Roger's are all gone?

You never see anyone under 40 called Roger.. maybe the next generations Roger is actually called Levi or Tyrion

How very weird. Please ask the EA and tell us what they say!

Place marking!

Our street's Roger wears a high visibility vest.

OP - on your way home from work check Rogers spreadsheet to see who pays and who doesn't and then check your neighbours to see what the ones paying all have that you haven't....

...and then let us know if you think its worth £500 a year....

...and will you be getting one??

You won't need to speak to the council on her behalf....you just need to let them know you haven't had 'the bill for serivce charges" and hopefully they will say "What service charges??"

Our Roger comes around in the evening before pick up to make sure no one has put out the wrong bins.