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Original poster

A right good Rodgering and the £500 service charge...

299 replies

Hiphopapotamus4 · 21/05/2017 07:53

Sorry for not coming back sooner with an update. To be honest I was a bit creeped out that more than one of you had looked on Rightmove at every single house for sale in the entire county. I mean, there are literally thousands, who has the time for that?!
But also I didn't want to be like the Victorian safe poster and some of you did offer some helpful suggestions so I am back.

The bad news is, this is looking more like a scam. The council don't have any record of it and the local landowners and parish council know nothing either.
Roger called a street meeting and the 10 houses that pay agreed that a "man from the council" had come round years ago to explain what it was for and they have all paid it since. The other house that doesn't pay and us are much newer to the street which explains why we don't pay and neither of our solicitors mentioned anything when purchasing.
Some of them have a direct debit set up and some of them send a cheque. The bank details and address are different to the council tax ones Sad
Roger has reported this to the police and I'm awaiting further updates from him.
Some of them want to keep paying it because they are convinced it's real and don't want to get behind on their payments. Two of them think we are just kicking up a fuss to try and get out of paying it Confused

The general consensus at the end of the meeting was that it might be a scam, but it might not be. I'm convinced that it is Sad

Sad news all round really (but Rodger did come and now my lawn with his new mower!)

OP posts:
FlouncingInTheRain · 21/05/2017 08:47

I wonder if a community police officer would offer a bit of advice at a neighbourhood meeting to update on common scams and protection for your neighbours. They may feel more reassured from someone in uniform.

Palomb · 21/05/2017 08:48

Bloody hell! How many houses are we talking about?

If I were you I'd have to go round the surrounding streets and see if anyone else was paying it but I'm incredibly nosey like that.

TupperwareTat · 21/05/2017 08:48

Its shocking OP. But Im glad you are unvestigating.

How much a year is someone making?

How many years have they been paying?

rightwhine · 21/05/2017 08:50

I really hope they can trace the culprits from the bank details. Thanks for updating op.

booellesmum · 21/05/2017 08:51

Thank you for updating and well done.
Just imagining if the scammers managed to get even a handful of people in each street in your town how that would add up. They must be rolling in it.
Hopefully now they'll be caught.

wowfudge · 21/05/2017 08:52

Good that Roger has contacted the police. They will probably pass it on to Action Fraud. The other thing he can do, is contact the bank. The sort code can identify the bank and branch, or group of branches in the same location. Unless of course the details are for an online bank.

ASDismynormality · 21/05/2017 08:55

That's an impressive scam. I wonder how many other households are paying to this person.

Well done OP for looking into this.

MollyHuaCha · 21/05/2017 08:56

Shocking scam. OP, sounds like you are a bit of a hero! StarStarStarStarStar

SheSaidHeSaid · 21/05/2017 08:56

Like I said in my first thread way, way back. Service charges have to be demanded in a particular way and if they're not then they're not legally due. It'd be pretty evident pretty quickly to someone in the know about them whether this £500 is a real service charge or not pretty quickly because of this.

The landlord and tenant act 1985 and 1987 are the main ones which apply here. I am a managing agent for residential developments and I'd very quickly be able to tell whether it's real or not so you could always ask the advice of a managing agent you or someone you know knows of for their advice. Or contact ARMA (association of residential managing agents), I'm sure they'd help.

DontTouchTheMoustache · 21/05/2017 08:58

Oh God, how many years has this been going on for? I really hope the police can trace them. What a disgusting thing to do!

cricketballs · 21/05/2017 08:59

DH's GM is of the type to keep paying unless the police themselves would tell her to stop as she is so scared of not leaving the family debt to sort out. MIL now is in charge and has several times had to stop payments

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 21/05/2017 09:04

if it is a scam then they will surely be able to trace this money very easily....all into the same account, and presumably someone is spending it/transferring it.

CherylVole · 21/05/2017 09:05

Did anyone ever appear in person to collect it?

trixymalixy · 21/05/2017 09:07

This is shocking! This must have been a right little earner for the scammers and I'm betting they have done this to others too.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 21/05/2017 09:09

Bloody hell! As Belleende said it makes you wonder if it's only your street, someone could have literally not have had to work for a god damned penny for a decade because they've been bankrolled by this scam! Your poor neighbours Shock Sad Angry

WTG though Hiphopapotamus4 - you should get a medal of sorts nudges MNHQ 👍👏👏🏅

Fragglez · 21/05/2017 09:10

How awful! Hopefully the scammer can be traced and prosecuted, with any luck they won't have kept up with the advances in security and banking regs and will be found easily. Bastards.

GeekyWombat · 21/05/2017 09:11

Well done OP on chasing this up. Hopefully your neighbours will involve the police, this is crazy!

Msqueen33 · 21/05/2017 09:12

This is so very sad

Dianneabbottsmathsteacher · 21/05/2017 09:12

Bastards how can people do this to other people especially elderly vulnerable people.

Justmadeperfectflapjacks · 21/05/2017 09:13

Hiphop Private Eye has a good ring to it!!

SoupDragon · 21/05/2017 09:16

I would have thought it would be easy to find the owners of the bank account.

smellylittleorange · 21/05/2017 09:18

Well done OP.Flowers sorry SOME of us for a bit stalkery but thanks for coming back to update

Fluffy24 · 21/05/2017 09:25

Hard to believe an illegal scam would use bank transfer/DD but wonder if it's a pseudo-legitimate thing, e.g. the culprit will say 'oh yes, I fully explained to the vulnerable home owner than the £500 was for coming out once a year on the 30th February and polishing their letterbox and they agreed'.

Either way I really hope they put a stop to it!

BarbaraofSeville · 21/05/2017 09:26

Oh how awful, but probably quite easy to do, especially a few years ago and especially if the victims were trusting and not internet confident.

Really hope it's a one off and not widespread. When I read your first thread I googled 'bogus service charge scam' and couldn't find anything about freehold properties so lets hope it's not a thing, just lots of issues, which are completely separate, about those linked to leasehold.

Re the 'direct debit' it's probably actually a Standing Order, which is different. I think only official organisations can collect money by direct debit, and there is a code of conduct. Standing Orders are controlled by the payer, who simply tells their bank to send a set amount of money at a set frequency, which can go to any bank account, private or a business etc.

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