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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:
glitterglitters · 21/05/2017 10:07

@metalmum15 maybe that's why he bought the new mower. One last hoorah before it all goes pear shaped Grin

DJBaggySmalls · 21/05/2017 10:07

Well done Hiphopapotamus4 Star

I'm just appalled anyone could be taken in by this.

HashiAsLarry · 21/05/2017 10:13

Really sounds like a scam. Though if it puts your neighbour's minds at rest, the police should be able to identify that far easier than you can so there's no harm in getting them to look into it.

BarbaraofSeville · 21/05/2017 10:19

I did wonder if it was a private road but it doesn't sound like it is. My friend used to live on a private road and they all had to pay towards its upkeep. They had a road committee that met every so often and she was treasurer.

NormaSmuff · 21/05/2017 10:20

but i dont understand how the most recent house for sale, which drew op's attention to money, also is asking for £500??

PacificDogwod · 21/05/2017 10:20

Well done, Hiphop! Thanks

I am sure those neighbours who are currently cross at you for having 'made a fuss' will be grudgingly grateful in the future.

I am v glad you now have the police involved.
I hope everybody has stopped their direct debits.

BumWad · 21/05/2017 10:23

Wow, what a scam!

GlitteryFluff · 21/05/2017 10:23

Oh dear, hope it's something legit.

easterholidays · 21/05/2017 10:26

Norma the estate agent will just have taken the seller's word for which additional charges are payable, they won't have checked it out for themselves.

ClashCityRocker · 21/05/2017 10:29

Even if it was legit, don't you have to get statements for how the charge has been spent?

Does sound like a scam. I hope they catch the bastards behind it.

GrouchyKiwi · 21/05/2017 10:30

How awful it's likely a scam. Well done for looking into it, hiphop, and good stuff to Roger too.

If it is a scam then they've probably scammed other streets/areas too. £5000 a year isn't that much.

Hope the police can sort it out quickly, and agree with PP that it would probably be a good idea for a police officer to talk to everyone about scams, especially those who want to keep paying (!).

dangermouseisace · 21/05/2017 10:31

norma when you're selling a house you usually tell the estate agent about service charges etc. They don't check them out though, as far as I'm aware. That would be down to the solicitor. So, it is highly likely that if someone was buying that house, their solicitor would check the validity of the service charge and probably come to the same conclusion as the OP. We had an issue with someone demanding ground rent from our seller during our house buying process, so this letter was passed on to us…our solicitor checked it out and told them where to go!

NormaSmuff · 21/05/2017 10:31

oh thanks

dangermouseisace · 21/05/2017 10:32

and well done hiphop. You are completely doing the right thing, hope it all gets sorted soon. I can't believe people pay things without really questioning it!

SandyDenny · 21/05/2017 10:39

Well done for exposing it, OP

The police should be able to trace the scammers with the bank account details. Is it too much to expect an EA to apply a bit of common sense and wonder what a service charge in your type of property might be?

I'm not at all surprised that people pay to a council bank account that's different to one that they might already use, I don't suppose that they only have one bank account for the billions of transactions they must have very year.

Ariawyn · 21/05/2017 10:44

You may be able to find out who the bank account that they are paying direct debits to is owned by, is get the details and call my own bank and ask for the name of the company / person who it's registered to? Might give you a starting point

pretty sure they couldnt give out any details due to the data protection act?

Fanciedachange17 · 21/05/2017 10:52

Thank you to the poster on here who reminded me about looking after the more vulnerable folk in our lives.
I took a look at my Mum's electric and gas payments as I thought ages ago she was being overcharged. Paying far more than my little family of 3. I've just arranged a supplier switch and saved her £16 a month which she is delighted about.

Ceic · 21/05/2017 10:58

What a shame that it's a scam. It'll take some time but I hope that all your neighbours will stop paying the charge and that the police uncover the criminals and stop it from happening to other victims.

CaptainWarbeck · 21/05/2017 11:00

I'm surprised the estate agents didn't want to know a bit more about the service charge when they put it on the listing. You'd think they'd get interested buyers asking what it was for etc.

metalmum15 · 21/05/2017 11:00

Glitter I think you're right. It's probably a pure gold mower inset with diamonds.

AnnetteCurtains · 21/05/2017 11:04

Fuck me , that's awful

QuietCorday · 21/05/2017 11:07

Oh dear. I did wonder about this as I just couldn't figure out how a council could levy such an annual charge if the homes were not leasehold. I suspected it might be a legacy payment of some sort that, over time, had turned into a colossal financial screw-up (say, the council had also categorised the homes as businesses or something) or that there was a rent charge on the properties by the original landowner on order to enforce positive covenants.

But this scam is blindingly audacious. Takes your breath away a bit.

My prediction is that the bank account they pay to is registered to a peculiar address and the funds are either withdrawn in a foreign territory (somewhere like Northern Cyprus) or then further transferred elsewhere.

It's probably going on in other streets as well.

stopmoaningpip · 21/05/2017 11:10

My late grandparents always took every person (eg double glazing salesmen) who phoned or came to the door very seriously, always listened carefully to what they had to say, agreed to have them round for an appointment to discuss further etc. I think it was a politeness/courtesy thing, they didn't feel they could just say no firmly without listening to them first. I don't think they ever actually handed over any money to anyone dodgy but I can imagine someone else with a similar attitude but slightly less firm about saying no being taken in very easily.
I live in a street full of elderly people in largeish houses and am constantly getting leaflets through the door and occasional people knocking advising me to have my drive/lawn/guttering etc etc maintained. No doubt many of these are genuine if maybe not at the most competitive prices etc, but I never used to get so many leaflets in our old street which was mostly younger people in smaller, often rented houses, so they clearly know where to target.

sticklebrix · 21/05/2017 11:11

Re. the bank account, you could try googling the account number and sort code, or telephone number if there is one on the bills. Sometimes that throws up a name or connection. Particularly if they've tried other scams.

Well done Hippo!

mcdog · 21/05/2017 11:11

Oh my god!!! I cannot believe the way this has developed. I read your other thread hoping you wouldn't get back dated charges, and now look!

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