Can any conveyancers help please?

[Fiddledeedeeee]

We’re 6 months in to a house purchase and seem to have hit a stumbling block.
The house is around 10 years old on a small development that is subject to a service charge for cutting grass on a communal green area.
Our solicitor says the seller’s solicitor needs to arrange a deed of variation under S121 of the Law of Property act, as service charges can be seen as rent charges and the lender requires the DoV in order to lend.
The original developer has been asked to draft this and has so far been resistant as they’ve never had to do one before (about 5 homes on this estate have been sold on since they were originally built and sold by the developer, including a few in the last 2yrs), don’t understand why it’s being asked for and are happy with the wording as it stands. They’re a small-ish regional developer, but are well established.
my question is, is there any chance our solicitor is being over cautious and the DoV isn’t absolutely necessary? Is one always required where the property is subject to a service charge? We obviously want to protect ourselves both now and in the future, so will push as far as we can and ultimately walk away if needed, but I just want to be really sure before it comes to that. I’m just struggling to understand why no other sellers have had to do this on this estate (or any of theirs allegedly). One thing I’ve thought of over the weekend is whether the management company have been asked to do them in other instances, rather than the developer themselves? Is that a possibility or would the developer still be involved?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Hi. We moved from a new build development last year and the issue of whether or not a dov was necessary was a minefield.

In the end I did get one I think I paid about £400 but it might have been more I can't remember.
Buyers solicitors are getting really hot on these being required and so as a seller I would recommend you badger the management company. If the company begins with F that might be the same one as me and they are very difficult to communicate with.

Thank you. For clarity, we’re the buyers. The company doesn’t begin with F but seem equally difficult to deal with!

Ah right if you are the buyer it will be your solicitor or your mortgage company who wants the dov in place.

The sellers (as I did) might well realise they need to get the div in place or they might not be able to sell to you or anyone else.

It's frustrating all round because of the slow speed that management companies work at.

Good luck with it all though. Hope you get there in the end.

Pretty much standard now as the mortgage company won’t want to risk the house being subject to possession proceedings with an old style rent charge. Obviously the developer won’t want to get involved, but the management company should be able to sort it out. The seller will have to pay its costs and it will add time to the process, but should be totally doable.

Thank you. The seller is willing to pay, we just need someone to agree to it. I’ll suggest they try contacting the management company instead as a start.