Completed Jan'17 but still tying up financial loose ends - help!!

[Wizzywoo18]

We completed on a flat in January 2017. It's a leasehold property so we were waiting to be billed for the service charges for 2016 and the first half of January'17.
Our conveyancing solicitor agreed to a retention fund of £1350 to pay what we owed.

We didn't pay a set amount of service charges each year. The service charges were audited at the end of the year and invoices were usually sent out to leaseholders in January/early February.

The buyer decided to extend her lease straight away and the freeholder charged her a guesstimated figure for 2016-17 before the audit was done. We have since discovered the actual bill was half that amount because the managing agents were sacked in 2016. (A resident at the development scanned me her bill and a neighbour's as proof. These were sent out late by the freeholder in September'17.)

Our solicitor agrees the buyer was overcharged and that we should only pay the amount other leaseholders were invoiced. The freeholder was asked months ago to provide a proper invoice for the flat. Our solicitor says it can take 18mths to 2 YEARS to sort service charges out after a property is sold. Is she fobbing me off? AIBU to feel really p*ssed off about this? Can anyone advise me on what to do if the impasse continues?

It does take 18 months or so to sort out service charges unfortunately. They have to receive the final audited accounts so that they can apportion what you both owe. Then the solicitor would have to let the other solicitor know the figures and get the ok to release any residual balance back to the seller. Sometimes the other solicitor is reluctant to allow the release of funds because once those funds have been returned, they cannot then demand any further payments, should there be something still outstanding, such as major works invoices.

Thanks Spickle.

I was wondering if the solicitors weren't pulling their weight. Its reassuring to know.