Brady Solicitors were recently instructed by a managing agent who had been trying to recover almost £20,000 worth of service charge arrears from a leaseholder in Portsmouth, dating back to June 2014.
During the nearly 10 years which the managing agent had been pursuing the service charge arrears, they had managed to get in contact with the leaseholder on numerous occasions, even receiving some small token payments periodically. However, these payments never covered a months service charge and therefore had little to no impact on the total arrears.
Having exhausted their usual credit control process and beginning to reside themselves to never recovering the arrears in full, the managing agent decide to instruct a specialist in Brady Solicitors.
Bradys’ approach
Upon instruction in May 2023, Bradys began by sending a Letter Before Action and attempting to contact the leaseholder by phone on numerous occasions. Somewhat predictably, the leaseholder was unresponsive, which led to court proceedings being issued in order to obtain a judgement. When Bradys went to claim they also notified the mortgage lender on the property, as through experience they were aware that this particular lender had previously stepped in to cover other leaseholders’ arrears on numerous occasions and was therefore likely to do so again.
Following a month of contacting the mortgage lender and frequent conversations, Bradys were able to get the lender to agree to paying the arrears in full, along with all fees associated with their recovery. This left the managing agent with their maintenance budget back at full strength and nothing to pay.
Client feedback
When asked about their experience working with Bradys, the client stated:
For expert advice and support dealing with a difficult leaseholder or recovering service charge arrears which are leaving a hole in your maintenance budget, please get in touch.
