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No matter how large your portfolio is, there are certain costs that always need to be paid, apart from the mortgage. If you buy a leasehold property you’ll find there are usually two other payments to make, the Ground Rent and a Service Charge.
These second two charges are often overlooked by landlords as they don’t live at the property once it’s in their possession. If you’re not careful you could end up with a County Court Claim Form landing on your doormat, or even worse you could end up in court having a dreaded County Court Judgment (CCJ) slapped on you for non payment.
This can be an extremely alarming wake-up call if you haven’t received a claim for payment until it’s too late, so it’s best to take steps to prevent things from getting that serious. If you are using a Management Company to maintain your property, instruct them to send any correspondence to your home address and always make sure you are registered on the electoral roll, as this is where the County Court will look for your contact details.
By simply being registered on the electoral roll you will be able to correct any problems or defend claims. Even CCJs can be permanently removed provided you pay them within 30 days of it going on your file, saving you years of anguish from a tainted credit report.
But, if you leave it longer than 30 days that’s it, there’s no going back and it will remain languishing on your file permanently, making it extremely difficult to borrow any money in the future.
So how could your post end up at the buy to let property and not your home? Well, the solicitor could use the incorrect address, but think carefully when you apply for the mortgage, if it will be on a residential basis and not on a buy to let then all involved will assume you will be living there so your solicitor will use this address to contact you.
They are some valuable lessons to be learned here. Always pay your Ground Rent, Service Charges and Buildings Insurance and make sure you know who’s responsible for the management and roughly when you’ll need to pay these costs. It’s most likely that you’ll be paying by standing order on either a monthly basis or every 6 months.
With this in mind, if you’ve bought a property in the last 6 months and haven’t received a bill plus you don’t know who manages the Ground Rent or Service Charges then it could be a good idea to call the developer’s aftercare number or speak with your solicitor to make sure all is, and remains, well.
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