charges
Quicklinks:
who pays for our services?
disbursements
fees
SLCsolicitors are able to offer a no recovery no fee option with absolutely no upfront charges to all our clients to minimise our clients' exposure to legal costs subject to the following criteria being met:
the leasehold title is registered;
the property is mortgaged to a financial institution such as a bank or building society;
there is a forfeiture clause present in the lease;
the lease allows for the recovery of professional legal fees;
no genuine dispute exists.
It is usual for all these criteria to be met and when we do act on such a basis all fees are paid by the leaseholders thereby easing any demands on the managing agents or resident management companies to fund recovery actions commenced by solicitor agents.
On the rare occasion when a service charge is disputed on the grounds of reasonableness or otherwise it would ordinarily be the case that we would agree a separate charging structure with our clients but this is dependent on the nature of the dispute and its complexity.
who pays for our services? back to top
the late paying tenants (leaseholders)
recovery of our clients' legal costs and late payment interest and client late payment administration charges
Dependant upon the terms of the lease it is generally the case that we are able to recover our fees directly from the leaseholder. It is because of this that our clients are rarely required to pay any monies to us in respect of the instructions we carry out on their behalf.
It is commonplace within a modern lease to allow for late payment interest to be charged against any overdue monies including rent and services charges. The vast majority of residential leases define service charges as rent and because of this interest can be charged on arrears.
Typically the interest we are able to recover due to late payment ranges from the Bank of England base rate up to 12%.
If the lease does allow for interest recovery we ensure that the late paying leaseholder is made aware of this and must pay interest to the date of settlement unless our client confirms otherwise. In relation to those cases where arrears have been outstanding for substantial periods of time the accrual of interest can be significant – and recoverable.
For our resident management company clients this element of recovery is a significant reason as to why our services are employed in addition to the pace at which we are able to turn arrears into deposits.
disbursements back to top
(court and land registry charges)
On occasions we will need to undertake searches at the Land Registry to confirm ownership of the leasehold property and to establish whether there is an existing mortgage/charge registered against a property.
The cost of a Land Registry search is relatively minor and in any event these costs are ordinarily recoverable from the late paying leaseholders. When it is necessary to undertake searches at the Land Registry we will usually ensure that these costs are included within our fees which will be recoverable from the leaseholder.
Some mortgagees with existing charges registered against properties will on occasions insist that the landlord or resident management company must obtain a court order, or court declaration in accordance with section 81 of the Housing Act 1996, before considering whether as the chargeholder it will make a payment to settle any outstanding arrears on behalf of its mortgage account holder.
In the event it is necessary to issue court proceedings we would ordinarily request that the court issue fee is paid by our client in advance of any commencement of proceedings. However, when a claim is successfully pleaded and the court grants the appropriate order it is usual that the order will require the court issue fee to be paid by the late paying leaseholder along with the arrears, late payment interest, our clients' administration charges and our legal charges to date.
fees back to top
To provide a clear and understandable approach to charging, the vast majority of cases dealt with by SLCsolicitors are usually commenced and
completed on a no recovery no fee paying basis and the fees incurred are paid and settled for by the late paying leaseholders. There are absolutely no upfront charges.
All our correspondence whilst we are instructed upon a no recovery no fee basis is charged at fixed fee rates. These fees include an element of time to liaise with our instructing clients, to accept and forward payments to our clients and to liaise with and discuss payment issues with leaseholders, their mortgagees and any other leaseholder agent.
If court proceedings are necessary then in virtually all cases we charge on a fixed fee basis in the event any proceedings remain undefended - if a claim is defended it may be the case that we would charge on an hourly rate basis. However, usually all costs are recoverable from the leaseholder.
Again, it is usual even after a court claim has been successful that all our costs are recovered from the late payer and so we would not request any payment from a client except for the court issue fee.
For more information about the rates which apply to our service charge collections service please do not hesitate to contact us (0845 1 700 700) and ask to speak to Neil Shearing or Karen Bolland, who will be pleased to take your enquiries.
