Leasehold service charge

Other

Hi my question is with regard to service charges for a leasehold property that I rent out.

The block is managed by an extremely unprofessional company. No company registration number appears on their letters, no person's name or position in the company is given, no reference to the landlord or summary of rights is provided when they send letters.

Since 2006, they have been claiming I owe them increasing amounts of service charge, despite the fact they have never produced a proper service charge demand. Also no accountant-audited accounts have ever been provided to cover income/outgoings of previous years. The lease says both these things should be done.

They have already raised 2 court claims against me for unpaid service charge. Both these cases were dismissed by the court very early on in the process as they failed to follow the basic instructions provided to them by the court to provide further detail of their claim.

I am getting worried now as I believe this company could make things difficult for me if I want to sell the property.

Up until recently, the leaseholder and the maintenance company shared the same address. Recently however, the freehold was transferred to a new company. This new company has left the same management company in charge of the property maintenance however.

I am thinking of perhaps opening a case with the tribunal service to get their determination of whether any service charge is due, and if so how much. If I do this, my question is would I raise the tribunal case against the maintenance company, or the new freeholder?

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks