Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid uptodate

If you own an aparment in Budapest I would strongly advise that you check that the common cost has been paid.

Recently , purely by chance, I discovered that despite assurances from my management company that all was in order - including regular accounting statements that seemed to corroborate this .... that in fact my common cost had never been paid in the 4 years I have owned the apartment.

The muncipality had been engaged in legal proceedings for years in the full knowledge of my management company and they did not tell me.

I was horrified to learn that my apartment had a reposession order on it .... and my lawyer has confirmed that it would have been auctioned and I would have known nothing about it !

The common representative has strident powers to proceed with legal action if the common cost has been in arrears for as little as 3 months.

My lawyer discovered that my girlfriends apartment was in the same position ....no common cost paid at all and the same management company had not informed her.

I would therefore strongly recommend that if you own an apartment in Budapest ... it would be wise to independantly check that your common cost has been paid and is up to date.

This has been the final straw .....we have now decided to manage the apartments ourselves.

I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience ?

I haven't heard of anything as extreme as this. Which management company was it? The tenant should have been paying the common charges so was it the case the the management company collected it but didn't pass it on to the house?

Hi budapest,

not sure if it is wise for me to name the company......

you are quite correct....the tennant is meant to pay the common cost ....however the management company has a legal obligation written into the contract to ensure that all bills are paid... and to represent me.... at periodic meetings with the common representative ... ensuring that all is well with the building that my apartment is contained within......this was not done!

also .... I have had the apartment rented for most of the 4 years ...apart from an average vacancy of 2 months a year or so.... the management company billed me for this non-payment of common cost by my tennants ....and duly reduced my buffer account accordingly!...I was therefore under the impression that my common cost was totally up-to date.

My girlfriend actually transferred money on more than one occasion to 'top up' her buffer because her apartment was empty for many months ....and she was lead to believe that the money transferred was being used to pay the common cost......it was not ......they never paid a forint ...even though it showed on her periodic statements.

It is a very sad and frustrating affair ...... I just hope that this has not been happening to other people.

You're not a telegraph operator by any chance .... Over ....

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

That's outright fraud and should be reported to the Police.

Did you have to pay the outstanding amount due yourself, or did the management company do it?

The more I hear about the antics of some of the management companies here, the more I think I should set one up. A good honest company would make a killing here.

ClubMan said:

You're not a telegraph operator by any chance .... Over ....

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Clubman I've no property abroad but I feel the the op was being informative in posting this information for people who may find themselves running into this kind of problem. Inline with the posting guidelines I feel your post is pointless and off the topic of the thread.

Yes, the point made by weathered is usefull but all those dots (......)detract from the post. Perhaps the OP has a sticky keyboard or something? or is posting from some hand held device that sticks in extra full stops?

aj

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

edit..

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

thunder99 said:

That's outright fraud and should be reported to the Police.

Did you have to pay the outstanding amount due yourself, or did the management company do it? .

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Hi Thunder99,

It's a bit of a long story, but in essence my Hungarian lawyer caught them 'red-handed' - she terminated my contract with them immediately and instructed them to pay the full amount (4 years of common cost) within 2 days, which they did.

However I am having to pay my lawyers fees out of my own pocket and it is proving time consuming and expensive -to have the municipality claims on my apartment removed from the land registry.

Yesterday My lawyer informed me that the Gas company was also owed 600 euro and were starting proceedings against me!

This is why I am reluctant to name the company, as things are still coming out of the woodwork!

I was just SO relieved to have the contract terminated so that I will never have to deal with them again!

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

thunder99 said:

The more I hear about the antics of some of the management companies here, the more I think I should set one up. A good honest company would make a killing here.

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Great....I'll transfer to your new company so! Having a spot of bother with mine . Saw them last week....No apologies....got the accounts....got various undertakings.... and left still feeling dissatisfied.

Looked into other management companies but..... as the apartment is currently untenanted because of massive building renovations, they said they wouldn't take on the apartment until renovations were complete...

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

IFT said:

Not exactly 'dots' but its a common method for a writer to convey a pause so that a reader can comtemplate and reflect on what was written.

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Shoud the writer not use a semi colon then instead of dots to represent a pause?

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

I always thought a semicolon links two sentences that are very closely connected; I am frequently wrong, though.

An ellipsis (...) can be used at the end of a sentence to trail off in an intriguing manner and is also correct for a pause - or a dash would do either.

Obviously you don't overuse ellipses. Makes the writer...sound as though...he's just about... to...pass...out...

Re: Beware Budapest property mgt co's:check that your common cost has been paid upto

teatimer said:

I always thought a semicolon links two sentences that are very closely connected; I am frequently wrong, though.

An ellipsis (...) can be used at the end of a sentence to trail off in an intriguing manner and is also correct for a pause - or a dash would do either.

Obviously you don't overuse ellipses. Makes the writer...sound as though...he's just about... to...pass...out...

Click to expand...

You're correct; I had a look on Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia the ellipsis should only be 3 dots and if at the end of a sentence, there should be a fourth dot for the sentence end.

A hyfen perhaps?

Hi weathered,

I hear you on the management companies. Have an apartment there for 4 years also. Went with a company at one stage when I thought it would be the easiest thing to do. They didn't get a tenant and charged me a management fee anyway, then didnt pay any bills/check post etc. I have been renting it myself for the last 3 years and so far (touch wood) it's been fairly smooth.

Tenants pay rent + utilities to my Hunarian bank account. I pay the electricity, gas and common cost online every second month. Once a year the gas & electricity meters are read and I check in with them to see if I owe anything. Once/twice a year I fly over just to check it's still in one piece. Try advertising it yourself (budapest sun for english speaking tenants).

Good luck!