A lot of the directors' time is wasted in sending reminders to leaseholders who do not pay their service charge on the due date or who pay the wrong amount. To encourage prompt payment we recently informed everyone that in future we would impose an administration charge of £30 for late payment. However one leaseholder has said that this is illegal. We would be glad of your opinion on this matter. Although our lease agreement does not state explicitly that we can levy such a charge, it does state that the lessee shall "pay all rates taxes assessments charges impositions and outgoings....assessed or charged.... upon the owner etc (Clause 2 (1) b.
no this is not illegal I refer you to Schedule 11 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 which you can read up on at opsi.gov.uk the home for UK legislation your only consideration is whether 30 is reasonable and I would say from my experience it is.