4.3.3 Raising Ad-hoc Demands
At any time, ad-hoc demands can be produced. These demands can be raised on leaseholders, the landlord or any other third-party. T he owner ad-hoc demands are used to raise demands on unit owners in relation to their ownership of the unit and, typically, as covered under the terms of the lease. The landlord / third-party demands are used to collect funds from third-parties, where funds are being collected for some reason not associated with the ownership of a unit.
These demands can be raised for:
- Collecting service charges
- Issuing of end-of-year surplus / deficit charges
- Collecting administration charges (e.g. interest on unpaid charges, debt recovery fee, charges for issuing keys / fobs, etc.)
- issuing credits
Access via the menu option: Finance -> Fee collections -> [Ad-hoc Collection]
From the drop down list users can select from the following options:
Service Charge - Manual
This function allows users to create manual ad-hoc demands for one or more of the units in a block. Each demand can contain one or more lines of service charge / reserve fund information. Each demand can now also contain a mix of charges and credits.
The user can enter one or multiple line items and put a relevant Description, select the demand Type and enter an amount against the relevant schedule column, this can be a charge or a credit (for a credit enter a ‘-‘ before the amount i.e. -£50.00).
Once the relevant details have been completed then click on ‘Next’.
This will then go to the next screen where the user can select all or just the relevant Units that they wish to raise the demand for:
Once completed then click on ‘Next’.
This will then go to the next screen where the user can see the Recipient’s name and Unit and the details of the Ad-Hoc demand Description, Total Amount and the charges and/or credits against the relevant Schedule columns. There is an opportunity to make changes to the relevant editable fields if appropriate:
Once completed then click on ‘Next’.
The user is able to amend a number of items relating to the demands by clicking on the ‘ Edit’ button:
- Demand Template – This gives the ability to select the relevant demand templates that you wish to use (see 4.3.4 - Demand Templates for more details)
- Invoice date – This defaults to today’s date but can be changed by selecting the [edit] option
- Account date – This defaults to the first date of the service charge period.
- Due Date – This defaults to the later of 30 days after today’s date or the due date according to the terms of the lease.
- Bank Account - By default, the primary Service Charge bank account will appear, except for Ground Rent demands where the Primary Ground Rent bank account will appear. Users can over-ride this default selection if they so wish.
- Message Box – This provides for a specific message to be added to the demands.
2. A ‘View Draft’ button allows for the demands to be viewed before they are produced and includes a draft view of both the first page of the demand and the second page (typically 'rights and obligations' for service charges and the 'Section 166 notice' for Ground Rents).
Please check the View Draft before producing your demands.
3. Attach document
The user is able to attach multiple documents to the end of the demands. You can only upload 5 at one time.
Please note that you cannot attach any document that is Encrypted or Certified.
4. Budget Certificate
You can attach the block/unit certificate generated from the system to the demands or uploaded PDF documents that were uploaded to the budget manually.
You can also choose which financial year to use for the block/unit certificate. ]
5. Standing Order
You can choose to add a standing order form to the demands as well here.
5. Create Demands
You can then create the demands and as soon as you click on this and you have various attachments, you will get a pop up:
It allows you to re-arrange your attachments that get uploaded after each demand.
If there is only one attachment then the demands are created straight away and you do not get the pop up.
Once demands have been produced the user can view the print queue. This provides the facility to physically print the documents and / or send the documents to clients via email. Once documents have been successfully printed then the print queue should be cleared.
NOTE: The option to send demands via email is only available if your agent has chosen to take the Leaseholder Portal. If the Portal has not been purchased then demands will have to be printed and sent via your own emailing.
If demands are raised in error or if an issue is identified once the demands have been raised, they can be deleted using the Delete Fee Collection function.
This function can be found in the Block Management area of the Workbench.
Service Charge - Percentage
This function allows users to create demands for all units in a block based on their percentage contribution towards a scheduled amount. For example, if £5,000 is to be collected from all units in a block then the system will use each unit's percentage contribution to calculate how much each unit must pay. This facility allows demands to be generated with multiple charges (i.e. multiple lines of information); it also allows different amounts to be calculated for each schedule. This new facility replaces the existing 'Year-end surplus / deficit' function and gives users a greater degree of flexibility.
The user can enter one or multiple line items and put a relevant Description, select the demand Type and enter an amount against the relevant schedule column, this will be for the total charge or a credit amount that is to be collected or credited across all the units (for a credit enter a ‘-‘ before the amount i.e. -£2,000.00).
NOTE: the demand may go into several pages if the lines are beyond 3 or 4 lines. If you wish to have more than 3 or 4 lines on one page, then you may need to pay for some custom work.
Once completed then click on ‘Next’.
This will then go to the next screen where the user can see the Recipient’s name and Unit and the details of the Ad-Hoc demand Description, Total Amount and the charges and/or credits against the relevant Schedule columns across all the units in the Block. The system has calculated the relevant amount for each unit based on each unit's schedule percentage contribution.
There is an opportunity to make changes to the relevant editable fields if appropriate.
Once completed then click on ‘Next’
This will then go to the next screen which is the Summary screen and follows the same production process as detailed in Service Charge – Manual above
Ground Rent
Allows users to raise an ad-hoc ground rent demands for one or more units
The user can enter one or multiple line items and put a relevant Description, the demand Type is pre-selected as Ground Rent and then user can enter an amount, this can be a charge or a credit (for a credit enter a ‘-‘ before the amount i.e. -£50.00).
Ground Rent - Admin Charge
Allows users to raise an ad-hoc ground rend administration charge which includes the administration charge page 2 for one or more units. You will need to change the Type in the drop-down:
Once completed then click on ‘Next’.
This will then go to the next screen which is the Summary screen and follows the same production process as detailed in Service Charge – Manual above.
Landlord / Third-party
Allows users to raise a single demand for any Landlord or other Third-party who does not own a unit in the block.
The user can enter one or multiple line items and put a relevant Description, the relevant demand Type is can be selected from the drop-down list and then user can enter an amount, this can be a charge or a credit (for a credit enter a ‘-‘ before the amount i.e. -£50.00).
Once completed then click on ‘Next’.
This will then go to the next screen which is the Recipients Address screen and the relevant fields need to be completed.
Once completed then click on ‘Next’.
This will then go to the next screen which is the Summary screen and follows the same production process as detailed in the information box at the bottom of this article.
Please check the View Draft before producing your demands.
Depending on the unit's tenure ( see point Tenure point on 4.2.2 STEP 2 - Set Up Block Information) the relevant detail is removed off the demands. If a unit is a freehold tenure then the demands are printed without the Section 47 and 48 and the Service Charge - Summary of Tenants Rights and Obligations page. The title is also changed to 'Rent Charge' instead of 'Application for Payment' for freehold units
When a payment is received from a landlord / third-party it can be recorded against the invoice: Finance -> Bank Statement -> [Third-party Receipt] on the top right hand side.
If you wish to delete the ad-hoc demand then this can be performed through the Workbench (Block Management –> Delete Fee Collection).
Alternatively if you do not wish to delete the demand (e.g. because it was sent out a while ago), then you should raise a credit note to correct the issue.
See Demand Template article in regards to selecting the appropriate template for your demands. Click here to see the article: 4.3.4 - Demand Templates.
For further information about the Demand production process click here to see the article: 4.3.2 Raising Service Charge / Ground Rent demands and scroll down to section 6. ‘Production’
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