Property Management fees problem

tombren

ok, obviously not looking for legally binding advice but any thoughts on this situation would be greatly appreciated
little compliated so bear with me;

1st dec 06 i took ownership of my apt, (new development,im 1st owner of said apt) i paid management fee of €1300 on that day, it was tagged onto the price of the apt. i presumed this would cover me for one whole year.
i get a letter in oct. 07 stating that i owe €580.00, obviously i rang them to query. they told me that their 'year' starts in march each year and they're putting everyone inline with this. i told them this wasnt my problem, i paid in dec 06 in advance for one year so i wasnt gonna pay them €580 now and then a whole new years sum once march 08 comes around.
i also sent them a letter to that effect etc so they replied saying the following;
service charge for year one was €1300 (march 06 - feb 07)
service charge for year two is €1555.84 (march 07 - feb 08)
the €580 they say i owe is 'credit' for unoccupied days in year 1 subtracted from the year two figure (€1555.84 - €975.44 = €580)
but what i want to know is how can they legally even refer to 'unoccupied' days in year 1, it's not that it was unoccupied, i didnt actually own it, my legal contract with them began on 1st december 2006 so surely whatever is owed/occured before that date is irrelevant.
when i paid the money there was no contract detailing what the payment expressly referred to and for what duration or whether it was for year 1 or 2, it was just an item on an invoice along with the price of the apt.
also legally, is there ramifications from the fact that they accepted the €1300 from me halfway through 'their' year. somthing about if you accept one payment now you cant go back later and look for more? my contract law's a little hazy.
surely when i took ownership i should have been billed for the remaining months in their year and should have been informed that €1300 wasn't going to cover the entire period of one year
as a by i offered to pay them 3months fees, i.e from december 07 to march 08 (which is about €380) to come inline with their 'year' and then pay whatever is owed for the new year in march, they rejected this.
at this stage it's not about the money i just want to know if they're taking the p*ss out of me and is it legal?
anyway thanks if you stuck though this, as i said any thoughts greatly apprecited

Maximilian

I'm pretty crap at maths but it doesn't seem to me that you are being screwed.

Service charge mar 06-feb 07 = 1300. you moved in in december 06 so you incurred about 3 months SC for that financial year ie. E325

07-08 SC is 1555

Total SC for you for both years is then 325+1555=1880.

You have already paid 1300, leaving a balance of 580 which covers you until feb 08.

seamus

Being in the middle of a property deal myself, your lease is probably much like mine. If you signed the lease with the management company on 1st December, then you would be liable for management fees for 1st December - 28th February. Your agreement with the management company would also give them the right to raise the fee each year, so even if you prepaid your fees, you would owe them the balance of the fee if the fee is raised for the year your prepaid.

Max's maths are spot on.