Royal Mail lost House Contracts

cpholt

Hi, the wonderful royal mail lost our signed house purchase contracts so I am filling in a form to claim compensation. Does anyone know how much the compensation should be realisticallyfor? I was lucky enough to have a good solicitor who agreed to fax the contracts through to save paying to have a new set sent out but I don't think Royal Mail should just get away with losing an important document. I sent it recorded first class.

theartfullodger

The contracts are not lost, Royal Mail are just temporarily unsure of the location of said contracts.

If you look in the Royal Mail website it outlines the compo: It depends on under what conditions they were sent (eg 2nd class plain envelope, Recorded-signed-for, Special-Delivery) and, where relevant the compo. signed up for on sending. When you sent them you should have got that info..

Cheers!

Lodger

PS - These things happen, have happenned to most of us, usually several times: Move on? It is possible to go through life without always wanting things going wrong to be "someone-elses'-fault"

custardy

cpholt wrote: »

Hi, the wonderful royal mail lost our signed house purchase contracts so I am filling in a form to claim compensation. Does anyone know how much the compensation should be realisticallyfor? I was lucky enough to have a good solicitor who agreed to fax the contracts through to save paying to have a new set sent out but I don't think Royal Mail should just get away with losing an important document. I sent it recorded first class.

so you spent under £2
how much have you spent so far on the whole contract costs?
thats why special delivery is there,for the very important things

natters_2

recorded only covers you up to about £40 - although it is a signed for delivery it still goes with the rest of the mail - special delivery is handled differently and has to be signed for when it leaves the post office as well as when it arrives at the destination.

Debt_Free_Chick

In common law, your compensation is limited to the actual financial loss you suffered. So, how much money did you lose - or how much extra money did you have to spend - for the loss of the contracts?

You should also see the T&Cs for Recorded Delivery to see what RM's general terms are for payment of compo. I have a feeling it's a return of the postage only - unless you can prove additional financial loss.

Unless you want to claim damages for distress ....?

sarahb

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

You should also see the T&Cs for Recorded Delivery to see what RM's general terms are for payment of compo. I have a feeling it's a return of the postage only - unless you can prove additional financial loss.

I don't think you'll get anything more than a book of first class stamps. In my recent experience it's not worth the hassle of claiming however annoyed you are by Royal Mail's incompetence!