arghhhhhhhhh help please

if_in_doubt_ask

Hi, i am helping out my best friend this is her story

when my best friend was 18 she was given a small flat, she was young and stupid and had no common sense about bills and house things.

her property is leasehold, for 3 years she never payed the company that owned the lease(the maintenance and insurance), she did get a court letter but she stopped going to the flat as she rents it out and all it has caused her is problems.

so anyway as her little finance helper (i try my best) i called up the company and they said they would call in a week with the total, they called back 2 weeks later with amount xxx she said she would pay within a week but ended up taking 2 weeks to pay has she needed an overdraft they said because she didnt pay they have now got a solicitor involved and want her to pay an extra £300 for what they had to pay him!?

surely she should not have to pay there solicitors fee, they didnt forworn us that they would get them involved. i think they might be making it up, to get more charges.
also she currently does not have a permenant address so this is all being done by telephone, im worried if she gives a postal address, say mine they may get bailiffs round or put bad credit on the postcode. but it is also bad this is not in pen and paper!

what is a good responce to them??
thankssssss in advance lovely money saving helpers

miggy

I'm no expert ... just bumping this for you - wish your friend all the best from me:)

JA1000

If someone owed you money and didn't pay how would you go about getting it back. I have a strong feeling you might go to a solicitor and have to pay around £300. Do you think it is fair you should pay or the people who owe you?

I would be grateful if they have only got a solicitor involved they may be no damage to the credit file, I would arrange payment and gracefully accept the errors.

Annisele

She didn't pay the maintenance or insurance for *three years* - I'm surprised she's got away with costs of only £300. IMO she should pay the £300 and be glad that it isn't going any further.

So far as the flat itself is concerned - if "all it has caused her is problems" why doesn't she just sell it. Setting up in business as a landlord isn't something to be done on a whim, and it does have the potential to cause a lot of hassle - wouldn't she just rather have the value of the flat as cash?

niccatw

Your friend is very lucky to have you helping her. I do hope she realises that! I think some of the posts above sound quite judgemental, given you are trying your best to help. For the record, I disagree with them.

I'm afraid I don't know whether they are entitled to add on the £300 or not. Though it does seem suspicious that they have only added that on since you got in touch.

I see no harm in writing to them to say you feel that is unfair and offering only what your friend can afford. The worst they can do is say no.

Is there another address you can use, if you don't want to use your own? A work address perhaps? Your credit rating cannot be affected by a post-code, only by your own or joint financial affairs or not being on the electoral role. And bailiffs could not take anything from any-one other than the person that owes them money. Plus you don't have to let them into your house.

In any correspondence,you should state that this is a correspondence address only and that the debtor does not live there. I'm not sure whether it'd be best to add she has no permanent residence or just to neglect to mention that fact. I'd probably go for the latter to be honest, just in case.

I'd also try and see if you can get your friend on board with you, so that you are not just "doing it for her" so to speak, but enabling her to help herself more in the future.

If she has no permanent address, is there scope for her moving back into the flat when the current tenancy comes to an end? Hopefully she is older and wiser now and could cope better with the demands of a flat.

Good luck. And well done on helping a friend in need. There's not a lot of people willing to do that where money is involved! Good on you!

Happytogetdebtfree

All the best with helping your friend out :-)

DVardysShadow

Is there any evidence of the solicitor being involved?

Personally, if there was no letter from the solicitor, I would be demanding sight of a copy of the solicitor's bill, because it is all too easy to invent such a charge and it does appear to be all too common these days.

Ames

Shouldn't the tenants have been paying the management charge? What did it say in their tenancy agreement? She might be able to chase them for it.