payment demand within 14 days

paddyrg

The solicitor acts on behalf of whoever pays them - they will bully as that is their job. They may even tell porkies if they don't think they'll get caught, all their obligations are to whoever pays them, not you. As such, they're never going to be impartial.

somethingcorporate

Proof of postage (which they probably don't have) is not proof of delivery so unless they can prove you received the bill their defence sounds pretty weak.

Let them chase, you have paid the amount owed.

bod1467

I agree with what others have said above.

One additional question - did you send YOUR letter recorded delivery? (So you can prove that they did receive it).

Shelldean

Did other residents receive their bill??? either on time or late?
Is it just your bill that is late??

unholyangel

Look, even if it does go to court and you lost, they can't just necessarily claim for all the costs they have.

When the other party breach a contract, you can only claim for costs reasonably incurred as a result of the others breach. You should try to mitigate your losses. Are they saying they have sent a bill and a reminder/final reminder or that they just sent the bill and sent it straight to a solicitors? If its the latter, they will be very unlikely to have costs awarded as they have in no way tried to mitigate their loss and the charges levied amount to a financial penalty which is unenforceable. Maybe a £10-20 late payment fee wouldn't be unreasonable, but £370 (or whatever it was)? If its the former......well small claims goes on the balance of probabilities and the probability of 2-3 "invoices" not arriving when the letter about it being late had, arent very high to say the least.

The wording of the letter about delaying bills may also be beneficial. Does it make any reference to payments at all? Did it tell you not to worry about late payments/they would not charge late payment fees?

Do be careful what you say in correspondence with them, they may use it at court as admission of liability (ie that you owe the money).

You'll also want a copy of your contract with them in order to see exactly what it says about late payments, damages, liability etc. If the terms are unfair, they're unenforceable.

Best preparing now if you plan on fighting it. It wont take long and you'll be organised if it ever does get to court. At the worst.....you won't be running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything in order, at the best......you'll perhaps educate yourself a little on consumer rights

You could also start saving up now, that way if you have any costs to pay....you can avoid the CCJ and if you win.....you'll have a nice little pot to buy yourself something nice to celebrate.

Johnn64

fluffnutter wrote: »

Stop liaising with this 'solicitor' who has been hired to do little more than intimidate you. Do as dvardy first suggested and let them take you to court if they don't like it.

Not heard anything now for just over a week, so either they have given up or worse they are planning the next move

Johnn64

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Proof of postage (which they probably don't have) is not proof of delivery so unless they can prove you received the bill their defence sounds pretty weak.

Let them chase, you have paid the amount owed.

Thats all I can base my defence on, so hopefully if it does go to court, they they will decide in my favour (I am sure paying the initial amount as soon as I received the solicitor letter should help me too)

Johnn64

bod1467 wrote: »

I agree with what others have said above.

One additional question - did you send YOUR letter recorded delivery? (So you can prove that they did receive it).

Doh, no I didnt .... an oversight on my part too !

Johnn64

Shelldean wrote: »

Did other residents receive their bill??? either on time or late?
Is it just your bill that is late??

Two other homeowners I have spoken with say they have not received a bill before the solicitor letter landed. One of them foolishly has paid the full demand as stated by the solicitor (but he does work in Audi sales, so maybe its a drop in the ocean for him)

Johnn64

unholyangel wrote: »

Look, even if it does go to court and you lost, they can't just necessarily claim for all the costs they have.

When the other party breach a contract, you can only claim for costs reasonably incurred as a result of the others breach. You should try to mitigate your losses. Are they saying they have sent a bill and a reminder/final reminder or that they just sent the bill and sent it straight to a solicitors? If its the latter, they will be very unlikely to have costs awarded as they have in no way tried to mitigate their loss and the charges levied amount to a financial penalty which is unenforceable. Maybe a £10-20 late payment fee wouldn't be unreasonable, but £370 (or whatever it was)? If its the former......well small claims goes on the balance of probabilities and the probability of 2-3 "invoices" not arriving when the letter about it being late had, arent very high to say the least.

The wording of the letter about delaying bills may also be beneficial. Does it make any reference to payments at all? Did it tell you not to worry about late payments/they would not charge late payment fees?

Do be careful what you say in correspondence with them, they may use it at court as admission of liability (ie that you owe the money).

You'll also want a copy of your contract with them in order to see exactly what it says about late payments, damages, liability etc. If the terms are unfair, they're unenforceable.

Best preparing now if you plan on fighting it. It wont take long and you'll be organised if it ever does get to court. At the worst.....you won't be running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything in order, at the best......you'll perhaps educate yourself a little on consumer rights

You could also start saving up now, that way if you have any costs to pay....you can avoid the CCJ and if you win.....you'll have a nice little pot to buy yourself something nice to celebrate.

Thanks for this very informative and useful reply. the solicitor has said verbally that a bill was sent along with a reminder. I followed that call with a written letter asking for the dates they claim the letters were sent as I did not receive any of them.
the letter from the solicitor did not say anything like "dont worry". It was basically a very short letter just demanding the full payment.

I am still gathering information in case this escalates, but I have not heard anything from the solicitor or the management company in over a week regarding this. They have not replied to my letter, but have acknowledged the email I sent advising that a letter was being sent out (a copy of the letter was included in the email)