Threatened with CCJ over invoices not received

s111ppg

I hope someone can give some advice.

My brother and his wife bought a small terraced house (new build) a few years as an investment and have rented it out ever since. When purchasing they were made aware of an annual fee to maintain the local services for which they were invoiced each year.

My brother has just been contacted by a company claiming to be responsible for upkeep of these services and informing him that they are seeking a CCJ against him for non-payment for the last 2 years. Apparently after invoices were sent to the property address and ignored, they then sought him and managed to contact him through the mortgage company.

The letting company are basically not interested and have offered no advice or support.

He thinks (and is trying to prove) that previously invoices had been sent to his home address but at the moment he can't find the documents.

First question is can you be threatened in this way for a liability you've not received? As things stand, they are now liable for the 2 years servicing plus solictor's fees.

Second question is what should they do? I understand that if you answer the CCJ in less than 28 days, your credit record will not be affected.

Many thanks in advance.
Gary

HappyMJ

He's received them now...so he can avoid a CCJ if he pays it as long as he accepts he is responsible for the bill. If they are asking for more fees and charges for the non payment of the account then he can ask them to justify why those charges are so high. If they can't come to an agreement then the court will decide but he should at least pay what he thinks he should pay.

They can go back 6 years.

kingstreet

Is he saying he received the invoices and paid them?

When purchasing they were made aware of an annual fee to maintain the local services for which they were invoiced each year

or is this an indication that they knew they should be invoiced each year but haven't been?

TBH if they know they have the payments to make, they might as well do so now and avoid any further hassle.

If they allow it to go to court, they will avoid the CCJ being registered if they pay it quickly, but they will have costs added.

s111ppg

Thanks for the quick reply.

I don't think there's any question over accepting responsibility, the sore point is the fact that the documents were not being sent to the owner. Surely this isn't an unusual situatation?

thatsean

Correct me if i'm wrong.

they knew there was a service charge, didn't pay it as they didn't get the bill, and now have been billed for the lot?

If they can pay it, best to.

They need to look into any collections charges - although if they gave the property management co no address then I don't see how they could be expected to send him the bills.

You're right in saying that payments within 28 days of judgement will prevent the CCJ being registered, and therefore destroying their credit files, but there will be the court costs.

G_M

A CCJ is only added to your credit file if
* a court orders you to pay AND
* you still fail to pay

As the charge does not seem to be in dispute the simple solution is to pay the chare (provided of course the company requesting it is the correct company to do so!)

If there is an additional charge for late payment, still pay the basic fee, but you could consider disputing the extra amount on the grounds that they sent invoices to the wrong address.

I assume there is evidence that
a) they told the company, in writing, what their actual address is
b) or they can prove the company knew as they have previous invoices addressed correctly

To avoid future problems, it is worth putting in place Royal Mail 'forwarding mail' service.

princeofpounds

I would be a bit careful if it's a significant amount of money. A number of companies of this nature are known to overcharge, speculatively invoice etc. Obviously in this case it appears there is an arrangement which was explained to them, but even so don't hand over money without knowing the basis behind it.

Fire_Fox

Assuming this is the genuine management company and the service charges seem of the right magnitude ... don't let the case go to court to save on legal fees, pay immediately and argue the toss later. They can go back up to six years with claims.

It's all very well saying they didn't receive the notices, but they did know there were charges to pay, they did know they were not receiving or paying invoices, they didn't manage to arrange a decent system for getting their mail. It's not unreasonable to serve notices at the property which the charges relate to. If they can prove they did inform the management company of their correct address they can write and ask for all legal and admin fees to be lifted as the management company made an error.

Is their correct mailing address on land registry?

moromir

In the case of leases on flats, the clauses regarding the payment of service and ground rent usually state it is the lessee's responsibility to pay those charges whether formally demanded or not.

This sounds like a freehold property with a maintenance charge but I would not be suprised to see wording much as I have posted above so I can't see you have much of a leg to stand on - moreover morally and legally you know the money is due.