Ground Rent Arrears - Legal Proceedings - HELP

richardbox82

How did your dispute with JB Leitch go did it work out successful?

I'm going through a simular situation now.

Bmth_2

[FONT=&quot]Findings and Orders 6213/1992/5127 For Stephen Ronald Boon
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Above is the breakdown of the case from the SRA

Findings No. 6439/1993/5290 dated 21/12/1993
[/FONT]
3. The conviction followed the respondents involvement in a mortgage fraud perpetrated by clients
The tribunal find the allegation to have been substantiated. It was right that a striking off Order be made.
Dated 8/2/1994

Look on the paperwork for the name SR Boon - he has been struckoff as of Jan 1994. Therefore he can not carry out any Qualified and/or Reserved Legal Work. E & J are not actual Solicitors even though the LVT case law has him being addressed as counsel too.:eek: Hope this helps. Should the Admins require clarification then please email me.
3. The c

Bmth_2

They may have been bought out... Check online as the chances are they may well be part of the same nondisclosed cartel that I have been investigating. To date I have 100 case laws. To be frank LEASE are not the best due to their lack of support. May I suggest plain and simple Contract Law as a defence. There are two types of Lease - Commercial and Residential. The latter providing it does have seals will be a Formal Lease, a Building Lease, A Residential Lease Made by Contract Under Seal. Look in to the LEASE website under Tribunal Decisions...:A

eggmanfoo

Hello. I need some help with a very similar issue. I rent out a flat and there is a £50 ground rent to be paid on 31/12 of every year. The lease company is Leasehold Property Management with a PO Box address.
The invoice is sent to the flat, despite email requests to LPM to send it to my home address.
Anyway, the tenant was not at the property over xmas when the invoice has arrived, and I was out of the UK on his return. I managed to get the invoice from the tenant on 21st Jan, along with a reminder (stating there was now a late payment charge) on my return.
I emailed LPM and received an automated reply stating they would reply within 10 days. I explained that it was unreasonable to charge me £42 as I had no access to the invoice as my tenant was away. I did expect a reply and for the matter to be placed on hold while we sorted it out. After not hearing anything, I decided to send a cheque for the original £50 to LPM. I still had no communication from them.
I was then shocked to find that a letter, containing my cheque had been returned to the WRONG address, with a letter saying they had returned my cheque as the matter had now been sent to SLC Solicitors.
This was dated 08/02/2016. I have heard nothing from the solicitors and I am now very concerned that I will receive a ridiculous bill.
I find it very unreasonable that LPM did not reply to my email, and then just handed my file to a debt collecting solicitor.
Does anyone know where I stand now.
I feel I have been unfairly treated. Surely a more reasonable approach would have been to issue a final reminder or something.
Can you help

Debs1971

I've just been through a similar experience. E and J Estates had sent letters to my tenants address, even though they had my home address ( which I proved to them ), demanding paperwork and payment of a £ 40 fee to transfer the property I had bought years previously, into my name. My tenants didn't forward the letter to me and before you know it, E & J Estates had instructed JB Leitch in Liverpool to take me to court. Again, I didn't receive the court summons as it was sent to the tenants home. I found out almost by accident, at which point JB Leitch demanded over £ 4,000 for late payment fees and court costs. They were intimdating, using bully boy tactics and threats and I am considering reporting them to the SRA.

After a week of extreme stress, I proved the correct paperwork and fees had in fact been paid at the time of the house purchase. JB Leitch dropped the case, no word of apology.

These companies should not be allowed to operate in this way.

Rachel_Elkin

JB Leitch are demanding £630 in admin fees/solicitors' costs on an outstanding invoice of £130. This time they are acting for Estate Management Company, CP Bigwood.

I am the freeholder of a property on a residential estate, which I rent out to a young family. Both ground rent and estate management fees are payable on the property.

CP Bigwood, sent an invoice for service charges (due in advance) to the property instead of my home address. I therefore did not receive the invoice (if in fact it was sent - my tenants, who are scrupulously careful, said that nothing had been received at the property) and, since I only took ownership at the end of August 2015, I was not clear about the billing cycle etc. In fact I thought I had paid 6 months' advance charges as part of the purchase transfer.

In February my tenants contacted me to say that a debt collecting agency (JB Leitch) had been to the property to chase up an outstanding payment. I asked him the details and said I would take it from there.

I immediately contacted JB Leitch. They said that I owed £630 in interest and admin fees on an outstanding payment – that I had not, until this point, known was due.

I paid the service charge of £130 immediately – along with an additional £300 (this was in error, as I thought it was part of the outstanding service charge). They are still demanding a further £300. They gave me 7 days to pay it, but we are long past this.

I am disputing that I am legally bound to pay the additional fees. I asked them for a Summary of My Rights and Obligations. They sent me a Summary of Tenants’ Rights and Obligations. I pointed out that I am not a tenant and there is no lease.

The only existing agreement is the Title Transfer from the Land Registry. The clause relating to ground rent and service charges is quoted below. It specifically refers to the Holding Company, Solitaire - but they contract out the estate management to Bigwood. This clause states that interest is charged on outstanding invoices at a rate of 4% (not 4.5% as the solicitors are requesting) and there is no mention of Admin Fees in the terms of this transfer (signed Aug 2015, just one month before the service charge became due.

Please see relevant clause below:

[FONT=&quot]Title Transfer from the Land Registry.
Section 11.3 of this Transfer deed states:
"If any sums due to be paid by the Transferee under the terms of this Transfer or any part thereof shall be unpaid after becoming payable the Transferee shall pay to the Company (Holding & Management (Solitaire) No. 3 Limited)interest upon such sum or sums as shall remain unpaid at the rate of four per cent (4%) per annum above the base rate (or its equivalent)"[/FONT]

Can the company really charge such an excessive admin fee when this was not stated in the Transfer agreement that I had signed just a month earlier? I have contacted LEASE, but they were unable to help because I am not a tenant.

Freecall

Rachel_Elkin wrote: »

Can the company really charge such an excessive admin fee when this was not stated in the Transfer agreement that I had signed just a month earlier? I have contacted LEASE, but they were unable to help because I am not a tenant.

The answer to your question is 'yes' I am afraid. As a freeholder you are in an entirely different position with none of the legal safeguards that leaseholders have.

The only upside is that ultimately they will have to chase you through the courts for payment (although they will also be able to recover their costs from you). I say upside because they will not be able to use a Section 146 notice against you because you are a freeholder.

The only practical answer is to pay up and make sure that you never miss a payment in the future.

Sorry I can't give you better news.

Rachel_Elkin

Thanks so much for your reply. It wasn't what I want to hear of course, but I really appreciate your advice.

hammy022

Hi Rachel,

I do not agree with Free Call in his simple version.

I assume you purchased the property and the solicitor was aware of your home address and this would have been provided to the management company Bigwood (formerly Curry & Partners). I have known Curry & Partners then Bigwood for for nearly 30 years and I know there has been many times they have sent out the annual service charge much later than the due date and even when told repeatedly of my actual correspondence address is not the same as the property address have failed to post the invoice to the correct address.

The clause you copied basically says you are charged interest from day one on the due date.

You are a freeholder and not a leaseholder but you are subject to the terms of the lease unless you have documents stating otherwise but so is the Landlord / their representative Bigwood.

I think in my opinion you made a mistake paying the extra money to the solicitors without first seeking legal advice, it would have been cheaper and even free at the local CAB office. JB Leitch provide a free service to Bigwood in such matters. Bigwood really do not have anything to lose.

You should read the lease carefully. You will most likely find a description of how the service charge must be worked out and the requirements of the Landlord / Management to provide certified accounts for the estate on which your property is located. Usually there is wording describing the management fee and how much that can be.

You should ignore any demand from Bigwoods's solicitor demanding you do not contact Bigwood, that is their M.O.

Read the lease and then request the last three years account statements for your estate and compare with the lease. You will see what I mean when you read the lease.

In my opinion if they have not kept to the terms of the lease the service charge is invalid and so is all costs you are being charged. That is my opinion. The local CAB office will help you with that. Sometimes it might take a couple of weeks to get to see the actual specialist you need to see, they will actually find you an expert in this field.

In the meanwhile write to the solicitor informing them you are seeking legal advice and will contact them as soon as you have sought that advice. Also the Solicitors Regulation Authority advices solicitors to give you 14 days to respond. Given only 7 days or less causes a person to panic and to pay when they don't think they should, as you did.

If the solicitor threatens you with County Court do not let that stress you out. If they do file a claim you will receive a letter in the post. You can reply on the form that you need 30 days to seek legal advice and the solicitor has no say on that and can't add solicitor charges simply for the 30 day delay. This will give you plenty of time to get the correct legal advice you need.

Your case to me smells of incompetence by Bigwood and the solicitors "Conveyor Belt" style or presenting their clients without it appears even seeking any form of evidence. The management company give it over to the solicitor and they start their threats hoping you will give in. IMO it's illegal.

If Bigwood were given your home address they are at fault and you have nothing to worry about. Phone your solicitor and ask them what contact information they gave to Bigwood when you purhased the property, ask for a copy of it. A solicitor will have sent it to the management company no later than 30 days from the day the purchase was completed.

Bigwood may also have to prove they even sent you the invoice. They use a business mail account for postage, with my account the postcode and house number are recorded on the billing.

And keep your pecker up :-)

AnnieO1234

Back around ten years ago when I was responsible for writing leases, we included at the time a clause to the effect that it was the obligation of the lessee to ensure ground rent was paid on time to the service address irrespective of whether an invoice or reminder was sent.

=S