Delayed Access Charge from removal company

Tonkath

Hello All I'm a new member here, and have an enquiry about a 'delayed access charge' imposed by a removal company.
We bought a house at the end of December and there was a delay at our end because an investment that was being cashed in didn't come through in time. Our vendor was very accommodating (there was no chain) and it all worked out fine in the end: we completed on the Friday instead of the Tuesday.
However, we have just received an invoice from her solicitor for a delayed access charge of £500 from the removal company for the delay. No details of what this charge was for. While we understand that costs would have been incurred, £500 seems excessive - and a bit arbitrary.
Should we ask for a detailed invoice of the charges? Can we appeal against the figure?
Thanks for your suggestions.
Kathie

Guest101

2 things spring to mind:


1: When you exchanged contracts, did you agree on completion being Tuesday?


2: If there's no chain, how can the removals people have any delay in accessing whatever?


I'd be passing it onto your solicitor to deal with.

Tonkath

Hello, and thanks for the reply.

1: yes, the completion date was Tuesday
2: there was a delay in the transferring of the investment we were liquidating into our bank account. The investment company sent it by BACS rather than CHAPS and it took 3 days to clear.

If we get our solicitor to advise, will they charge for this as the conveyancing on the property is now complete?

HouseBuyer77

I presume they booked the removals for the original day of completion. They had to move them which understandably incur a charge. The company may have had to decline jobs they otherwise could have had that day so £500 actually seems pretty reasonable.

As the fault with the delayed completion lies with you, the costs are yours to bare.

Guest101

Tonkath wrote: »

Hello, and thanks for the reply.

1: yes, the completion date was Tuesday
2: there was a delay in the transferring of the investment we were liquidating into our bank account. The investment company sent it by BACS rather than CHAPS and it took 3 days to clear.

If we get our solicitor to advise, will they charge for this as the conveyancing on the property is now complete?

You've misunderstood my 2nd question:


If there's no chain, how can the removal people have had any delay in accessing any property??!!


Re solicitor fees: Possibly, I cant read your contract from here.


But I definitely cant read the invoice from here either.

eddddy

You need to find out the basis of this charge. Perhaps it's one of these:

1. It's a charge stated in their original contract
If the 'Delayed Access Charge' is stated in their contract, you have agreed to their contract - so you have agreed to pay this charge.

2. It's an additional charge you agreed to separately
When you said you wanted to change moving days from Tuesday to Friday, what was said? Did the removal firm say there would be an additional charge? Did you ask how much the additional charge would be?

3. It's damages because you breached the contract
Presumably, you agreed a contract for removal services on Tuesday. You breached the contract, the removal company lost money as a result (they had to pay wages, storage costs etc), they are claiming it from you. In this case, you could ask for a breakdown of costs.

HouseBuyer77

I had missed the no-chain aspect.

It may be your vendors preferred to move on the day of actual completion for whatever reason. However if they didn't actually have to they should have been limiting their losses from the delayed completion and hence not moved the removals.

So I think further detail required to determine if their claim has any merit.

Guest101

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

I presume they booked the removals for the original day of completion. They had to move them which understandably incur a charge. The company may have had to decline jobs they otherwise could have had that day so £500 actually seems pretty reasonable.

As the fault with the delayed completion lies with you, the costs are yours to bare.

I'll challenge this, slightly (in theory I agree with you)


Depending on the contract with the removal's people, and how much notice the OP gave (very little I imagine), there could be a cancellation charge.
HOWEVER the vendor must mitigate their loss. Would it be cheaper to keep the Tuesday removal date and pay storage for 3 days? Possibly?


OR given there's no chain, would it be cheaper to move on Tuesday to where-ever they were going?

Guest101

eddddy wrote: »

You need to find out the basis of this charge. Perhaps it's one of these:

1. It's a charge stated in their original contract
If the 'Delayed Access Charge' is stated in their contract, you have agreed to their contract - so you have agreed to pay this charge.

2. It's an additional charge you agreed to separately
When you said you wanted to change moving days from Tuesday to Friday, what was said? Did the removal firm say there would be an additional charge? Did you ask how much the additional charge would be?

3. It's damages because you breached the contract
Presumably, you agreed a contract for removal services on Tuesday. You breached the contract, the removal company lost money as a result (they had to pay wages, storage costs etc), they are claiming it from you. In this case, you could ask for a breakdown of costs.

It's not the OPs removal service...

Tonkath

The removal company had a delay because the vendor couldn't complete on her purchase (of an empty house) because we hadn't transferred the entire amount we owed her for this house to her account for her to go ahead with her purchase. We were £7,000 short while we waited for that investment to arrive in our account.
Although she was downsizing and had received sufficient money from us to complete on her purchase on time, the solicitor (understandably) wouldn't proceed until that outstanding £7000 was paid.
I hope that explains it clearly.

The invoice reads "Extra to quote To unload and reload because of delay: £500"

Guest101

Tonkath wrote: »

The removal company had a delay because the vendor couldn't complete on her purchase (of an empty house) because we hadn't transferred the entire amount we owed her for this house to her account for her to go ahead with her purchase. - But, but, but you wrote no chain. We were £7,000 short while we waited for that investment to arrive in our account.
Although she was downsizing and had received sufficient money from us to complete on her purchase on time, the solicitor (understandably) wouldn't proceed until that outstanding £7000 was paid.
I hope that explains it clearly.





The invoice reads "Extra to quote To unload and reload because of delay: £500"

The Vendor still has to mitigate losses. So you need to check if it would've been cheaper to store for 3 days.


But it's not likely.


**This is where giving accurate information in the original post helps!**