Ground rent paid late & J B Leitch

highplaindrifter

Hi All

I own a flat that is used v infrequently, the demands from the freeholder are sent there but I missed them resulting in me paying the ground rent 1 month late. J B leitch have been passed it by the FH and are asking for £450 fees on top of the £350 ground rent, this seems quite excessive.
my lease references 5% pa above HSBC base rate as a remedy, but also says plus any sum that shall be deemed to be rent recoverable.
I have paid them £1.66 this evening which equates to a month of 5% above 0.75% on £350.
Does anyone have any advice ? if hate to end up in court for £450 but feel its bullying tactics ?
They also have set a 10 day payment period.

Thanks in avance

andyp102

Hi

Today I had a Letter from the same Solicitors firm.
I live in a flat and i pay £200 a year ground rent. Every Year the Landlord (of which there have been 5 in 12 years) sends me a letter/invoice in January asking me to pay into a certain account and the amount and when it is due.
This year I have had NOTHING. Not one letter and i have the money ready to pay as and when i get a Letter.
Today i get a Letter from Leitch asking for £200 Ground Rent, £300 Admin Fees, Interest £1.80 and £342 Legal Costs.
I literally just walked in the house from my Holiday, i called them and they first mentioned an address in Worcestershire (i live in Somerset) then the Lady said i will e mail you and advise the case person, she also advised me the Landlord whos name last year was Rendall&Rittner (now GRIF052) and previously Braemar before that to which i knew of no Landlord name change.
Last year when i got my Letter/invoice they didnt even provide an account no or sort code to pay it and i had to ask by e mail and then paid right away.
So tonight i went to pay the £200 on Leitch website, but they will only let me pay £843.80 so i have e mailed them (and copied in the Landlord e mail address i had last year which no idea if it is the same as this years) and told them.
Anyone know where i stand on this. If i had a letter/invoice i pay right away, they also state in Letter "Despite formal requests,you have failed to voluntarily pay'.....mainly because i have had no correspondence at all until the Solicitor Letter today.
Do i pay the full amount,some of it,none of it? go to Solicitor for Legal advice or anywhere else i can try and get some advice....
They seem like bullys and have gi en me 10 days (from 5th March to pay it)

Thanks in advance

NewShadow

highplaindrifter said:

My lease references 5% pa above HSBC base rate as a remedy, but also says plus any sum that shall be deemed to be rent recoverable.

As a base, you are liable for what you should have paid, plus interest for the delay in payment. Non-receipt of the demands is not a defence as you were aware that is the address used for correspondence, you were aware you were liable for ground rent, and the freeholder is not responsible for how frequently you access the property to check for post. 

On top of that, should this go to a court, you will be found liable to pay for the cost incurred in carrying out reasonable steps required to chase this debt; That includes the costs of the letters sent and the costs of the solicitors instructed.

I'd recommend you respond, expressing willingness to pay your contractual penalties, quoting your lease agreement, and asking for a breakdown of the excess amount demanded in the letter - it could be that the additional amount is a little high, or perhaps the leaseholder skipped some steps, but it depends on what steps were taken prior to you 'realising' you'd missed the initial reminders... 

NewShadow

andyp102 said:

Every Year the Landlord (of which there have been 5 in 12 years) sends me a letter/invoice in January asking me to pay into a certain account and the amount and when it is due.
This year I have had NOTHING. Not one letter and i have the money ready to pay as and when i get a Letter.

Anyone know where i stand on this. If i had a letter/invoice i pay right away, they also state in Letter "Despite formal requests,you have failed to voluntarily pay'.....mainly because i have had no correspondence at all until the Solicitor Letter today.

This is a slightly different situation - I would suggest you phone and seek a physical address for correspondence. 

Then I would write and enclose a cheque for the rent due, including a letter expressing a willingness to pay any penalty due after the liability is established. I would be asking for a breakdown of the amount demanded, copies of the letters sent, plus confirmation of the address they were sent to. 

Should this go to court, your defence would be non-receipt of the letters on the grounds they appear to have been sent to an account not affiliated with you in anyway and further that you had not been provided with the required details to make the payment on time without the invoice - It would also be helpful if you could demonstrate the required sum had been set aside in an account and left untouched awaiting the invoice, and if you can demonstrate this was custom and practice. 

eddddy

andyp102 said:

Hi

Today I had a Letter from the same Solicitors firm.
I live in a flat and i pay £200 a year ground rent. Every Year the Landlord (of which there have been 5 in 12 years) sends me a letter/invoice in January asking me to pay into a certain account and the amount and when it is due.
This year I have had NOTHING. Not one letter and i have the money ready to pay as and when i get a Letter.
Today i get a Letter from Leitch asking for £200 Ground Rent, £300 Admin Fees, Interest £1.80 and £342 Legal Costs.
I literally just walked in the house from my Holiday, i called them and they first mentioned an address in Worcestershire (i live in Somerset) then the Lady said i will e mail you and advise the case person, she also advised me the Landlord whos name last year was Rendall&Rittner (now GRIF052) and previously Braemar before that to which i knew of no Landlord name change.

(It's better to start a new thread to avoid confusion.)

Unfortunately, it's quite a complex situation.

The 'safest' advice is to pay £843.80 under protest - then challenge it at a tribunal. (Tell the landlord that you're paying under protest and you intend to challenge it at a tribunal - so they have the opportunity to reduce the amount they're asking for.)

The basis of your challenge at the tribunal would be:

• The landlord didn't correctly demand the ground rent (i.e. they didn't send you a bill) - therefore, by law, the ground rent wasn't payable, until it was correctly demanded.
• Since the ground rent wasn't demanded and wasn't payable - the late fees and solicitors fees are not reasonable, and therefore, by law, not payable

If the ground rent was correctly demanded (i.e. they did send you a bill), you can still challenge the late fees and solicitors fees as being not reasonable.

In that case, you'd probably start by asking them for a break down of their fees - so that you can judge their reasonableness.