DCB Legal Claim form - private parking ticket issued at main residence

schmuel

Ok, thanks CM - from memory I think I made a guess at my likely holiday dates at an earlier stage but clearly didn't get it quite right.

So presumably I should go ahead and submit the witness statement etc in June, then hope the claimant fails to pay the court fee (due in July) or pulls out in some other way before the court date? And if that doesn't happen the main thing I need to remember to do is let the court know I can't make the hearing in August?

Thanks

Fruitcake

You need to attend the hearing otherwise you stand an exceptionally high chance that you will lose, even if you tell the court you cannot attend.

schmuel

Thanks Fruitcake - unfortunately attending is not an option, it's fallen right in the middle of our family summer holiday and I'll be abroad with my kids. So I guess I'll have to cross my fingers and hope the claimant withdraws before the hearing.

Coupon-mad

schmuel said:

Thanks Fruitcake - unfortunately attending is not an option, it's fallen right in the middle of our family summer holiday and I'll be abroad with my kids. So I guess I'll have to cross my fingers and hope the claimant withdraws before the hearing.

No you can ask the local court to let you attend by phone but DO NOT do any of that until July.

They will discontinue before then.

schmuel

Ah I see that's great, thanks! What a relief. 

schmuel

Hi all, some good news: C-mad was spot on, DCB legal emailed today to say they have had instructions to discontinue proceedings and close their file. They attached a copy of the claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance.

All's well that ends well!

Coupon-mad

schmuel said:

Hi all, some good news: C-mad was spot on, DCB legal emailed today to say they have had instructions to discontinue proceedings and close their file. They attached a copy of the claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance.

All's well that ends well!

Yay well done!  That's a WIN.

As expected but great news.  You don't need to do anything else.

ANOTHER DISCONTINUANCE!

Calling @Umkomaas

And we sincerely hope that you are au fait with the need to respond to the final Government Public Consultation this Summer?

Anticipated July/August. 

We all need to ram the nail in the coffin of the false £70 'DRA fee' add-on, that actually funds the court claim and toxic CCJ culture, as well as the DRA and roboclaim 'legals' gaslighting of people.

Please come back here when it opens.

If you are not a regular reader, to be alerted you'll need to bookmark the thread by MSE_JC at the top of the forum and enable (on your profile) email alerts for bookmarked threads.

Then join us when the Consultation opens. ...PLEASE!  We need all MSE victims if this horrific harassment and bullying to be heard.

Ditzy_Mitzy

schmuel said:

Thanks all for the speedy responses.

To respond to your initial points:

- I filed the Acknowledgment of Service on 29 Nov so I believe I have until 4pm on Monday 19 Dec to file my defence. I have already started adapting the template linked to in the newbies thread but wanted to see if anyone here was able to advise on the strength (or otherwise) of the relevant provisions in my lease before sharing a draft. 

- re where I was parked, yes it was out front where the scheme was in operation.

- building decisions are generally taken by a right-to-manage company made up of leaseholders, most of whom also have share of freehold. There was quite a bit of discussion about it at residents' meetings in the run-up to the introduction of the scheme and at the time a majority of leaseholders were in favour of it. UKPC are still operating there as far as I'm aware.


I've been digging through old emails from around the time the parking scheme was first being discussed, and have found a lease clause put forward by one of the RTM directors that he interprets as giving the Landlord the right to introduce a parking scheme. However, this clause doesn't appear in my lease... I have no idea why it doesn't. Here is the wording in the RTM director's lease:

Fifth schedule
(obligations of the leaseholder)

12: Without prejudice to the generality of clause 11 hereof to comply with all regulations which the landlord may from time to time make a publish in respect of the use of car parking spaces within the Estate

The fifth schedule in my lease (which is subtitled 'Tenant's Covenants' rather than 'obligations of the leaseholder') ends at Clause 11 which reads as follows:
11. To comply with all regulations which the Landlord may from time to time make and publish for the detailed administration of the Block and/or Estate or for maintaining the character and amenities thereof whether in relation to the flats and their occupation or to the Retained Parts and their communal use or to the Estate

Just to answer the question: a lease is an individualized agreement between the landlord (freeholder) and tenant (leaseholder).  Leases demise specific things and contain appropriately tailored clauses and covenants so it is entirely possible, indeed certain, that different leaseholders within the same building have leases with slightly different terms.  The lease for Flat 3 might demise Flat 3 only, whereas the lease for Flat 4 might demise Flat 4 and a garage; there will be additional clauses for the garage.

The OP's lease is likely to have been drawn up prior to the freeholder coming up with the idea for private parking enforcement, so the relevant clauses would not have been inserted at the time.  The OP could have agreed to vary his lease, of course, but the freeholder (or board of directors) don't have the power to do that unilaterally.  

Boat_to_Bolivia

schmuel said:

Hi all, some good news: C-mad was spot on, DCB legal emailed today to say they have had instructions to discontinue proceedings and close their file. They attached a copy of the claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance.

All's well that ends well!

Did you see this one @Umkomaas? 

Congratulations OP.

schmuel

Coupon-mad said:

And we sincerely hope that you are au fait with the need to respond to the final Government Public Consultation this Summer?

Will do - and sincere thanks to all who have helped with this case or provided advice on this forum, it's a seriously valuable resource and really the only thing out there that can equip people to defend themselves against this scam. 

One last thing I forgot to mention in my earlier message - I received a couple of calls from DCB legal in the run-up to the discontinuance offering a settlement, they offered something like £240 reduced from £370 to settle the case before court. Not sure if that's a common tactic or not but thought it was worth mentioning in case it's useful info for others in future. 

Thanks all