How to get parking company to refund leasing company admin fee?

dadsma

I appealed a pcn and Highview cancelled it.  The leasing company as the Keeper charged us £10 to provide Highview with our details. I am unsure of the legal position. Should either the leasing company or Highview refund me?  

born_again

dadsma said:

I appealed a pcn and Highview cancelled it.  The leasing company as the Keeper charged us £10 to provide Highview with our details. I am unsure of the legal position. Should either the leasing company or Highview refund me?  

It's in the leasing co's T/C that they can charge a admin fee for sending letters.
No right to a refund in these cases.

Umkomaas

Some lease companies will refund an admin charge if the parking charge is cancelled.  Ask. Some admin charges are as high as £60.

dadsma

It seems harsh that a refund is down to which leasing company one chooses and the ppc gets off free for issuing a pcn with little or no validity.

Umkomaas

dadsma said:

It seems harsh that a refund is down to which leasing company one chooses and the ppc gets off free for issuing a pcn with little or no validity.

Have you read what your lease agreement says about private parking charges (as opposed to penalty charges from councils or police) and if there is any refund in the event of a winning appeal/cancellation of the charge?

DullGreyGuy

dadsma said:

It seems harsh that a refund is down to which leasing company one chooses and the ppc gets off free for issuing a pcn with little or no validity.

How much the admin fee is is also down to which leasing company you are with. 

If they all had to be identical what would the point of there being more than 1 company?

You pay a low fee but don't get it back. Others pay 5x as much but may get it back. If you would rather the later position then choose a leasing company with a £50 admin fee next time as they've priced in the fact they don't get to keep some

dadsma

I understand all of your points and I will check whether our leasing company does refunds  What concerns me is where ppc’s issue regular meritless pcn’s, e.g. to a resident parking in their own designated space. It seems wholly unreasonable that the PPC could lose at POPLA or in court and still have no liability to pay back the admin fees where the leasing company won’t cancel.

Fruitcake

dadsma said:

I understand all of your points and I will check whether our leasing company does refunds  What concerns me is where ppc’s issue regular meritless pcn’s, e.g. to a resident parking in their own designated space. It seems wholly unreasonable that the PPC could lose at POPLA or in court and still have no liability to pay back the admin fees where the leasing company won’t cancel.

As already mentioned, it depends partly on what your lease contract says about admin fees. It also depends on whether adding such an admin fee where the issue of the PCN should not have occurred could be considered an unfair contract term as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
For a one off charge of £10, you might decide not to fight this in court. However, it it was a recurring problem, for example receiving PCNs on a regular basis for parking in your own demised space, or the admin charge was high as already mentioned, you might want to issue a claim against the lease company.
In either case, a letter of/before claim will cost you no more than the cost of a stamp and stationery, so this is an option. It will act as a warning. The parking charge should never have been issued, and the lease company did not conduct due diligence to determine if the parking charge was legitimate. If parking charge notices from unregulated private parking companies is not specifically included in your lease contract, then you would have an even stronger case.

If that clause is in your lease contract, you always have the choice to shop around, and tell your current lease company why your are leaving/not renewing.

I suggest you also complain to your MP. Your comment about the ability for parking companies to issue meritless PCNs that leave you out of pocket even if cancelled is not fair is a very valid point.

DullGreyGuy

Fruitcake said:
It also depends on whether adding such an admin fee where the issue of the PCN should not have occurred could be considered an unfair contract term as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Do you think the employee at the finance company agreed not to be paid for the work they did processing the PCN because it was refunded @Fruitcake? Did their landlord waive some of their rent for the office because the PCN was waived? Did they get a refund on the electricity for running the computer/lighting/heating/internet for the person as they processed it?

For a deminimus £10 I'd really struggle to see how you could claim it was "unfair" as they did do the work. If the PCN issuer should refund the OP for having incorrectly issued it is another matter. Certainly the finance company directly charging the PCN company wouldn't work as there is no contract and they are too remote (just like if you're injured in a car accident and receive sick pay your employer cannot recover the sickpay or overtime to cover your absence etc from the at fault driver)

Debszzzz2

The lease company does not inventory every bit of admin work. It is part of the cost of doing business. What this would come down to is the wording in the lease agreement.

More often than not, there is nothing in the agreement about speculative invoices from unregulated private parking companies. If the agreement only specifies "fines" or charges from authorities or the police, then there is nothing for them to administer other than responding to the PPC in order to transfer liability to the hirer.

The cost of opening an envelope, filing the letter to the correct person/department and then sending the response with the transfer of liability is no more onerous than the admin involved in receiving and paying a bill for electricity or whatever. Whilst £10 for what takes little effort or time and should be considered the normal cost of doing business, whether de minimus or not, is not the point. The point is whether the agreement specifically allows for the admin charge if it is not something specified in the first place.

dadsma

Maybe I explained myself poorly. I’m fine with a leasing company charging an admin fee to forward my details to a parking company. 

I wouldn’t expect them to refund it even if the pcn is cancelled, although If they do as a matter of goodwill it is great customer relations and may be one reason to use them again.

My gripe is where the ppc issues a pcn which fails to meet the requirements of relevant law or their trade association to hold the driver or keeper liable.  It seems fundamentally unfair that where the ppc cancels a pcn or it is ordered cancelled by POPLA or a court the vehicle leaseholder may be saddled with paying an admin fee which was directly caused by the “dodgy” pcn being issued.  

I accept that a single £10 cost may be de-minimis but may be a significant sum in those cases where multiple pcn’s are issued by rogue ppc’s such as to a vehicle parked in a protected designated resident space over which the ppc has no authority.

I’m trying to understand, is there no remedy for the vehicle leaseholder in these circumstances?