UKPC court claim for own residential space

scentedcandle34

Thanks for all the help. E-mailed the pdf to ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk and got the automated reply. I guess now just to wait for the N180 by post. 

scentedcandle34

Just a quick update. I got an e-mail from DCB this week saying that they have received my defence and want a copy of my tenancy agreement. The tone seemed conciliatory ("we can look into this for you") but I know this is just an act from a company with their morals and they have given an arbitrary 7 days to respond. From looking at similar threads, I'm tempted to just ignore the e-mail or would this be viewed unfavorably by the court? Or should I just reply to the effect that I won't be providing my tenancy agreement until the witness statement stage? Thanks.

Gr1pr

Study the 12 steps in the defence template thread carefully, especially the part about receiving the document 

I see no problem in providing a copy of it at this stage, its a reasonable reply , they may discontinue

porridgestation

scentedcandle34 said:

Just a quick update. I got an e-mail from DCB this week saying that they have received my defence and want a copy of my tenancy agreement. The tone seemed conciliatory ("we can look into this for you") but I know this is just an act from a company with their morals and they have given an arbitrary 7 days to respond. From looking at similar threads, I'm tempted to just ignore the e-mail or would this be viewed unfavorably by the court? Or should I just reply to the effect that I won't be providing my tenancy agreement until the witness statement stage? Thanks.

One of the DCB Legal malnourished might have picked up on this in your defence and wants to see 7.2 in more detail, as it could be fed back to UKPC to try and force the leaseholders to adapt new tenancy agreements to include them.

7.2 The Property Inventory and Schedule of Condition refers to a “1 parking permit for bay Y MUST DISPLAY IN WINDSCREEN (sic)”. However, no references are made to either the Claimant, or the Claimant’s ability to enforce these conditions via penalty charges. Thus no contract between the Defendant and Claimant was entered. In addition, since no references are made to the Claimant, they are not considered to have acted through or in trust of the Landlord whilst breaching the Defendant’s quiet enjoyment of a dedicated parking space.

If they were on your side then they wouldn't impose an arbitrary deadline respond. Smells like desperation.

You've provided excerpts of your agreement in your defence. I would politely decline as the agreement would be provided anyway in the WS stage, and state your defence again, which looks absolutely solid. The lease agreement should be for Witness Statement stage, by which time DCB Legal should have run off and discontinued. No need for them to have a key piece of evidence beforehand.

Fruitcake

The law requires both parties to narrow the issues, so I suggest you send the relevant parts of your tenancy agreement as a judge might look upon you less favourably otherwise.

However, I suggest you precede this with a statement that a reputable company would have established what a resident's existing rights were before commencing operations, and therefore should already have a copy of the agreement and head lease if there is one. 
Make sure you include mention of the right to quiet enjoyment, and how changes to your tenancy agreement must be carried out, and that UKPC are/were not a party to to that agreement so have no right to interfere or change your existing rights. To do so would be a derogation of grant.

scentedcandle34

Thanks for the advice. Just to mention, I didn't actually include all of my previously posted draft defence in my final version to the CNBC. I revised it to shorten down the case specific facts and better fit this forum's template defence. Paragraph 7.2 was taken out and I would hate for them to use that to make things difficult for new would-be tenants.
The inventory is a separate document to the tenancy agreement, so I could save that for the witness statement stage which hopefully never comes to fruition. This was the relevant paragraph in my modified defence:

4. The Defendant’s tenancy agreement and XX lease agreement (which the Defendant has been provided by a neighbour) make no references to the Claimant. The lease agreement demises parking spaces for the exclusive use of leaseholders along with their occupiers and visitors (i.e. the Defendant). There are no terms within the lease requiring lessees (including their underlessees and permitted parking space users such as the Defendant) to display parking permits, or to pay penalties to third parties, such as the Claimant, for non-display of same. Therefore, the Defendant, at all material times, parked in accordance with the terms granted by the building lease. The erection of the Claimant's signage, and the purported contractual terms conveyed therein, are incapable of binding the Defendant in any way, and their existence does not constitute a legally valid variation of the terms of the lease or tenancy agreement. Accordingly, the Defendant denies having breached any contractual terms whether express, implied, or by conduct. Thus, the Defendant relies on primacy of contract to the use of the parking space and avers that the Claimant's conduct in aggressive ticketing is in fact a matter of tortious interference, being a private nuisance to residents.

So all considered, I think it is best to send a short reply with the caveats mentioned by Fruitcake. 

Fruitcake

I would remove the comment in brackets about who provided you with a copy of the agreement.

If you are a leaseholder as opposed to a tenant, then you are covered by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Part IV, para 37 of the Act requires an application be made before a lease can be amended, and that all landlords and tenants must be consulted. Note the requirements regarding the minimum majority required in favour without exceeding the number of those against before a lease can be varied.

Again, a reputable company would, indeed must, be aware of the law before a lease can be varied. Ask them and the landowner/managing agent when (not if) UKPC obtained consent to vary the lease.

Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (legislation.gov.uk)

Note that mandatory requirements state that the application to vary a lease must have the required consent before they make the application. The wording "shall only be made if ..." is crucial in this context. The converse must be true. An applicant shall not be made without the required consent.

(5)Any such application shall only be made if—

(a)in a case where the application is in respect of less than nine leases, all, or all but one, of the parties concerned consent to it; or

(b)in a case where the application is in respect of more than eight leases, it is not opposed for any reason by more than 10 per cent. of the total number of the parties concerned and at least 75 per cent. of that number consent to it.

scentedcandle34

Hi all, 

Just a positive update along with a massive thank you to this thread and forum's contributors in general.

In November I received a discontinuation e-mail from DCB (after an insulting settlement offer for half of the claimed sum in September, itself following a court date set for December). 

I hadn't (and still haven't) received anything by post from the court, so was concerned that this wasn't fully the end of the matter and was further concerned when I recently walked by the court (it's 5 mins from my flat), showed a confused security guard the e-mail on my phone and was told to "print this" (which seemed strange for a form not signed by me) and bring it to the court.

However, thankfully, I then phoned the court helpline and checked similar threads on this site (upon receiving an N279 via e-mail) to confirm that the case was now closed and there was indeed no further action required on my part. 

I'm not fussed about counterclaims but very happy to do anything which helps draw attention to another victory for natural justice or lobbies for private parking reform, especially given the outrageous news item today about the poor lass from Derby being stung for £2000. Thanks again for all the great work you do. 

Coupon-mad

Yay!  Well done. You won!

But to stand up and be counted so that your success is included in @Umkomaas thread please show us the attached NoD.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST! 

scentedcandle34

Certainly. I had to redact a lot but here it is. Feel sorry for all the admin staff who have to waste their time and human potential with these bogus claims.

"Dear [my name],

 We act for the Claimant in the above matter.  

Our client has instructed us to discontinue Court proceedings and close our file. Therefore, please find enclosed the Claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance for your records.  

 The attached has also been filed with the Court. 

 We will now proceed to close our file accordingly."