Paid overdue service charge - where do I stand with debt agency?

Mentalista1234

Hi all, 

I'm really rubbish at these sorts of things so would be really grateful for any advice. I have a small flat managed by a company who changed their approach to billing around six months ago. Previously, all service charges etc were taken from the rent paid by tenants, but there was a shift so that landlords had to pay the charges themselves. I fully own up for being a bit blasé about this, and just realised last week (as I received an email) that I the management company had waited four months for me to pay my service charges.

I paid the charges immediately, and wrote to the company apologising and asking if there were any outstanding charges. 

Along with the email there was a scanned letter (never sent to me postally) from a debt recovery agency with an incredibly high 'stage 1 fee' added to it (the service charges were around 500GBP, the stage 1 fee is close to 800GBP.

I have not had any response from the management agency, and have queried the debt recovery fees. I'm just wondering if I'm really obliged to pay this disproportionate fee? I'd rather give the money to the housing agency who I received the email from, as they actually reminded me about the unpaid charge, the debt recovery people didn't play a part in that. 

Having this hanging over me feels really stressful, especially with the threat of a CCJ (which I also don't fully understand). I'm heavily pregnant so maybe a bit hormonal and more susceptible to stress but would love to hear wisdom about whether I'm obliged to pay this, whether there is a way to reduce it and whether they could take me to court given I've paid for the outstanding charges, so there is no debt from that to be recovered now. Ironically, I feel like I'm now in debt to a debt recovery agency and I'm scared that they'll keep adding extra fees to their already sky-high charges- it feels so unethical. 

Thank you for reading.

sourcrates

Whilst you can add debt collection costs to the debt when a debt is Business to Business, the rules are slightly different when it comes to Business to Consumer.

Debt collection costs are not legally enforceable unless there is a specific clause in your contract or terms of business allowing you to (you never had a contract with this company).

Therefore, they can ask for these costs to be paid but there is no obligation for the debtor (you) to pay them and if you refuse to pay then they cannot threaten legal action to recover the debt collection costs.

You have paid the debt, and that letter was never sent anyway, a demand for payment must be sent through the post, not in an email or any other form of communication.

The debt was never theirs in the first place, they were simply acting as a collector.
Ignore it, and you won`t hear from them again, if you do, come back for further advice.

Mentalista1234

sourcrates said:

Whilst you can add debt collection costs to the debt when a debt is Business to Business, the rules are slightly different when it comes to Business to Consumer.

Debt collection costs are not legally enforceable unless there is a specific clause in your contract or terms of business allowing you to (you never had a contract with this company).

Therefore, they can ask for these costs to be paid but there is no obligation for the debtor (you) to pay them and if you refuse to pay then they cannot threaten legal action to recover the debt collection costs.

You have paid the debt, and that letter was never sent anyway, a demand for payment must be sent through the post, not in an email or any other form of communication.

The debt was never theirs in the first place, they were simply acting as a collector.
Ignore it, and you won`t hear from them again, if you do, come back for further advice.

Thank you so much for your advice - this has caused me so much worry but what you've said here is reassuring! So far the debt people have said if I don't pay it will be 'escalated', but I suppose that's part of their play? 

I'll move to ignoring them for now.

Thanks again!

Mentalista1234

sourcrates said:

Whilst you can add debt collection costs to the debt when a debt is Business to Business, the rules are slightly different when it comes to Business to Consumer.

Debt collection costs are not legally enforceable unless there is a specific clause in your contract or terms of business allowing you to (you never had a contract with this company).

Therefore, they can ask for these costs to be paid but there is no obligation for the debtor (you) to pay them and if you refuse to pay then they cannot threaten legal action to recover the debt collection costs.

You have paid the debt, and that letter was never sent anyway, a demand for payment must be sent through the post, not in an email or any other form of communication.

The debt was never theirs in the first place, they were simply acting as a collector.
Ignore it, and you won`t hear from them again, if you do, come back for further advice.

'So I've definitely heard from them again and it seems increasingly threatening. This is what I've received today:

...there are now two options. Either you pay the outstanding balance by 4pm Thursday 1 May or proceedings will be issue against you and significant additional costs will be incurred as a result. The choice is entirely yours.

<the management agency> will not be responding to you as we are acting on their behalf and once again I stress that DRA has not purchased the debt.'

Any advice??

sourcrates

Silly deadlines like that are designed to force you into action.

This is just for their fees, correct?

Write back, or email, and tell them what I told you, as they are totally out of order.

Mentalista1234

Yeah, just for their fees. I've paid the overdue service charge plus a late payment fee to the management company.