Managment company have sent threatening letter.

tomstickland

I'll dig out the thread on here, but two years ago I was saddled with a bill of £875.11 by the managment company of our flats. This was to pay for having the windows repainted.
The first I'd known about the work was when scaffolding was erected at the rear of the building.

Despite owning the flat for several months, all mail had been sent to the previos leaseholders. I had written to the management company informing them of the change of ownership and the previous ownder had also done so.

I looked into the legal requirements of the consultation process and also spoke to lease-advice.org. I was of the opinon that the managment company had failed to follow the correct procedure for the consultation process and hence I was liable for only £500 of the bill. I wrote to the management company and explained all of this.

I have received bills from them every 6 months and have always paid the money owed except for the disputed £375.11.

Well today I received a letter headed "pre-legal notification".

"We write with regard to the above and to inform you that we require payment within 7 days of the date of this letter. This matter has now been passed to solicitors who will be acting on behalf of the landlord to recover the debt. They have instructions to take the matter of these arrears to court to obtain a judgement if the arrears remain outstanding after 7 days, and to initiate future proceedings without further notice.

In addition to your outstanding balance, an administration charge of £35 (including VAT) has now been applied to your account.

Please be advised that a further administration charge of £79.25 (inc VAT) will be applied to your account in the even that the debt is not paid within 7 days. This is to cover the cost of Mainstay's time in preparing your carse for legal action. Any further preparation time will be charged on an hourly rate, as action by solictors' progresses.

It is advised that you contact me as a matter of urgency to arrang payment of the above.

Yours jdfsdjfsdjfhsb
Credit Control South".

It looks like a standard letter to me. My opinion is that I'll instruct my solicitor to get moving and I'll be going to the Lease Tribunal.

http://www.lease-advice.org/s20frame.htm

http://www.rpts.gov.uk/our_services/ld.htm

That's enough for tonight, but I think I'm going to be asking for a LVT decision on a service charge, based on section 27a of the Landlord and Tenant act 1985.

tomstickland

Here's the original thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=273810