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BW Legal "Letter Of Claim" Received

2456711

Comments

  • GeoStar1
    GeoStar1 Posts: 61 Forumite
    I have now heard back from the company that I believed to be the landowner of the car park. Unfortunately they have informed me they no longer own the land and have referred me back to Countrywide. Countrywide have previously refused to tell me who the landowner is in a reply to my initial appeal (they told me it was none of my business!). Is there anymore I can do regarding a landowner? It seems to be a dead end which is a pity.


    Further to the above posts, I await a reply from BW Legal regarding my request to place the case 'on hold' while my SAR email has been sent to Countrywide. I am wondering how long to wait before sending a rebuttal letter? BW Legal stated a reply deadline of 26th Dec in the LOC.


    Thanks again for any help received.
  • beamerguy
    beamerguy Posts: 17,587 Forumite
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    GeoStar1 wrote: »
    I have now heard back from the company that I believed to be the landowner of the car park. Unfortunately they have informed me they no longer own the land and have referred me back to Countrywide. Countrywide have previously refused to tell me who the landowner is in a reply to my initial appeal (they told me it was none of my business!). Is there anymore I can do regarding a landowner? It seems to be a dead end which is a pity.


    Further to the above posts, I await a reply from BW Legal regarding my request to place the case 'on hold' while my SAR email has been sent to Countrywide. I am wondering how long to wait before sending a rebuttal letter? BW Legal stated a reply deadline of 26th Dec in the LOC.


    Thanks again for any help received.


    OH BOY ...... tell Countrywide it is your business as you are now being threatened by money thugs

    If they will not tell you, then you will include them in any court case
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 131,589 Forumite
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    Ask the Council who pays the non-domestic rates at the premises/site. This is public info.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top of this/any page where it says:
    Forum Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • The_Deep
    The_Deep Posts: 16,830 Forumite
    The identity of the landowner can be obtained from the Land Registry for a small fee.

    It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business. Hopefully that will take place in the near future. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers. Read this one which I wrote earlier

    This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

    Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

    The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

    Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will become Law next year.

    All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.
    You never know how far you can go until you go too far.
  • GeoStar1
    GeoStar1 Posts: 61 Forumite
    Thanks for your advice. I have made a FOI request to the council requesting information. If no luck I will try Land Registry and pay the fee. I am reluctant to spend any money however small on this as I think it is all such a scam.


    Any thoughts on the last part of my post please:


    Further to the above posts, I await a reply from BW Legal regarding my request to place the case 'on hold' while my SAR email has been sent to Countrywide. I am wondering how long to wait before sending a rebuttal letter? BW Legal stated a reply deadline of 26th Dec in the LOC.
  • GeoStar1
    GeoStar1 Posts: 61 Forumite
    edited 5 December 2018 at 5:33PM
    No response yet to my SAR email sent to Countrywide or to my letter to BW Legal requesting the case be put ‘on hold’.

    BW Legal’s Letter of Claim has a response deadline of 26th Dec. Should I now ignore this deadline and continue to await a SAR reply? I understand the importance of having the SAR response to help shape a rebuttal but I am worried BW Legal might go straight to a court claim before I can provide a rebuttal.


    Any advice on this would be much appreciated.
  • KeithP
    KeithP Posts: 37,621 Forumite
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    edited 5 December 2018 at 12:05AM
    GeoStar1 wrote: »
    I have made a FOI request to the council requesting information.
    You're not in a hurry then?

    Why not ring the council offices, ask for the dept that deals with non-domestic rates, and ask your question?

    Edited to add:
    I just looked at my local council's website and under Business Rates found a spreadsheet showing all the properties in their domain paying business rates and who pays them.
  • GeoStar1
    GeoStar1 Posts: 61 Forumite
    Thanks for the advice, I didn’t realise the information was so accessible. I have now found the rates information on the council website and I think I have found the landowner. I will now get in touch with them.
  • Update on tracing the landowner of the car park:


    The information on the council website didn't relate to the landowner of the pay and display car park.


    The FOI has been returned with the following response:



    "I can confirm that the pay and display car park there is not rated (due to an ongoing issue with the Valuation Office Agency) and so it will not appear in any recently published SCC rate lists.


    As such, this information is not currently held by the Council."


    I have written to local companies surrounding the car park in hope that I may trace the landowner. Otherwise I may have to pay HMLR for a copy of the title deeds.
  • Umkomaas
    Umkomaas Posts: 41,343 Forumite
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    Why not contact the Valuation Office to ask if they will tell you who the landowner is. They often have a website where you can also get the information.

    I wonder if the ongoing issue is regarding the running of a car park business (with potentially higher rates due)? Even if it isn't, why not drop a rock in the pond and report that Countrywide Parking Management are running a parking business there and for every minor slip up by a motorist, on top of the P&D fee, CPM are earning a further £100 from the parking slots.
    Please note, we are not a legal advice forum. I personally don't get involved in critiquing court case Defences/Witness Statements, so unable to help on that front. Please don't ask. .

    I provide only my personal opinion, it is not a legal opinion, it is simply a personal one. I am not a lawyer.

    Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

    Private Parking Firms - Killing the High Street
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