Persimmon Homes - power of attorney

[willdo]

Hi everyone.

I am dealing with an issue with my heavily pregnant sisters house. She bought it from this scumbag company years ago and they have completely failed to do anything about the two complaints she has raised. They even came on her property without her permission and built a wall on said property, without her permission, to fix a problem with the build of her neighbours house. Disgusting, really.

So, my sister and I have told this company no less than seven times via mail, email and in calls, that I am handling issues on her behalf. I am much more legal savvy, and wont put up with the shit they are throwing at her, trying to bully her into allowing them access again to do more work to fix the problem with next door.

I have categorically told them to shove off, and that their lack of responses, not to mention the well known horror stories online and in the media about them, mean trust between both parties has completely broken down.

Well, five times in the last two years they have contacted her again, ignoring me completely, from the second time this happened, I recorded all calls, and have them on tape being warned that we consider this harassment, and their acknowledging, many times, that I will be the one contacted. All calls have been made at great expense from abroad, where I work.

They had someone actually turn up at the property last Summer to do work. They told her they had sent advance notification to me and her. BS, obvs. She told them to contact me, and then they emailed me these two letters that same day. Neither of these letters was ever sent as fas was we are concerned.

They then left after I emailed them immediately and told them to piss off.

We heard nothing for a good year. My sister is now pregnant and giving birth imminently.

Last week Persimmon sent a letter from their solicitor, to her, not me, threatening her and telling her she is contract bound to allow them to enter her property within two weeks to allow this work.

I hit the ****ing roof. Took out a claim on MCOL stating all the above and that I had power of attorney, and claiming 300 for my calls and time repeatedly telling them I was handling things on my sisters behalf.

They have answered the claim, stating my claim is misconceived.

Then sent a separate letter to tell me my Sister has two weeks to agree to this work or they will take further legal action and claim costs against us. Absolute scum. I hate them.

So I have today been in touch with their rep to reiterate for her exactly how many times everything has occurred and all the proof I have.

Apart from any thoughts you might have on this, especially on the Power of Attorney issue? I include my POC and email sent today below.

Thank you.

Willdo

POC:

Persimmon are the most shameless,

untrustworthy, disgraceful company in the UK.

You only need Google them to see this. My

sister CENSORED has 2 outstanding, 2 year

old complaints about a property she bought. I

deal with matters on her behalf. She has told

them this 8 TIMES by email, phone and letter.

Despite this they CONTINUE to harass her,

after acknowledging I have control of these

matters. I have contacted them from abroad

every time, telling them I have power of

attorney, so stop this harassment. Latest

harassment is a letter to her, 8 months

pregnant, from solicitors. I wasn't

contacted. Their conduct is disgusting. I

cannot wait to get them in Court. Total

represents 8 hours of my time and call costs.

Please order them to correspond with me only.

EMAIL:

Sir/Madam,

Please put the following note on the case file:

I have just called Mrs CENSORED, working for Persimmon Homes, and told her that I have seven call recordings/emails/letters contacting five different members of staff at Persimmon Homes in which I told them I was handling CENSOREDs affairs. These staff acknowledge this fact and tell me I will be the only one who is contacted, from each of those conversations on. Indeed the majority of these later contacts were to reiterate that I was handling CENSOREDs affairs and to demand they stop harassing her and going back on the prior arrangements.

It seems that Mrs CENSORED wants to try to use a technicality here in her case i.e. no OFFICIAL Power of Attorney request has been made. I reiterate here once more - my sister was not incapable of handling her affairs, she just preferred me to handle them for her. I have told Persimmon this on multiple occasions.

I will continue to act on her behalf, not least because she is about to give birth.

I have taken this legal action because Persimmon Homes have always told me they will respect her wishes that I handle her affairs, and then continued to harass her. I will not take any chances that this pattern of harassment will continue during her pregnancy.

I am also going to have Persimmon Homes compensate me for the colossal waste of my time this has been merely getting them to do what they told me they would from the beginning. They have gone back on their promises six times.

I will file my DQ in due course.

Sincerely,

[willdo]

***BUMP***

[des8]

Sorry to hear about your sister's problems, but I doubt your approach has any chance of solving anything.

What do you mean by "Power of Attorney"?
How was it granted?

I don't think your POC shows any cause of action, and the ranting does you no favours.

How far down the court process have you gone?

Trust your sister (and child?) are well.

[ostell]

And they may have the right to enter the land in order to fix problems with an adjoining property

[willdo]

Sorry to hear about your sister's problems, but I doubt your approach has any chance of solving anything.

What do you mean by "Power of Attorney"?
How was it granted?

I don't think your POC shows any cause of action, and the ranting does you no favours.

How far down the court process have you gone?

Trust your sister (and child?) are well.

I meant that I had the right to handle her affairs on her behalf. She was being harassed by them to allow work next door via her garden, whilst not answering her complaints in any way, shape or form. And I do mean HARASSED. Incessantly. They're bullies. She asked me to intercede, as I have a much harder head than her and won't put up with their BS.

I have proof of multiple times they stated they accepted I was handling things on her behalf, then reverted back to harassing her. They just lie. All the time.

They have actually just made an application for strike out now.

I am taking them to Court to ask a Judge to A) tell them to stop harassing her, and B) pay £235 of phone call costs I incurred from abroad telling them I was handling matters. I had to call them a half dozen times after the first time they acknowledged I was handling her affairs, before going back to their harassment. Two occasions I had to call them when workmen showed up at her doorstep to do work next door, unannounced and without permission.

[des8]

IMO their strike out application will probably be successful, altho' it is just possible the court will allow a change of claimant and pleadings.
You will most likely have to pay their costs
SHE needed to take action using the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 which allows for both civil action and criminal prosecution
You do not have power of attorney and you cannot take legal action on her behalf

Have they started work on the neighbouring building?
Have they forced access through your sister's garden?
Have they indicated which part of which alleged contract gives them the authority they claim?

[willdo]

IMO their strike out application will probably be successful, altho' it is just possible the court will allow a change of claimant and pleadings.
You will most likely have to pay their costs
SHE needed to take action using the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 which allows for both civil action and criminal prosecution
You do not have power of attorney and you cannot take legal action on her behalf

Have they started work on the neighbouring building?
Have they forced access through your sister's garden?
Have they indicated which part of which alleged contract gives them the authority they claim?

Hi des8

They came into her garden whilst she was at work a couple of years ago, to fix a problem with water seeping downhill from my Sister's garden into the neighbour's property. They erected a wall on her property, which effectively turned her garden into a swamp in the winter. There were invasions of swamp type insects and everything.

She pursued them for an explanation and did not get a response. Followed it up - nothing.

Then they got in touch - to tell her they were coming back to do "more work" on the wall and next door's property, as the fix they carried out was not enough to please the neighbours.

I then took over and finally got an explanation out of them - "we did tell your Sister what we were going to do - we pushed a hand written letter through her postbox the week before." They did nothing of the sort. Utter BS.

Since then, due to their ignoring the complaint about the original unauthorised access and the building of this wall on her property, I have pursued them on Sis's behalf, and told that no further access will be granted until we sort out the current mess. I have since told them relations and trust have completely broken down, given that they continue to harass and contact her, despite telling me they accept I am now taking ownership of the issues and tackling them on her behalf.

We have two independent builders opinions that the build of all the houses are problematic and simply building a wall won't fix the seepage issues. One of the builders laughed when he saw the houses, and said it should never in a million years have been built on a downward slope like it has been,

My sister has also just given birth. Months ago she contacted them to tell them of another hazardous building defect, on her driveway, which made it very awkward and dangerous for her to get out of her car when she was pregnant. It was a defect one of the builders told us was against building law, or something like that. "Not up to spec".

They ignored her complaints about that.

They do, according to contract, have the right to build, with notice, however I have told them that as they broke the contract with the original unlawful build on my Sister's property, we cannot be held to said contract and certainly won't agree to be until the current issues are rectified.

Thoughts?

[des8]

So they had the right to build the wall, but needed to inform your sister two weeks in advance.
There is a dispute over whether or not that notice was given.

I doubt that a breach that minor is sufficient to declare the contract irredeemably broken

Now if you think that wall is causing problems, and there are other defects you should perhaps consider engaging a civil engineer to inspect and write a report for you.
I assume the local building inspector has signed off the buildings so working of hearsay won't cut the mustard

[willdo]

des8 are you about? I have their application to strike out my claim here and would like to get some feedback, tonight if possible, as it looks like a Judge might consider it tomorrow?

[des8]

fire away!

[willdo]

Can I PM you the PDF?

[des8]

If you wish, but generally better to post redacted on forum so others can comment as well

[des8]

Off to bed now... will check in the morning!

[willdo]

des8 any thoughts on my next actions would be appreciated. I have been told that the Judge will consider this application tomorrow.

APPLICATION ATTACHED.

I don't think I have ever been any more furious with a company.

This application is full of lies.

1) They say that my sister was fly tipping her own back garden. This is nonsense. Just complete lies. The green run off is from leftover grass cuttings from the mowing of her loan, which is the result of the terrible downhill build that two builders have told us should never have been signed off on.

2) They say my sister was informed via a handwritten note through her door - again this is a lie. My sister did not get a note through her door as she would have picked it up and so known how a wall had magically appeared on her property weeks later when she went out back to find out why her garden had turned into a bog (said bog the result of the wall they built stopping rain water moving downhill and into next door's garden).

3) There is absolutely no way in hell they could have built a wall on my Sister's property from the next door neighbours garden. We have proof of this in photographic evidence and from two independent builders.

4) We sent a letter from my Sister recorded delivery asking for exactly what was asked for - myself to handle this matter. We did EXACTLY as they requested.

We sent that recorded delivery and have proof it was received.

5) Persimmon then turned up twice in the last two years to "continue work next door.' This was without answering for the mess they had made in the garden, now a swamp, despite my repeated complaints to them. Twice I had to contact Persimmon from abroad, and demand they cease and desist the harassment immediately, and to tell them no access would be granted whilst the outstanding complaint continued to go unanswered. The last time this happened, they stated that they had written to both myself and my sister, emailing me two letters which neither of us ever received. They are lying, agin. They also were told repeatedly I was to be contacted via email as I was abroad, and this is how all contacts were carried out for the previous year of complaining. Neither letter was sent recorded delivery.

Also, they were still hassling my sister, despite acknowledging in several emails and call recordings I have copies of that thy would cease this bullying behaviour.

6) The direct contact in 2018 was from another lady, my father's fiancee, who shares the same first name as my sister. My sister was heavily pregnant and we were contacting them to demand they rectify a dangerous building defect in the driveway which we have been told is not up to spec and was a danger to my Sister when getting out of her car, heavily pregnant as she was. They ignored these contacts.

7) There has not been a separate application made for access to the property. But they HAVE contacted my Sister again, over my head.

They have written to her directly, threatening legal proceedings and costs, giving her a fortnight to respond, and all this is during the first weeks she is home on maternity leave, having given birth, ill from a water infection, and after I sent the following emails:

---

From: ME
Sent: Thursday, 25 July 2019 16:52
To: PERSIMMON LEGAL
Subject: Fw: Notice for Access - SISTERS ADDRESS

Further to my email below - my Sister has now given birth. It was a traumatic pregnancy. She is now at home recovering from a C-Section after two days of painful labour, with her baby. She is living alone.

I want to reiterate once more - DO NOT contact her, do not go to her house, do not in any way, shape of form bother her. You liaise with me ONLY.

---

From: ME
Sent: Thursday, 18 July 2019 11:32
To: PERSIMMON LEGAL
Subject: Fw: Notice for Access - SISTERS ADDRESS

I am today in receipt of yet another damn letter you have sent my sister. What the hell can you people not get through your thick skulls about the fact that I am dealing with everything on her behalf? Writing her name at the top of a letter means mail goes to her. Writing C/O below said name means you expect me to pass on the letter to her. You know I am the only person dealing with her affairs.

STOP SENDING MAIL TO MY SISTER AND HARASSING HER.

I would say thanks for doing this, as it only strengthens my case against your disgusting company, but she received this letter hours before going into labour and it caused her a lot of stress and upset. It has only acted to completely and utterly infuriate me. Idiots that you are.

So let us get this straight - any chance I might attempt to work towards resolving this with you has evaporated now. There is without a doubt no other option but to ask a Judge to intercede here. There will be no mediation or further discussion on the matter.

I am changing my amount claimed (for call costs only) to £235. This represents all call costs from abroad after the first time you told me you would stop hassling my sister and so deal with me, almost two years ago.

Finally, you do NOT have access rights to my Sister's property. You don't get to pick and choose what you do on my Sister's property after what you did without her consent, and your ignorance of the two outstanding issues, to this day.




From: ME
Sent: 08 July 2019 10:48
To: COURT
Subject: Re: ME v Persimmon PLC



Sir/Madam,

Please put the following note on the case file:


I have just called Mrs SOLICITOR, working for Persimmon Homes, and told her that I have seven call recordings/emails/letters contacting five different members of staff at Persimmon Homes in which I told them I was handling SISTERS affairs. These staff acknowledge this fact and tell me I will be the only one who is contacted, from each of those conversations on. Indeed the majority of these later contacts were to reiterate that I was handling SISTERS affairs and to demand they stop harassing her and going back on the prior arrangements.

It seems that Mrs SOLICITOR wants to try to use a technicality here in her case i.e. no OFFICIAL Power of Attorney request has been made. I reiterate here once more - my sister was not incapable of handling her affairs, she just preferred me to handle them for her. I have told Persimmon this on multiple occasions.

I will continue to act on her behalf, not least because she is about to give birth.

I have taken this legal action because Persimmon Homes have always told me they will respect her wishes that I handle her affairs, and then continued to harass her. I will not take any chances that this pattern of harassment will continue during her pregnancy.

I am also going to have Persimmon Homes compensate me for the colossal waste of my time this has been merely getting them to do what they told me they would from the beginning. They have gone back on their promises six times.

I will file my DQ in due course.

Sincerely,


Not surprisingly they did not include those first two emails in their application.


Having received this letter from them today, my Sister is understandably worried. She is easily stressed and still getting over the childbirth.

I am FURIOUS. I am having trouble writing this email I am so angry. They are bullying my Sister and they know exactly what effect they are having on her with these legal threats. All she has ever wanted was to trust the company she bought a home from. They built on her property without asking for permission moving a problem from next door's build to hers. and have ignored every opportunity they have had to explain what they did, instead choosing to harass her with requests to come to her house and do more work on next door's house.

I also want to point out that I have been researching this claim and the next steps since July 8th. I was just about to write to the Court asking to change the pleadings to include the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and also to send a Witness Statement from Lucy, as well as proof of the recorded delivery letter I had sent. The claim was started on 20th June.

I also don't see how we cannot hold the head company responsible, but would ask for the slip rule to be applied if this was the case.One other thing:

The whole estate my Sister lives on are part of a Facebook group that have been complaining about a tonne of issues with their houses for years, and complaints that are never dealt with by Persimmon Homes. For example: they have all bee complaining for three years about potholes in the road. Nothing has been done despite numerous promises.

They are now talking about getting legal representation organised between themselves because they have had enough.

For my part, when I am next in the UK I am going to door to door on this estate and going to talk to my Sister's neighbours directly. They have opened a can of worms messing with my family and they will regret it.

[willdo]

des8 ? what do you think? Penning a response ot the application now...