Issued my ex landlord a LBC- Service Charges. Can I request a Tribunal? If so, How?

[Scrumpy11]

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I am requesting help as my landlord seem to be playing for time to recover documents from their frag-mated systems. In July 2022, CHA were subject to a data breach of which I believe they are not being transparent with. I say this as they are struggling to locate documents as part of my Subject Access Request.

I issued a letter before Claim, can I request a Tribunal look into this matter? If so, what would I need to do?

Facts of the Case:

1. I, SB has, for some 27 years and 7 months was the occupier of the property situated at Flat 8 Winifride Court, 6 Albert Road,*********, under the terms of a Shorthold Tenancy Agreement.

1. On the 17^{th of} February 2022, I came home to a letter from CHA, (my Landlord), titled ‘New Rent and Service Charges 2022.

1. On the 17^{th of}February 2022, I wrote a letter of complaint to Clarion detailing my concerns. There was Service Charges of which I was either not receiving or fell outside of my contract (tenancy agreement), with Clarion Housing. This is not withstanding the poor services we receive, that’s if CHA Agents can be bothered to turn up.

1. On the 22^nd of August 2022, I received CHA response to my letter of complaint. After speaking with their Housing, Service Charge and Legal teams in relation to the disputed service charges, CHA upheld my complaint, refunding me £2973.83 for unlawful service charges going back 6 years, dispite me being a tenant for over 26 years.

1. The charges refunded/ removed for Services 2016-2022:

General Cleaning; Refuse Collection; Pest Control; Fire & Smoke Detection Equipment; Door Entry Phone; TV & Satellite; Provision for Door Entry; Provision for TV Aerial, Provision for Grit Bins; Provision of Resurfacing of Carpark; Provision for Communal Furnishing & Covering

1. CHA continued to charge me full services for 2022-2023, dispite removing services for 2023-2024. This breaches our Stage one agreement. No one from CHA has ever contacted me to discuss any additional charges, changing our contract as stated they would.

1. Further to this, CHA Compensated me £2450 for:

Failure to follow process; Time Taken to Resolve; Assessment of whether the loss could have been reconciled in any other manner; Lack of communication; Lack of ownership; Misdirection; Inconvenience and response time outside of SLA.

1. On the 08^{th of} September 2022, I have accepted as an interim payment the refund of £2973.83 and the compensation amount of £2550 compensation. However, I escalated my complaint to a stage two. My reason being that CHA have only gone back 6 years out of my 26 years and 9 months as a tenant.

1. On the 25^{th of} January 2023, I received CHA stage 2 resolution. CHA did not uphold my complaint, stating, “Having considered the matter further and upon taking legal advice, we will not be refunding the additional service charges you are seeking dating back to the commencement of your tenancy, as we can see no legal basis for such reimbursement.”

I have asked CHA to elaborate on why they feel at stage 2 there was no legal basis. Yet, at stage one they felt there was. CHA feel that this does not need to be answered.

1. On the 18^{th of} April 2023, I submitted a Subject Access Request (“SARs”) under the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (“GDPR18”), for information of all Service Charges from the date my tenancy commenced, 04 December 1995, to-date.

1. On the 19^thof April 2023, CHA confirmed receipt of my SARs request. Further to this, CHA requested I send in some form of identification, (“ID”), which I sent on the 20^thof April 2023. CHA confirmed receipt.

1. On the 02nd of June 2023, I phoned CHA due to not hearing from them since the conformation of my ID. I was informed that CHA was not processing this as a SAR’s request, in fact they were processing it as a Business as Usual (“BAU”), Request. This is the first I had heard of this; CHA raised a complaint. Complaint's case number is: CMP*******.

1. I have emailed CHA on the 8^th and the 13^th of June, requesting information on these service Charges. CHA failed to reply.

1. On the 21^st June 2023, I received documents retaining to me SAR’s request from 2017-2023. CHA stated that they were only obliged to go back six years.

Letter Before Claim:

1. On the 22^nd June I issued a Letter Before Claim. To-date this has not been professionally responded to. CHA is yet to file a full defence.

1. 04 July 23 – CHA requested an extension which would take us upto the 25^th July 23. This was accepted by me. CHA had questions. For me.

1. I responded stating I was at work; I would respond no later that the 10^th July to the questions Mr F (CHA Barrister) had raised.

1. 06 July 23 – I responded to CHA questions of how I calculated £20000

1. 25 July 23 – CHA partially defended my claim stating that parts of my claim were subject to investigation pertaining to a letter I sent on the 14^{th of} July requesting for all Service Charge notices from the beginning of my tenancy to-date.

1. 26 July 23 - I granted CHA extra time to collate documents. I was away for the 28^th July o the 8^th August. I also attached a letter with several discrepancies I had noticed within CHA partial response dated, 25^th July 23. Mr F replied the 27^th July stating my response is noted.

1. 07 August 23 – I sent a letter stating I had received documents on the 20^th July which was some of the notices requested. My stance remained the same. Mr Fernandes Auto response – He was on Annual leave until the 21^st August.

1. 07 September 23 – I received a stage one a complaint raised on the 02^nd June (12). This was full of inaccuracies. I forward this on to Mr F who then stated:

“Further to the contents of the letter dated 7 September 2023 from Ms BP of CHA , I suggest that if you are not happy with the response from CHA that you respond within 20 working days as to why you are not happy and what you are seeking by way of an outcome.

In the circumstances, to avoid duplicity, I regret I will not be able to respond to your emails dated 7 and 21 August 2023 until CHA have provided you with their final response as set out in their internal complaint’s procedure which you will be required to follow in the first instance.”

It seems to me CHA are revisiting things which have already gone through there complaints process.

1. Please could you explain why the following should delay my claim. I received the following response:

I am on leave and shall respond to your email upon my return to the office on 25 September 2023
However, if you query is time sensitive and requires an urgent response kindly contact ******.

1. To-date I have not received a valid full response from CHA.

Legal Issues Arising

1. CHA unlawfully charged me Service charges for services:
   1. Which I have not received
   2. Fell outside of my Tenancy
   3. I was not consulted before agents carried out work
   4. I was not consulted before being charged for extra services.
   5. I had not agreed to any extra service charges being added. Thus, changing our contract, my Tenancy Agreement.

1. CHA have already admitted liability in their stage one complaint, dated Aug 2022. I was never consulted/ notified regarding any additional charges as per our contract. Therefore, I should be entitled to any sums on a restitutionary basis up to 6 years as any time after the breach occurred.

1. The limitation period can be displaced as I am able to argue successfully that I were not able to discover or could not discover the overpayment with reasonable due diligence, in which case the sums being claimed could go as far back as when the payments were made.

1. Breach of the GDPR18: Clarion have failed to respond to my SARs request by stating they treated my request as a Business As Usual request/ Further to this they responded in what would be classed as not a reasonable time. I have not received all documents which I believe is down to Clarions Data Breach in 20222. To-date Clarion deny our data was compromised.

My schedule of loss and damage is as follows (amount to be set by court – To exceed £20000:

• Time spent on letters, emails and phone calls.
• Legal costs incurred to-date.
• Compensatory payment for distress and damage.
• Special/ Exemplary (punative)Damages to be awarded by the court.
• Refund of unlawful Service Charges from December 1995 – 2016
• Refund of Unlawful Service Charges for 2022-2023.
• Breach of the GDPR18, failing to respond to my SAR’s request.
• Failure to follow process, Time Taken to Resolve, Assessment of whether the loss could have been reconciled in any other manner; Lack of communication; Lack of ownership; Misdirection; Inconvenience and response time outside of SLA. Clarion has set precedent with this, details within my stage one dated 22 August 2022. Amount set £2550

Due to the fact CHA has not responded to my SARS request, I am unable to calculate what has been unlawfully charged over the years. Therefore, I will be requesting the Court to seek Punative (special/ Exemplary) damages from CHA, the amount will be set by the Court.


I appreciate any assistance you maybe able to offer


Kind regards

Mr SB