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I own a house (in England) which has £100 Ground Rent payable every six months. There are no arrears.
On 22nd May I received a Letter of Claim from a solicitor in Banbury, claiming on behalf of the landlord and instructed by the managing agents 2 sets of late payment fees at £120, and "admin fees" at £180, on alleged late payments of rent; plus solicitors' costs of £198 and a £3 land registry fee, total £801. This was the first I heard of this matter. I am unaware of any late payments, and am pretty sure that neither the then, or new, managing agents have never sent me demands for the late payment or admin fees. To go from no contact at all straight into a Letter of Claim implying legal action is obviously rather alarming!
I replied using the Reply Form stating that I did not know whether I owed the debt or not, asking for confirmation that there are no current rent arrears; requested a copy of the lease; requested copies of the original rent demands; the demands for admin fees and late payment, and details of how the late payment, agent and solicitors fees have been calculated.
I also asked for the name and contact at Rendall and Rittner (R&R), the new managing agents who seem recently to have replaced the old ones and who are presumably driving this claim, as coincidentally my family have other dealings with them on other property. Interestingly we have never found R&R to be aggressive or predatory. The reason for this request is so that I might contact R&R directly to discuss their concerns, and ask them why they didn't think to raise them without involving solicitors, and once they had so decided, why they expect me to pay for the solicitors.
The Letter of Claim also states that "You are required to pay your ... ground rent on certain dates". It is my understanding of the Law governing Ground Rents is that a leaseholder is required to pay the amounts *only* once the landlord has sent a written demand for same (see https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-...-other-issues/, Section 9, for example), so I asked the lady at the solicitors to advise whether the statement in her letter that it is the responsibility of the Leaseholder to pay Ground Rent is payable even when the Landlord has not issued a notice of demand is correct, or is incorrect.
After several reminders to her and to the solicitors' CEO the lady handling the case replied on 14/06/19 confirming that there were no current arrears, and removing one set of the late payment and admin fees which appear to be related to rent due on 01/09/18. She also reiterated her demand for payment the other set of late payment and admin fees which relate to ground rent due on 01/09/16, not paid until 22/11/16. These fees added to hers and the registry fee now total £501, the current amount of her claim.
I replied requesting the rest of the information I had asked for on 29/05/19, and sent a reminder on 30/06/19, pointing out that under the PRE-ACTION PROTOCOL FOR DEBT CLAIMS she had already exceed the 30 day limit by which an alleged creditor should "... provide the document or information [requested] or explain why the document or information is unavailable within 30 days of receipt of the request".
No reply so I sent a reminder on 02/07/19 and this morning I did receive a reply enclosing a PDF copy of the lease (which is however corrupt so I can't open it); stating that the lease provides for "if you (sic) ground rent is over 30 days overdue you will become liable for a £120.00 late payment fee. If the same charge remains overdue for 45 days then you will become liable for £180.00 administration fee".
She said that all the other documentation would have to come from her client; told me that she requires me to explain why the £100 ground rent from the 1st September 2016 was paid over the 45 days on the 22nd November 2016; and asked if I have any correspondence from this time.
She did not answer the question about whether she was lying/mistaken to claim that is my responsibility to pay on time absent a formal reminder/demand; and did not provide the contact details for R&R; and did not explain why she had not requested from her client and/or provided the information I have requested upon receipt of my Reply Form on 29th May, but seems to have left it until now to bother to ask for it.
She also said: " I can confirm that I have sent you all the documents I have and any other documents will need to be sent from my clients. I can confirm that my file will be on hold until such time as we come back to you. I don’t anticipate issuing proceedings in this matter and am hopeful that this can be resolved between the parties." I am unhappy with this both because her opening letter, a Letter of Claim implying Court action, clearly *does* suggests that she anticipates proceedings; and that I don't want this dragging on as I want to sell the flat.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring this to a head? Could I for example complain to the Legal Ombudsman about the interminable delay I am enduring and the endless reminders I am having to send?
Thanks
N
On 22nd May I received a Letter of Claim from a solicitor in Banbury, claiming on behalf of the landlord and instructed by the managing agents 2 sets of late payment fees at £120, and "admin fees" at £180, on alleged late payments of rent; plus solicitors' costs of £198 and a £3 land registry fee, total £801. This was the first I heard of this matter. I am unaware of any late payments, and am pretty sure that neither the then, or new, managing agents have never sent me demands for the late payment or admin fees. To go from no contact at all straight into a Letter of Claim implying legal action is obviously rather alarming!
I replied using the Reply Form stating that I did not know whether I owed the debt or not, asking for confirmation that there are no current rent arrears; requested a copy of the lease; requested copies of the original rent demands; the demands for admin fees and late payment, and details of how the late payment, agent and solicitors fees have been calculated.
I also asked for the name and contact at Rendall and Rittner (R&R), the new managing agents who seem recently to have replaced the old ones and who are presumably driving this claim, as coincidentally my family have other dealings with them on other property. Interestingly we have never found R&R to be aggressive or predatory. The reason for this request is so that I might contact R&R directly to discuss their concerns, and ask them why they didn't think to raise them without involving solicitors, and once they had so decided, why they expect me to pay for the solicitors.
The Letter of Claim also states that "You are required to pay your ... ground rent on certain dates". It is my understanding of the Law governing Ground Rents is that a leaseholder is required to pay the amounts *only* once the landlord has sent a written demand for same (see https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-...-other-issues/, Section 9, for example), so I asked the lady at the solicitors to advise whether the statement in her letter that it is the responsibility of the Leaseholder to pay Ground Rent is payable even when the Landlord has not issued a notice of demand is correct, or is incorrect.
After several reminders to her and to the solicitors' CEO the lady handling the case replied on 14/06/19 confirming that there were no current arrears, and removing one set of the late payment and admin fees which appear to be related to rent due on 01/09/18. She also reiterated her demand for payment the other set of late payment and admin fees which relate to ground rent due on 01/09/16, not paid until 22/11/16. These fees added to hers and the registry fee now total £501, the current amount of her claim.
I replied requesting the rest of the information I had asked for on 29/05/19, and sent a reminder on 30/06/19, pointing out that under the PRE-ACTION PROTOCOL FOR DEBT CLAIMS she had already exceed the 30 day limit by which an alleged creditor should "... provide the document or information [requested] or explain why the document or information is unavailable within 30 days of receipt of the request".
No reply so I sent a reminder on 02/07/19 and this morning I did receive a reply enclosing a PDF copy of the lease (which is however corrupt so I can't open it); stating that the lease provides for "if you (sic) ground rent is over 30 days overdue you will become liable for a £120.00 late payment fee. If the same charge remains overdue for 45 days then you will become liable for £180.00 administration fee".
She said that all the other documentation would have to come from her client; told me that she requires me to explain why the £100 ground rent from the 1st September 2016 was paid over the 45 days on the 22nd November 2016; and asked if I have any correspondence from this time.
She did not answer the question about whether she was lying/mistaken to claim that is my responsibility to pay on time absent a formal reminder/demand; and did not provide the contact details for R&R; and did not explain why she had not requested from her client and/or provided the information I have requested upon receipt of my Reply Form on 29th May, but seems to have left it until now to bother to ask for it.
She also said: " I can confirm that I have sent you all the documents I have and any other documents will need to be sent from my clients. I can confirm that my file will be on hold until such time as we come back to you. I don’t anticipate issuing proceedings in this matter and am hopeful that this can be resolved between the parties." I am unhappy with this both because her opening letter, a Letter of Claim implying Court action, clearly *does* suggests that she anticipates proceedings; and that I don't want this dragging on as I want to sell the flat.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring this to a head? Could I for example complain to the Legal Ombudsman about the interminable delay I am enduring and the endless reminders I am having to send?
Thanks
N
