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I am unsure whether I am posting in the correct section here, so please feel free to move if it isn`t where it should be.
I bought my property in 1994, it is a 4 bedroomed old Farmhouse with 2 barns (which I have now got fill planning permission for conversion on), and 15 acres of land.
In 1997, coal mining was undertaken in the area which affected my property and many others in the Village also, prior to Coal Mining taking place, a letter was sent out to all residents stating the fact and further stating that once the works on that particular seam of coal had finished, then if your property had suffered any damage, you were entitled to make a claim against the Coal Authority, and that you were further entitled to employ an agent experienced in that field to deal with your claim and submit it for you.
Since that time, further coal mining has been undertaken in my area another 5 times, each time considerable damage has been caused to my property. Each time the Coal Authority has denied liability but our agent either proved them wrong himself, or we were forced arbitration, wherein , each time, our expert has proved the damage to my property has been caused by Coal Mining using cold, hard facts and the Coal Authority has made payments to repair the damage and they have paid the agents without further problems.
Between the years of 2012 and 2014, coal mining was again undertaken in my area and affected my property, (and many others), our usual agent was extremely busy so was unable to take my claim on this time and so we dealt with the claim ourselves. Once again, the Coal Authority refused liability for the damage and we were forced to arbitration. This arbitration covered subsidence caused to the house. We won the arbitration but were greatly penalised financially because we hadn`t employed the services of an agent who was experienced in this field so we lost out on a lot of things within the claim, purely because we are just `lay people` and didn`t know the correct procedure.
Given that we had been penalised so heavily due to lack of expert evidence in the arbitration for the house, when we decided to submit a claim for our barns and surrounding land, we employed the services of an agent who was experienced in this field, knowing that the Coal Authority Act allows you to do so, and also agrees they will pay the `reasonable` fees. Once again, the Coal Authority refused our claim and forced us to arbitration. We recently received the results of the arbitrators Final Award.
Although the arbitrator agreed with us on every point we had made, and ruled the Coal Authority was wrong it what they were saying, he misunderstood a great deal of the claim, and he believed the claim was purely for significant cracking in the two barns, (he stated that was the reason for the claim in his Final Award). he made no mention of the land surrounding the barns which has sunk considerably and will need to be raised to stop the barns flooding, (we are on a Flood Plain, the whole of our Village is), the sinking of the land around the barns formed the bulk of the claim.
As such, the arbitrator has ruled that a payment of £1300.00 be made for the cracking of the barns to be sorted, (our agent believes it will cost considerably more than that and that bracing of the buildings etc is required), the arbitrator has totally ignored the costs of raising the levels around the barns, (our agent considers this will cost around £60,000), furthermore, although he has agreed with every point we have made and disagreed with the Coal Authority and he readily admits he accepts my barns and land have suffered subsidence, he states that the amount he has awarded, (£1300.00), cannot be considered a `win` for us, and so he has ruled that we have to pay our agents costs, (which are in the region of £12,000!), and that we also have to pay 50% of his fees, (the CA paying the other 50%), in the total of just over £4000.00!!
So basically, it is admitted by the arbitrator that our land and barns have suffered subsidence, but it is going to cost me £16.000.00 for him to have reached that decision! Ordinarily, the arbitrators haven`t put in their Final Award who pays for costs of the experts as it is known that under the Coal Authority Act of 1996 that the costs of a professional employed by a person whose property has suffered subsidence will be paid for by the CA, but now the CA are saying that the arbitrators decision is final! I just don`t have that sort of money to pay out and would never have employed the services of an agent had I known I would have to pay their costs if anything went wrong.
My agent has pointed out to the arbitrator that he has missed a big part of the claim but the arbitrator will not change his views. Incidentally, after all submissions were made by each party to the arbitrator, the arbitrator was then allowed 28 days to make his award, the day before the award, he e-mailed to say his Wife had been ill and he`d had to look after her, therefore he asked for a further 28 days to submit his final award, both parties agreed to this extension, then the day before the second date his final award should have been made, he emailed both parties and stated that he`d been involved in a Court Case which had taken longer than he anticipated, therefore he needed a further week as he wouldn't be able to look at the claim until `tomorrow`...this time he didn`t ask for our agreement, he just told us. My agent asked for a firm date so he could arrange to leave the day open to discuss the findings with his clients, (us), and the arbitrator emailed back quite snottily and said "I suggest you leave any meetings to discuss the findings until AFTER you receive it, but if you are going to push me on a date, then I will say before close of business on Friday". He emailed it at 4.57pm on the Friday!
Can anyone please advise what I can do next please? I am at my wits end here . :-(
I bought my property in 1994, it is a 4 bedroomed old Farmhouse with 2 barns (which I have now got fill planning permission for conversion on), and 15 acres of land.
In 1997, coal mining was undertaken in the area which affected my property and many others in the Village also, prior to Coal Mining taking place, a letter was sent out to all residents stating the fact and further stating that once the works on that particular seam of coal had finished, then if your property had suffered any damage, you were entitled to make a claim against the Coal Authority, and that you were further entitled to employ an agent experienced in that field to deal with your claim and submit it for you.
Since that time, further coal mining has been undertaken in my area another 5 times, each time considerable damage has been caused to my property. Each time the Coal Authority has denied liability but our agent either proved them wrong himself, or we were forced arbitration, wherein , each time, our expert has proved the damage to my property has been caused by Coal Mining using cold, hard facts and the Coal Authority has made payments to repair the damage and they have paid the agents without further problems.
Between the years of 2012 and 2014, coal mining was again undertaken in my area and affected my property, (and many others), our usual agent was extremely busy so was unable to take my claim on this time and so we dealt with the claim ourselves. Once again, the Coal Authority refused liability for the damage and we were forced to arbitration. This arbitration covered subsidence caused to the house. We won the arbitration but were greatly penalised financially because we hadn`t employed the services of an agent who was experienced in this field so we lost out on a lot of things within the claim, purely because we are just `lay people` and didn`t know the correct procedure.
Given that we had been penalised so heavily due to lack of expert evidence in the arbitration for the house, when we decided to submit a claim for our barns and surrounding land, we employed the services of an agent who was experienced in this field, knowing that the Coal Authority Act allows you to do so, and also agrees they will pay the `reasonable` fees. Once again, the Coal Authority refused our claim and forced us to arbitration. We recently received the results of the arbitrators Final Award.
Although the arbitrator agreed with us on every point we had made, and ruled the Coal Authority was wrong it what they were saying, he misunderstood a great deal of the claim, and he believed the claim was purely for significant cracking in the two barns, (he stated that was the reason for the claim in his Final Award). he made no mention of the land surrounding the barns which has sunk considerably and will need to be raised to stop the barns flooding, (we are on a Flood Plain, the whole of our Village is), the sinking of the land around the barns formed the bulk of the claim.
As such, the arbitrator has ruled that a payment of £1300.00 be made for the cracking of the barns to be sorted, (our agent believes it will cost considerably more than that and that bracing of the buildings etc is required), the arbitrator has totally ignored the costs of raising the levels around the barns, (our agent considers this will cost around £60,000), furthermore, although he has agreed with every point we have made and disagreed with the Coal Authority and he readily admits he accepts my barns and land have suffered subsidence, he states that the amount he has awarded, (£1300.00), cannot be considered a `win` for us, and so he has ruled that we have to pay our agents costs, (which are in the region of £12,000!), and that we also have to pay 50% of his fees, (the CA paying the other 50%), in the total of just over £4000.00!!
So basically, it is admitted by the arbitrator that our land and barns have suffered subsidence, but it is going to cost me £16.000.00 for him to have reached that decision! Ordinarily, the arbitrators haven`t put in their Final Award who pays for costs of the experts as it is known that under the Coal Authority Act of 1996 that the costs of a professional employed by a person whose property has suffered subsidence will be paid for by the CA, but now the CA are saying that the arbitrators decision is final! I just don`t have that sort of money to pay out and would never have employed the services of an agent had I known I would have to pay their costs if anything went wrong.
My agent has pointed out to the arbitrator that he has missed a big part of the claim but the arbitrator will not change his views. Incidentally, after all submissions were made by each party to the arbitrator, the arbitrator was then allowed 28 days to make his award, the day before the award, he e-mailed to say his Wife had been ill and he`d had to look after her, therefore he asked for a further 28 days to submit his final award, both parties agreed to this extension, then the day before the second date his final award should have been made, he emailed both parties and stated that he`d been involved in a Court Case which had taken longer than he anticipated, therefore he needed a further week as he wouldn't be able to look at the claim until `tomorrow`...this time he didn`t ask for our agreement, he just told us. My agent asked for a firm date so he could arrange to leave the day open to discuss the findings with his clients, (us), and the arbitrator emailed back quite snottily and said "I suggest you leave any meetings to discuss the findings until AFTER you receive it, but if you are going to push me on a date, then I will say before close of business on Friday". He emailed it at 4.57pm on the Friday!
Can anyone please advise what I can do next please? I am at my wits end here . :-(
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