Solitaire Property Management arrears DCA adding fees ! Lizzie

[lizzie]

hi there everyone
im new to this site so just wanted to say hi!

[enaid]

Re: a big hello!

Hello lizzie and welcome to beagles, if you need any help finding your way about just give a shout.
Enaid x

[lizzie]

heeeellpp

Hi enaid,
i have got something on my mind actually, and not too sure what to do for the best, i have a debt collecting agency asking for the collection of a debt which which has been passed to them. from a solitaire property management company.(a most shady company in themselves) the thing is spm have put an additional carge of £50 on the bill of £694.69 because it is late and now it has been passed to the debt collecting agency, thay have put an additional charge on of £148.88.
they want me to pay£355 a month,to clear the debt and i jut cant afford that amount, in addition they are saying that they will have no alternative but to inform my lender of the arrears. i want to raise a dispute with the debt company, with regard to the charges and pay the bill but in more manageable amount, not too sure of the correct way to go about it with them?? i just want to get this sorted! pklease help x

[Zazen.Warrior]

Re: a big hello!

If it's charges you want to address you need to submit a Subject Access Request to them to establish the amount the charges represent.

Also you need to send an account in dispute letter.

[Amethyst]

Re: a big hello!

Is it this Solitaire The Truth About Solitaire (soon to be OM Property Management) Peverel Group Companies ? just wondering as theres some useful bits on there which might help people advise you. be back later x oo and welcome xx

[lizzie]

Re: a big hello!

it certainly is the same solitaire company everybodys talking about... quite frankly they are making me sink! im paddling to stay afloat, but they are dodgy people! and im struggling with there rising and ever present demands! will have lok on this site for further info. thanks for replying x

[Amethyst]

Re: a big hello!

Is the entire debt owing £694.69 ? Is that arrears ? (not having much experience with property management companies a little bit of background on the debt would be helpful to be able to help) Are you up to date other than that £694 debt ?

[lizzie]

Re: a big hello!

Hi yep the debt owing to solitaire is £694.94, it is in arrears they have addedd a further £50 to the bill then sent it to a debt collection company who have added a further £146.88 of their costs to the bill, so it comes to a total of £900.32 i spoke with debt company today to tell them i was not prepared to pay the charges. They said i needed to write a letter of my dispute to them and they in turn would inform SPM, i ased them to freeze any further charges they said they would only for 1 week.
Is there a specific way i should write this letter/email and have you any idea of my rights?
I cant pay them the £694, i dont have that spare money. I only just payed spm just shy of £400 (year end over spend on there there part) in july and then got this bill a a month later for the £694, they are bleeding all us solitaire customers dry! , and im not alone,
sorry for the wordy reply but i wanted you to have the full picture


Lizzie
ps a really appreiciate you taking the time to reply x

[lizzie]

Re: a big hello!

i forgot to say that the bill is half yearly service charges and ground rent in advance, and aside from this bill i am up to date, but the bill has gone up drasticly and from july1st 2009 to july 1st 2010 they would have recieved £2,217 to look after a block of 12 flats which are no more than 3 years old! three years ago i was only paying £1,100 to them

[Amethyst]

Re: a big hello!

I've read some of the info on that truthabout site and a few threads elsewhere about this company and other prop management companies and seems to be the thing to do to whack peoples service charges up without a lot of notice then get heavy for arrears.

So your annual charge when you moved in was £1100, now its £2200 odd. The £400 extra you paid - was that on top of that ?

Is the Debt company collection on behald of Solitaire or have they sold them the debt ?
Are other people in the block suffering with the same raises and did everyone have the additional £400 - are you talking with other residents ?

Anyway thats the bigger issue - the immediate problem you have is the debt owing for arrears which you would treat like any other debt.

Who are the DCA ? They are right in that you should keep everything in writing to them then you have a record and they cant wriggle later.

Have a read of the OFT's debt collection guidance, will give you a good overview of what they should and shouldnt do. Then if you draft up a letter outlining your complaint we can help you check through it and add/remove anything as needed. It will probably depend on what the charges were for but from what you have said its just random made up debt collection 'fees' which I doubt they have done any work for bar send you a letter. You can ask the DCA to justify the charge [there may be something in your T&Cs with Solitaire about it ? ] though you might end up having to send them a subject access request under the data protection act if you dont have a copy. You can bring up the OFT guidance ( http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/bus...dit/oft664.pdf ) where they say that DCAs should not add their own charges.
Also you should do an Income/Expenditure sheet (link in blue bar at top) and make them an offer for the non disputed debt amount (the £649) to pay monthly an affordable amount.

You should be aware that as it is over £750 they could try it on with a statutory demand, so if you can possibly get it below that figure then do.

Otherwise an offer and beginning making installments will stave off any further court action etc while you argue with them about the fees.

Have a look and a draft and post back on here

Ame
xx

[Amethyst]

Re: a big hello!

Something else has just come to mind, have you a mortgage on the property ? Check your T&Cs about the DCA being able to ask your mortgage provider to pay this debt.... I'm not sure how it works but Im', sure thats something you wouldnt want to happen. Hopefully someone will be along soon who is more au fait with these type of debts. I'll change your thread title and move you somewhere where you shoul dget more help.

[lizzie]

Re: Solitaire Property Management arrears DCA adding fees ! Lizzie

Thanks ame x
will look some more into the above as you have said and back to you, when i have a draft done as you said will post on here
have a good evening catch you tomorrw x
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Yeh i have a mortgage on the property, i spoke with cit adv today who said they cannnot ask my mortgage company to add it on , has to go through the courts for that to happen,
hopefully they are correct in what they are saying?!

[lizzie]

Re: Solitaire Property Management arrears DCA adding fees ! Lizzie

hi there amy, sorry its taken a while to reply, my computer is playing up!
To start with what you asked first. The £400 is part of the £2,200 that i have paid this year, But it is an additional cost its year end adjustments extra costs/ work that they have incurred and have passed onto the tenants, this charge is an extra per flat, here are 12 flats.. i make that £4,800over spend in a year not bad considering its a block of flat that is a new only 3 years old!
We are all as residents looking at taking on the Right to Manage the block, as we don't believe they can justify their rising charges, but as you say this is another matter.
How can i add my email to this thread so i can show you what i have written the debt company?
Incidentally the name of the company is called Property Debt Collection LTD
lizzie

[lizzie]

Re: Solitaire Property Management arrears DCA adding fees ! Lizzie

Hi ame here is the email i am sending them , i appricate you taking a look


i spoke with Becky today 4th Oct with regard to ref 16xxxxxxxxxxxx
as i informed becky whome I spoke to I am struggling to pay the £694.69, that solitaire property management have billed me for,but also in addition to this the extra £200 in charges that have been placed on the bill!, by you adding the charges you are making it more and more difficult. How can i be in arrears for something which is a payment in advance in he first place! the next bill which is due in Jan.
The reason in the first place i am struggling to pay is for the simple fact that SPM produced a bill of £365.63 back in July, a bill which they did not inform me was OVERSPEND for year end adjustments! so blindly thinking it was my ground rent and service charge i paid it, not a month later i receive another bill of £694.69, this time for the half yearly service charge in advance. I am not made of money, but i been trying to sort this out ever since, i have left messages for individuals to contact me, so i can sort out payment did have 1 response however when i tried to return the gentlemans call once again i got a voice mail. Quite frankly am fed up with solitaire, there lack of response and help for customers, and there ever increasing charges, how am i ment to sort this out if no-body is prepared to communicate with me? Because of this lack of communication i am now faced with this situation.
After speaking with Becky she said for me to write this email of dispute, to your selves at my objection to paying the charges you have placed upon me, she also advised me that you would freeze further charges can i clarify with you this point?. Following on from this you would copy with solitaire, to try to resolve this matter, as i understand debt collection activity must cease whilst a disputed debt is being investigated)
I cannot afford the £355 a month as repayment nor the £228 that you have put forward, i am certainly not going to be handing over any money whilst there are these crazy chrarges on my bill and a bill i which will be pressured into paying by having a gun held to my head!. In addition to this could you please justify your charges to me of £146.88 and Solitaires charges of £50, and explain where these have come from? Under The Office Of Faire Trading section 2.10 in the Debt Collection Guidence, it states that Charges should not be levied unfairly, That it is unfair to apply UNREASONABLE charges /costs not based on actual and necessary costs!
You say in my letter that you will inform my mortgage company of the arrears, be my guest and inform them, you will not be bullying me as you indeed are doing so into making a payment.
In addition to this i wish to correspond by letter or email, so i have a record of our communication, so you can see i am willing and trying to sort this
Hopefully we can resolve this. As i have stated i am prepared to make payment but at a a rate which i can reasonably afford and not whilst theses charges are being added!

Could you please also inform me as to weather your debt collection is on behalf of solitaire or have they sold you my debt.

I
I look forward to hearing from you in due course
Yours sincerely
Elisabxxxxxxxxxxxx

[lizzie]

Re: Solitaire Property Management arrears DCA adding fees ! Lizzie

Hi my i have just done a I&E sheet on the last column where its saying about creditors do i take into account my credit card balance on that, or not as they are not chasing? its saying i have -80 a month left over!:tinysmile_cry_t:. for monthly repayments. I am trying to get the flat rented at the mo, but we will have to wait on that one that will certainly help, my previous tennent moved out last month that's why things are a little tight at the mo
x