residential forfeiture - brother suffering from Schizophrenia

[gazelle]

Hi,

My brother who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia has fallen behind on his ground rent in the past few years.
He is surviving on Universal Credit, he was once a fairly successful IT contractor and had fully paid for his flat worth £140k.
For the past 10-15 years, he has just been involved in various conspiracy theories.

He refuses to acknowledge that there is anything wrong with him or seek help, if you don't buy into his conspiracy theories, you then become part of the conspiracy.
I've spoken with his GP and mental health and unless he seeks help himself they can't do anything and they won't talk to me due to data protection.

JB Leitch had issued forfeiture proceedings for non-payment of ground for the previous few years. There was a court hearing in Feb'22, the court handed possession over to the freeholder and awarded over £4k in legal costs against my brother. He said he had covid on the day and sent in an email saying he can't attend as per guidelines.

My brother refused to get legal help even though he would've been entitled to legal aid as he believed solicitors are corrupt. Getting information out of him is like pulling hen's teeth, he refuses most of the time or just gives conspiratorial theories. He believes I am working with JB Leitch to defraud him of his flat as I haven't bought into his conspiracy theory. He believes the freeholder is not legitimate due to various conspiracy theories and arguing against it just means you become part of the conspiracy.


The outstanding ground rent was £600, this has now turned into over a £6k bill, he has included me on an email where JBL have stated this now what the costs are, I'm not sure what has gone on since.

I had informed the Court and JB Leitch that my brother suffers form paranoid schizophrenia (I have many examples and evidence to prove it) prior to the hearing on Feb'22. They simply seemed to have ignored this. You would think the Court would do it's utmost to protect the most vulnerable in society.

From doing lots of googling on this, I think there is a 6 month window where he could obtain relief from forfeiture. I am willing to pay the outstanding ground rent £600 on my brother's behalf if he is unwilling or unable to do so, but the £6k legal bill is just too extortionate - is there a way to get this reduced or removed?

Kind Regards,
Gazelle.

[Sam101]

Unfortunately you have left it too late and if you were trying to help out with payments, then perhaps you should have explained to the court before the hearing. The legal costs would probably remain as a debt as they have been incurred mainly by the demands being ignored

Your brother needs to instruct a solicitor to see if they can appeal the court ruling, but if your brother does not do this, then the solicitor would be unable to act.

Possible guidance from organisations that can help with schizophrenia, such as https://www.centreformentalhealth.or...risis-contacts. Doctors may also be able to give guidance

[gazelle]

Appreciate the reply and info Sam, It simply didn't occur to me that the court would simply hand the flat over, I would've thought the court woud've done it's utmost to provide a payment plan for my brother to pay off the ground rent.

It's just scandalous that a £600 ground rent can results in a seizure of a 140k asset

Thanks for the link I'll take a look

[dslippy]

Difficult.
You have quite unrealistic expectations of a court, sorry.
It isn't a 140k asset. It is one subject to payment of a small ground rent. That is its nature. It make just as much sense to say that nobody wou;ld put 140k at risk for £600.
Your brother lives in a society. If he takes part he gets looked after, to an extent. If he does not take part then he exposes himself to the associated risks.
The court system is designed to give exactly the relief you sought, including an examination of the fees charged, but it can only work if the parties involved, your brother, use it.
Someting needs to happen and quickly to get this set aside. It is likely to involve payment of the fees which are now possibly arrears as of rent.