Thanks. That is what I thought. TW = Thames. I have gone through all historic bills. They changed the account number as part of some internal upgrading a few years ago. The ending balance of the old account # was passed into the new account # But I dispute the end balance at the time of the account # change. I was allocated watersure capping - yet it doesn't seem to have been applied. The meter reading has increased when it shouldn't have done (empty) - so am questioning the meter. I pay a nominal sum every month anyway

Can I ask what is the position when you advise a utility provider in writing that the account is in dispute and any debt collection must stop until the dispute is resolved? I have written a letter detailing complaints and inaccuracies suggesting provider mistakes. And have advised debt collection must stop. I am being hassled by an external firm constantly (I haven't ever responded). Yet the online web-chat advisor says debt collection will continue. I thought they must cease collection activity?

Posted SB letter. Wait and see how they reply

Posted letter. Waiting for reply.

Thanks dx. I'm gonna be busy with that library this w/e !

Thanks This is a very old Halifax loan (like 24y old). Became Intrum. Apparently was sold to Link mid 23. If I read my text above the last payment I made to Halifax was mid 2017. I believe it is SB. But I just got a text: This is an important message from Link Financial. We have previously contacted you about your Intrum UK Finance Limited account now owned by Link Financial Outsourcing. We have been trying to contact you so we can understand your financial situation. We want to help you start paying your account with an amount that is affordable to you. If you do not contact us, we will pass your account to our pre-legal vetting team who will assess your account for potential legal action. If your account is selected for litigation, this may result in further costs and interest being applied to the balance. Please call us urgently on xx quoting reference xxx

Update: I have been liaising with an actual human in BG who writes proper letters! They provided some facts and old bills. I have responded to their queries. And have gone through all their bills and mine/ my payments. They said collection activity would stop. And a note put on my account. I think I have been able to ascertain the value of most s/c for the period I am interested in. But they failed to provide info for 15 months. I have asked them to provide that info. But they have not yet responded. Meanwhile a different department wrote a letter saying they are going to send someone to the property out of concern as they haven't heard from me! Typical left hand doesn't know what right hand doing. They clearly didn't read the note on my account. Hopefully I will soon have clear detail of what my arrears were up to a specific date. Subsequent consumption and s/c are officially not mine and that forms part of my claim against the 'others'. I suspect their consumption will be huge.

Shall I call and tell the sols? Or just send a letter? For transparency it was a friend who lent the £s and I'm still friendly with the family, which makes it awkwardly embarrassing. This makes me less inclined to be super formal. A member of the family said that they are chasing all sorts of old sums lent out. They also know my situation. Which makes me think someone in their 'firm' has just been told to try chase everyone on a list. The situation I'm in was never supposed to happen. They've been very supportive over the last 5y. I just can't repay the loan.

I received a letter in post yesterday. Out the blue. From a solicitor asking for me to repay £s lent to me by someone personally & unsecured - a long time ago: i.e 10y. No payments were ever made. The loan has never been chased. Until now. The solicitor has added 10y of interest on the loan. The letter was addressed to my registered address, but forwarded elsewhere by RM. I don't live there. The property is subject to lengthy litigation for >5y. I'm no longer in possession but am disputing all sorts of issues. I have no job, income, savings or other assets. The loan cannot be charged against any property. Do I simply reply with a short truthful statement based on what I relate above? Or do I add anything about it being 10y ie is it SB?

My input re Advocate is that you need to apply well in advance. They suggest minimum of 3 weeks before hearings. But the reality is they are very busy and it can take months to get help. If you are lucky to be "approved" then they send your issue out to many chambers - in the hope barristers see the "pitch" and offer to help The quality of barristers can be brilliant. But they are not allowed to be heavily involved in any case. Their pro-bono time is restricted. Which can be a problem with on-going and complicated cases. What can happen is you keep being given different barristers when their time allocation is exhausted. That can impact continuity. But it is a valuable service for those in need. The chances of getting legal aid are remote (especially if it involves property) Hope this helps

Interesting update. Not sure which method to which department within BG worked, but I got an email from someone high-up saying they would look into my complaints and stop all legal action - whilst they resolve/ answer all my questions.

Andy - yes I can kind of see how that appears. All utilities were turned off/ disconnected 5y ago. But they all remained in my name - which I was fine about as one needs utilities bills to prove one exists. The property should have sold obviously within 6-8w and I would have been given £s and moved on with a new address / new utilities. But that didn't happen and so now there's other issues about s/c and consumption over 5y (by lender). At least it's provable I haven't been there and didn't exchange the old for new meter I'm not sure I do have everything in hand. But I try

Dx - I half sorted out previous issues with BG in 21. They ceased issuing a warrant and I paid nominal amounts/ month. This is why I'm surprised they have appointed bw. Andy - the supply was switched off/ disconnected 5y ago. But then the claimant in the legal proceedings a) reconnected it to do works and b) start 22 contacted BG alleging to be me and alleging a fault meter and BG exchanged the meter. The 1st I knew about this was when I logged online a few months later. I am sure there has been consumption because the claimant has had all services on - but the good thing about the meter exchange is that any charges since start 22 can't be mine !

On the issues as a whole - seriously how can any lender fail to sell a nice property in so many years! The things they have done, continue to do are astounding. They didn't even market it for sale for 3y. They have tried to charge the cost of unnecessary works to me (done to an employee's taste (the ceo!)). Bottom line - they don't want to sell it; they want to keep it - that's been proven thru legal disclosure. They just expected me to give in to their bullying aggression. I haven't. And now I've hit back to invalidate their whole claim, which they didn't expect and must be furious about !!

Re the secured loan - the point is the 1st lender never took action to enforce its security. I never paid them a penny. The loan was charged against a property - the sum loaned was for a fixed period for a fixed amount of interest - unless I redeemed early. Upon redemption the lender would have received the loan sum back plus the fixed interest. The alleged assignment was >6y ago The 1st lender's loan was allegedly assigned to another 2nd lender - who then became the claimant in legal proceedings trying to enforce the consolidated sum. The issue is the 1st lender - the assignor - never assigned its loan properly to the 2nd lender - the assignee. In effect the assignment never happened - it's not an absolute legal assignment. The 2nd lender - the assignee - was the lender who issued a claim v me. But they issued the claim based on the full consolidated sum - to which they aren't entitled. The 2nd lender - the assignee - is only entitled to claim the sum they lent me (plus interest, costs etc, less my counterclaim for damages etc). They are not entitled to claim the 1st lender's loan. Then because the lease has ceased (new title), the 1st lender been bought out, >6y passed w/o any payment by me - this is why I'm wondering if the 1st lender £s are statute barred ?? . Re: the SD the claimant is alleging there is no security left due to 5y of interest accrued (their failure to sell/ not mine). But ... they raised the SD before I snuck in my own application to strike out their whole claim. The assignment issue has effectively reduced my debt (means they have to start a new claim?). In the SD papers the claimant alleges the property's worth. Which effectively means there remains huge equity in my favour - thus the claimant is a secured creditor. The 2 separate issues are entwined Just for clarity - in 6y not one lawyer or barrister has picked up on this issue. I'm the only one that noticed the discrepancy (recently)

Accrued costs - such as standing charges and consumption on utilities that were turned off 5y ago- is part of my legal proceedings claim heading to trial. 5y have passed. Unauthorized works over a period of 1y were carried out. The utilities were turned on again. There should be no consumption but there is Paying nominal £s/month keeps the utility companies at bay (before I get the otherside in legal proceedings to pay up for their consumption). But BG has taken the step to appoint BW. And now I have to deal with it

Thanks dx. I will check out post 4 in that link. Should I also chase BG for a response to my complaint?

Yes, I mentioned in my last post - I have arrears relating to 5y ago. Against which I have paid various monthly sums - sometimes £40, sometimes £70, mostly £10. They say I owe apx 1200 The issue is that I wanted to keep utilities in my name until legal proceedings on the property were completed. I didn't expect them to last >5y. One needs bills to prove who one is - and I am not registered anywhere else and am still the legal owner - even if not living there. I have asked BG to provide a breakdown of what the sum now relates to - ie does the total relate to the arrears or miscellaneous costs

oh ok. So what do I do? I have already sent a complaint letter to BG, the account is in dispute. Do I still need to respond to BW?

Thanks dx. I only really came on here to ask how to reply to the SD. I think, dx, you have answered that. Plus I checked part 10.5(5) (a-d) rules of the IA 2016 - this indicates the creditor can't issue a SD whilst I have a counterclaim in a different ongoing claim. So - they haven't served me properly, and the SD is invalid due to proceedings in other court with a counterclaim. I will ignore for the moment Dx - I think you are correct about the chaos.

Is there a working complaints email for BG? I sent an email to a valid BG complaints @ email address about an issue. I got a reply from BG from a noreply @ email address - saying I need to find different means to contact them. I can go to a printing shop and print out a letter (don't have a working printer) - but for ease it would be preferable to just email. Does anyone know if there is a designated complaint email ? If I have to print and post - is the complaint dept still in Rotherham? I found a name - louise billingham - as the potential md of customer operations. BG emails seem to be name.surname. So I emailed her and that worked. I wait and see. I also found a section on BG website with a designated complaints form - this form enabled me to send my letter as a pdf attachment. Which I just did. I wait and see. I have received a formal kind of letter from a lawyer (BW) - which is entitled Letter of Claim and they say is a formal request to pay £x. Further down the letter they say it is a pre-action protocol for debt claims But they also write - "We've tried several times to contact you, so we can help you find an affordable repayment solution. As we haven't been able to agree to a suitable solution, BG may instruct us to take legal action to recover what you owe". The word "may" seems to be key. If the letter is a formal request - and they say I must reply by 01/03 - then why do they also say BG "may" instruct them? The letter continues with "it may result in a county court claim being brought against me". They also include estimated claim costs: "such legal action may result in you being liable for court fees and solicitors costs which are estimated below". They add on "estimated court fees - £80 and estimated sol costs £80." They ask me to call them, to fill in an I&E form, to fill in the reply form - which contains sections: Section 1: boxes A,B,C, D, Section 2: box E & F, Section 3 box G, and Section 4: box H & I I have been paying BG nominal sums regularly. The problem has been that their system refuses to allow me to pay a nominal sum that I can afford. I have tried countless times via calls and webchat to resolve this but the phone operators cant over-ride the computer system. I don't want to set up a dd because from experience utility companies just change the debit sum and just grab whatever they want, leaving one with a £0 bank balance. So I just send them £s by bank transfer every month. They want like £70-100/m but I can only afford £10. They just don't listen or understand The other issue is that what I owe only relates to service at a property I no longer live in but remain the registered owner. What I actually owe relates to arrears from 5y ago. Not current consumption or standing charges. The supply was turned off 5y ago - but I do know that it was turned on again by others. I have asked BG to give me an itemised breakdown of all costs in the last 5y including standing charges and miscellaneous costs, ie legal letters. I do owe BG arrears up to 5y ago. Not since. I have repeatedly told them the property is empty/ unoccupied. The property is subject to legal proceedings in the last 5y. BW legal don't say they have had the debt assigned to them. They say their client is BG. I have been paying BG so I am not sure why they have asked BW to send me a claim letter? Their letter says I owe £x, but they have not outlined how the £x has been accrued.

For the moment I am focusing on preparing a response to the SD (even if I delay sending it). The immediate query i have is under what section of 1986 IA or rules under 2016 IA do I submit my application? The C made their SD claim under s268 as if the debt is unsecured and payable immediately. I want to say it is secured and their SD is an abuse of process due to the on-going proceedings in a different court where I have a counterclaim. I have done a bit of research. The rules under 2016 IA 10.5(5) seem like they could apply? (5) The court may grant the application if— (a)the debtor appears to have a counterclaim, set-off or cross demand which equals or exceeds the amount of the debt specified in the statutory demand; (b)the debt is disputed on grounds which appear to the court to be substantial; (c)it appears that the creditor holds some security in relation to the debt claimed by the demand, and either rule 10.1(9) is not complied with in relation to it, or the court is satisfied that the value of the security equals or exceeds the full amount of the debt; or (d)the court is satisfied, on other grounds, that the demand ought to be set aside. I can't see what sections under the 1986 IA could apply? Maybe s.267(2)? s.267(2) Subject to the next three sections, a creditor’s petition may be presented to the court in respect of a debt or debts only if, at the time the petition is presented— (a)the amount of the debt, or the aggregate amount of the debts, is equal to or exceeds the bankruptcy level, (b)the debt, or each of the debts, is for a liquidated sum payable to the petitioning creditor, or one or more of the petitioning creditors, either immediately or at some certain, future time, and is unsecured, (c)the debt, or each of the debts, is a debt which the debtor appears either to be unable to pay or to have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay, and (d)there is no outstanding application to set aside a statutory demand served (under section 268 below) in respect of the debt or any of the debts. Maybe (2)(b) because the sum is fully secured, (c) because there will be enough equity to clear the debt once the property is sold? and (d) because I am making an application to set aside the SD ?

Thanks dx Yes I get that. And no I have not given this law firm consent to serve me personally by email. This law firm was appointed by the lender to try grab the freehold. So I have communicated with them wearing my hat as trustee for the freeholders - but using a different email address specifically for that purpose. The law firm also sent the SD to the freeholders email address. But this incorrect - as the lender has no debt claim against the freeholders. The law firm sent the SD to my personal email, but I have never communicated with them personally - only as trustee freeholder via the freeholders email address. I have been told they sent a process server to the home address of another trustee for the freeholders -but as I don't live there the process server would have reported that. The repossessed property remains my registered address - as they made me homeless. I have not had an alternative permanent registered address since. They know they can't serve me there. The only caveat I have is that the lender may state they know I have received the email. This is because in a knee-jerk reaction I asked the lawyer handling the claim/ trial what the lender was doing. He claimed to know nothing about the SD and asked me to email him a copy. Which I (stupidly) did. The lender could now claim I have had sight of the SD? The important issue is getting the claim/ trial struck out. The lawyer handling this wants to discuss this next week. Im trying to find a lawyer or barrister to help

Thanks honeybee. Its just i have been through so much and one of the team merged all my posts - so the situation could be really confusing. (It was entitled something like 'LH/FH and all my issues' but honestly I am not sure reading that will help this question?) I will elaborate though on the 'something'. I borrowed money. I defaulted. There were 2 loans - and A loan got assigned to B loan and the deed was registered at Land Reg - more than 6y ago. B became the Claimant and issued possession proceedings. As a stop gap I paid some £s towards the debt via a consent order. But B still repossessed 5y ago. B has failed to sell the property. 2y ago B issued a MoneyClaim - the current proceedings heading to trial. Fine-toothing the evidence I noticed that A was never properly assigned to B. The deed was wrong, the Land Reg registration was wrong. B had issued possession proceedings on a sum of money they were not entitled to - and gained possession. B then issued the MoneyClaim on a consolidated sum they are not entitled to. Digging further into old legal correspondence I discovered B's lawyer had tried to hide the evidence of his wrong assignment. This lawyer was sacked from the firm soon after for misconduct (published articles). I have used this evidence to ask for strike out of the claim. I want to use the same evidence to set aside the SD. I just don't want to submit too much paperwork on asking the court to set-aside the SD. As an aside - A got bought out/ consolidated by another company 2y ago. Am wondering if, as the debt was never chased and is more than 6y ago, is it also statute barred? There is a further issue that I am wondering - can I query the possession?

I have never mentioned the lender. And the situation is so convoluted that I think it best to keep this question separate. Can I do that? And maybe merge it later (when I have successfully despatched them!)