Try not to panic. Kensington took me to court THREE times & I won every time. Mrsfoot is 100% right, if you can pay towards the arrears there is NO way they will give possession to Kensington. Just take all your supporting paperwork & look like a respectable member of the public. Having said that I ended up with a suspended possession order on my property, which was a nasty feeling so it might be worth trying to see if theres an argument against it on here somewhere. Oh, & the Kensington lawyer will want to talk to you before the court case. They will be ever so friendly, & then will use what you tell them to construct an argument against you. So appear to cooperate, & tell them you dont know how youre going to handle the arrears. When you get into court & they start going for you on that basis look perplexed & say 'Thats not the case at all! Here is my proposal in writing, & supporting evidence' - hand to judge & watch their lawyer get REALLY p*ssed off. If you dont feel up to such tricks then tell them NOTHING & I mean NOTHING.

Count me in too. A class action is a VERY good idea, & we are not going to win against Kensington unless we have the very best of legal representation. Going it alone is not really an option as far as I can see - Courts just arent set up for the public.

Jamorgan, is it over???

Im no expert, but I would think that if you were at court with the evidence of other times that they did this you could present it to the judge. Who might not be thrilled with them for jerking the court around. Make a log of it all, typed up neatly with dates & times & find out before you go how to get it to the judge in the event of it happening again. Then when the call arrives tut, shake your head as if you cant quite believe it & say 'Hm, I thought this might happen. This is not the first time & I was expecting it, which is why Ive bought a log of the other times they have done this'. Ha! The judge will surely be REALLY annoyed!

So would I. But for the greater good of everyone here, knowing what it feels like to be in this situation Id find a way for people to 'find out' what happened. Confidentially, of course ;) Play fair? I dont think so!

Oh, Im assuming its a 'lets settle before we REALLY lose out' one, but Id love to know how far it got, & what happened. All the juicy details & all that!

Wow, they are really taking this to the wire, arent they? But that is typical of them, they are utterly ruthless. They believe you will fold before a court appearance, in fact I would say they will go as far as setting a court date AND turning up & trying to freak you out before the hearing starts. Thats what they do. I had them take me to court for respossesion & their slimy lawyers try & find out what youre going to say in court. I gave mine a lecture about how he was ruining his career working for such crooks & kept a major part of my argument from him, so he ended up losing, whereby he got another lecture from me (out of earshot of the judge ) Fairly sure Kensington are prepared to throw any amount of money at lawyers - and Im also fairly sure they are on the payroll (& cheap) so its not costing them. God I can hardly wait until we start squeezing money out of them!!!

Well, I too am going after Kensington, have sent the LBA re £16k ERC, & sent off a letter requesting a list of fees at the same time. Weirdly, they sent me back the list - no request for money or ID, just two pages of fees, which of course I am going to claim. As far as I know no one has managed to get their ERP back from these people, but fees should be a bit more straight forward, perhaps? Like many of you I got completely turned over by these guys & lost my flat. And they ARE going to pay.

So?????? Did they go to court, or just cough up before it got there?

I would say that you being unable/unwilling to shell out £250 is exactly what they are counting on. Good old Kensington.

Ah, thats how you do it! I am thrilled to bits at the thought of one of Kensingtons junior, 'sold their soul to the devil', lawyers reading your letters in utter horror wondering how the hell they are going to tell their client that, well, um, they have a point & it seems that thats the law. :D I gave the last one I met a lecture on how they were ruining their career working for someone so unethical & how bad it would look on their CV. And now your letters. I actually feel almost sorry for the poor lambs. Almost. Not £13k sorry though..... :D So, thank you VERY much Zoot, & when (not if) I win this there will be a nice donation coming to the Consumer Action Group!

I TOTALLY agree re Zoots letters, she has given me the cofidence to start on Kensington, just sent the first letter today re the £13k ERC, & can hardly wait to send them the second one (on the Accord thread). Just knowing Kensington the way I (unfortunately) do Im fairly sure they will take it to the wire, & I think that if they perceive me as acting on my own they will try & treat me with the contempt they have demonstrated in the past. They really see customers as idiots they can rip off & have no problem going to court & if I can nail them earlier with a £100 letter then its worth it, surely? Having said that if I do get a solicitor to send them a letter I will get them to use Zoots :D I very much doubt that there are many solicitors that actually know that much about this particular type of case..

What a cracking letter! Their solicitor wont know what hit them, & neither will Kensington Mortgages when I send it to them. Well done, Zoot! I am new here are you a lawyer? If not, how do you know this stuff??

I am about to start trying to recover an ERC from Kensington, to the tune of £13k. Just thinking about it, & knowing how agressive they are I think it might be a good idea to get a solicitor to send the LBA letter. That way they can see that I am serious, but more importantly, that I have legal representation, & am therefore ready to go to court (which I am). I think that the small investment in a letter from a solicitor, as opposed to a letter from me, would be most worthwhile. I believe Kensington treat their customers with contempt & are unlikely to take anyone seriously as Joe Public, but their people might take a solicitor a bit more seriously, & therefore be more likely to cough up. Thoughts anyone? Maybe we could pool resources on this one? Some sort of class action type lawsuit? Can anyone recommend a good solicitor?

I came within a whisker of Kensington Mortgages repossessing my flat (they were trying to get possession when I was 3 days away from exchanging contracts, fortunately the judge wondered what good it would do), & was told by a reutable solicitor that they sell the house cheaply through an Estate Agent who then sells it on for full market value, & then they split the profit. So apparently you get less than market value for it, & it 'magically' sells shortly after for a lot more. So, it looks like not only do you have a claim re the ERC, charges etc, there is a possibility that you are coming close to exposing some of their other sharp practices. I have found with these guys its best to assume the worst & expect the worst they will do ANYTHING to try & get away with this....

Thank you for your reply, I will take all that on board. I thought I would 'start small' as it were & have a go at Smile for the thousand or so in fees they charged me - after reading everything through of course! Ive had a look at other Kensington Mortgages cases on here & no surprises they are as aggressive as hell - & not backing down. But I knew that anyway. I will need to be VERY well prepared to take them on, & intend to be. They appear to think they are above consumer law because they are not a bank. Hm. Now, Im not sure if I understood your reply re whether the mortgage fees & the ERC can be seperated into two different, seperately timed claims, through two courts. I think you said they could, but could I just confirm that? Nice to know that for a mere £250 I can pursue the ERC though. But I would prefer to wait to do it until I have seen some cases decided...

Hello All. I have been ripped off by Kensington Mortgages, to the tune of several thousand pounds of fees (£50 a month for being late, plus other sundries) AND had to pay a huge ERC (over £5k). Can I claim the fees first through small claims & go after the ERC seperately through the main courts? I could use the refunded fees to pay a BLOODY good lawyer to get my ERC back. Can anyone tell me if this is feasible?

Hi everyone. In 2000/2001 I lived in the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, had a car & parking permit. I got quite a few tickets & then had a cleanup & made sure they were ALL paid - in fact Im sure I spoke to them to check there were none left although cant prove it. Then in May this year I got a final demand for two tickets I had never heard of, from that era, & when I rang they told me they had 'gone missing' in their system & were 'real' tickets that had to be paid! From bloody 2000!!!! I didnt pay, & 4 months later I had the baliffs here - so I forked out £280 to get rid of them. What, if anything can I do about this appalling con? Is it my word against theirs & they will win? Help!!!

What a FANTASTIC website!! I wish I had found it earlier, but better late than never. Kensington Mortgages made my life living hell with their exhorbitant charges, incredible (hidden) interest rates & nasty aggressive behaviour (they were in court trying to get my flat when I had a buyer three days away from exchanging! ) & now I am deeply looking forward to getting my money back from the b*stards. AND they charged a huge amount for ERCs after Id sold even though I only had 5 months to go on the mortgage - in fact they charged a full years worth. Sadly its not a small claims one (well, the fees might be) but I dont care - I WILL get a good lawyer if need be. Smile need a good kicking too, after adding on hundreds of pounds of fees month after month, have already emailed them asking for statements! And of course if & when I win I will let you all know, & yes, there will be a sizable donation made to this site. ;) So, hello everyone, you will be seeing a bit of me over the next few weeks/months. They wont fold easily but Im sort of looking forward to the fight - now I know its not just me! So thank you in advance, everyone