I usually give advice on this site but now need some myself The company that owns the Freehold of an old property of mine sent a bill for ground rent to that property which was not passed on by the tenant. They have since instructed a Law Firm as Debt Collectors who has charged me 2 lots of £180 for a letters sent to the rental property and then later to my registered office. I paid the initial sums owed as soon as I got the 2nd letter to my registered office but not the Debt Collectors £360 fees. My question is where do I stand on the amount of the fees charged? £180 per letter seems ridiculous. I've offered £90 to cover any expenses incurred which has been refused. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone, I've searched the forum and can't find anywhere else to put this thread so here it is. My friend moved into a new council property in July last year. Before moving in and sorting out her Housing Benefit she had to take in proof of income, which she did. Everything was fine and they gave her the keys. She received a letter from her landlord today (the local council). They claim that Housing Benefit wrote to her in February asking for further proof of her income (she never received any such letter) and because she has supposedly ignored this letter, her Housing Benefit was stopped two weeks ago. The Council are now demanding payment in full of over £180 to cover the past two weeks, otherwise they will be seeking a court date for eviction. She telephoned the council and spoke to the woman in charge of this and she was very rude and told her she won't accept weekly payments and if the amount isn't cleared in 7 days then she'll be seeking possession of the property. My friend told her that she'll take all the proof of income into the council and the Housing Benefit will be back-dated but the council lady said this isn't good enough and won't be processed in time to avoid court and then eviction. My friend is obviously worried to death now and scared she's going to end up on the streets. She's disabled and living in an adapted property and wouldn't cope with being homeless, frankly. My question is, can the council behave like this or this just a case of a council employee on a power trip and taking a bad day out on my friend? My friend has no history of arrears and has been a model tenant.