kensingtons asset management charges

[downbutnotout]

hello to everybody, this is my first post and I am hoping somebody can help me with advice on where I stand on reclaiming what I believe to be uneccessary charges from Kensington.We were evicted from our house two weeks ago when we were on holiday and totally unaware of what was about to happen,we had an agreement with kensington to repay our arrears every week which we did but missed two payments,however I sent the missed payments to kensington plus extra money and a letter to say that all the arrears would be paid off within 21 days as I had received a large payment cheque from a customer .We arrived back from holiday late on a friday evening to find the locks changed and a notice in the window to contact a local estate agent for access to the property,this we did the next morning and gained entry to collect various personal effects and collect the mail etc,it was then we found the letter from the court and kensingtons solicitor informing us of the eviction date.

Well to cut a long story short I contacted kensingtons litigation dept on monday morning at 9 am and was told that we could regain possession if we paid the remainder of the arrears and 3 months in advance by CHAPS transfer before noon that day.Luckily because of the cheque clearing while on holiday the money was available and arrangements were made to transfer ,when I spoke to kensington they then told me I would also have to pay an asset management fee of nearly 1300 pounds and that had to be in cleared funds also by CHAPS transfer,I asked them to justify these charges.I was told that they consisted of 500 pounds for a HIPS pack over 400 for a survey and the remainder on soliciters fees.At this stage no HIPS pack had been prepared and no survey had been done ,I know this as I was in the estate agents office when they tried to make an appointment to collect the keys .kensington would not budge on this charge so I had to borrow money from family and friends to meet this charge.Happily for us we managed to pay the money that day and got the keys to our house back at 4 pm that afternoon.kensington have since admitted overcharging us but only by 300 pounds,I have written a letter asking for a full and complete breakdown of the charges but as yet I have had no reply.What should be my next step?

[Blossomandebony]

Hi,

 

Congraulations on fighting back against this awful company. Claiming charges back from a mortgage company is done in the same way as claiming back bank charges. The process is:

 

1. Subject Access Request,(they have to send you a full set of statements for your account within 40 days).

 

2. Preliminary request for charges, (wait 14 days)

 

3. Letter Before Action,(wait another 14 days)

 

4. Issue a court Claim.

 

You will need to adapt the template letters in the library section for your own purpose. The initial S.A.R. request costs £10 but will be worth it.

 

I think it's likely that Kensington will prolong this as long as they can, saying that their charges are legal etc, etc, but once it gets to the court stage they will collapse and pay up.

 

Oh, and put ALL the charges they have levied over the course of your account, not just recent ones.

 

For further info, trawl around some of the successful claims threads to see how it's done. Good luck!

[Bona]

There is another way I assume that you are uptodate with your mortgage know under the proceedings of the posesion make an application for the pssession order to be dismissed otherwise it can happen and ask the judge to make an order for the mortgage company to give an account of all monies added to your mortgage account and return to you an moneys that they cannot justify to the court, thia can include all penalty charges soliciyors charges infact everything the application will coat you £30.00 and will be heard sooner than issueing a summons it will take time to get the paperwork in order but it will probally be the best way we are doing the same but we have to wait for for a hearing on costs in November to be completed this advice came to us from a Barrister

Hope this helps

Bona

[downbutnotout]

thank you for your quick replies. I think I will follow bona's advice as I did not realise that the suspended possession order is still in force.I will be going down to the court as soon as possible to have the order lifted.thanks again for your help and advice

downbutnotout

[Bona]

Keep intouch and let us know what the court say

[Bona]

ny update

[downbutnotout]

Sorry to take so long to reply but I have been off line for a while and have only just been reconnected.

I have confirmed with the court that the suspended possession order has been lifted and also have it in writing from Kensington.

I have still not received a copy of the HIPS report from Kensington only a letter saying they will send it on to me and then a further letter saying they can't do this as it was not completed and they will still not refund the money that we were charged.I have now raised a complaint with the FOS and will have to wait whilst they investigate the matter.At least this will cost Kensington 400 pounds and hopefully result in a positive finding on our side.When I hear anything further I will post the news.