freeholder unwilling to resolve issue on money owed to us (and them)***Resolved***

[kp278]

nb. subject should be freeholder not leaseholder

 

Hi, in a nutshell we are trying to get information on ground rent owed to freeholder and monies we believe owed to my partner (leaseholder) from the freeholder and not sure what action to take next. Here's the timeline and more information:

 

Dec 2013

Roof of my partner and her then husband (we'll call him Gru) leaks resulting in exterior and interior damage to property

Freeholder refuses to make insurance claim as behind on ground rent despite not providing my partner and Gru with required invoices for ground rent

Decision made to have work carried out by partner and Gru and pay contractors directly

 

March 2014

Up to date on ground rent

Freeholder makes insurance claim

Insurance payout agreed by Gru and paid to freeholder - £975

 

Insurance payout not forwarded on. Not chased due to personal circumstance including partner not living at home. At some point a verbal agreement on paying ground rent was reached with Gru while he resided at the property which my partner was not party to. Still no invoices from freeholder for ground rent. My partner moved back into the property in February 2015 and Gru moved out.

 

May 2015

Letter hand delivered to freeholder (he's local) requesting payment of insurance money

 

Dear Mr

 

INSURANCE CLAIM – MARCH 2014

 

I write with regards to an insurance claim made in March 2014 on the above property in respect of a water leak in my living room. I understand a pay-out for the sum of £975 was made to you in December 2014 under the terms of the ground maintenance. In light of having made payment for the repair from my own pocket I would welcome reimbursement of the insurance claim by way of cheque within 14 days from receipt of this letter.

 

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

 

June 2015

Second letter sent to freeholder, same as above

 

August 2015

LBA sent to leaseholder threatening court action

 

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

Dear Mr

 

INSURANCE CLAIM – MARCH 2014

 

I have previously written to you on two occasions regarding the below subject matter:

 

I write with regards to an insurance claim made in March 2014 on the above property in respect of a water leak in my living room. I understand a pay-out for the sum of £975 was made to you in December 2014 under the terms of the ground maintenance. In light of having made payment for the repair from my own pocket I would welcome reimbursement of the insurance claim by way of cheque within 14 days from receipt of this letter.

 

As I have yet to receive any response from you I have been advised to send you a letter before action indicating my intention to pursue this claim through the small claims court. I request that you settle this matter within 21 days from receipt of this letter. Please be fully aware no further communication will be sent prior to this action.

 

September 24th 2015

Email sent to leaseholder in last ditch effort to stave off court action

 

Dear Sir

I have written to you on 3 occasions in recent months to open a channel of communication aimed at a) settling the insurance claim regarding my property for which I paid for the necessary works in 2013/2014 and b) settling any outstanding balance due toward the ground rent/maintenance charge relating to my property for which I have seen no invoice/bill/demand this calendar year. Despite hand delivering and posting (standard & registered post) I have received no response from you and I do hope that this is an oversight rather than a disregard to the queries I raised.

 

Whilst my personal circumstance is I'm sure none of your concern, it may be worthwhile you being aware that my husband & I separated in Feb 2014. Gru lived in the flat until Feb 2015 and I moved back in as he moved out. Firstly, accepting that I am jointly responsible for the costs of the property, I am not aware of what or when payments were made during the period when I wasn't living here, and secondly I had no involvement in agreeing the insurance settlement which was discussed between Gurch and Gru (with your involvement I'm lead to believe). If therefore, invoices have been sent (but not to me) or an agreement was reached with regards to the insurance money (that I am not aware of) then I would politely request that you respond and let me know in order that we can move the matter forward.

 

In summary, I need to understand;

when I can expect the insurance claim to be settled?

what is owing in terms of ground rent/maintenance?

when I am going to receive an invoice for the same (inc policy documents and prescribed info)?

what is the most appropriate means of contacting you (or a representative) since Gurch has left your organisation?

 

September 25th 2015

Reply from freeholder intimating an amicable solution regards offsetting ground rent and insurance payout

 

Dear Ms

 

Thank you for your email. I received your previous notice of intent to commence legal proceedings by post and was expecting to hear from the courts in respect of the same as indicated. I have not heard from the courts, however, and considering the contents of your email below I would suggest that is not a bad thing for you since I had intended to file a counterclaim for monies outstanding.

 

I am sorry to hear of your personal circumstances. We had been liaising with your ex-husband and was made aware of the fact that you have been in arrears on the service charges and ground rent for a considerable length of time. The insurance premiums comprise the largest outstanding amounts and I will get a figure for you on the current debt. A payment plan was agreed under which only two payments were made of £50 whilst Gru was negotiating the insurance matter with Gurch. Once we had made the insurance claim your payments simply stopped, leaving the majority of the debt outstanding.

 

In consideration of your email I will get details of the insurance, ground rents, service charges etc which you have asked for and we can work out how to bring your property matters up to date thereafter. I trust this will help you reconcile the numbers with respect to the above and hope that we can proceed in a more regular manner going forward.

 

October 12th 2015

Chased freeholder for information

 

Good Day Mr

Following our e-mail correspondence on 25th September, I'm keen to address the situation regarding money owed in relation to my property but I have not received the information you kindly offered to compile for me regarding what has been paid, what the insurance payout has covered and what (if anything) is outstanding. Following on from that and as discussed I will need to understand how/when I can continue to make payments for amounts due in the future.

 

Thanks & Kind Regards

 

October 19th 2015

Chased freeholder again for information

 

Good Afternoon Mr

I am yet to receive the financial breakdown relating to monies due for my property. I would be grateful if you could forward this and other associated documentation to me at this e-mail address or to my home address as soon as possible in order that I can address as appropriate.

 

If you have already sent it and I have simply yet to receive then please dismiss this e-mail. If I should be asking someone other than you for this info then please advise

 

Kind Regards

 

October 19th 2015

Freeholder replied advising still looking for some of the information

 

Hello Mrs

 

I am still looking for some of the info but will come back to you ASAP once I have it.

 

Best regards

 

October 20th 2015

Polite confirmation

 

Thank you Sir, I appreciate that you're busy but your speed in accumulating this information would be greatly appreciated and reciprocated in my resolution to any over or underpayment on behalf of myself & my husband.

 

Like yourself, I don't wish for this to remain (unnecessarily) unresolved and I look forward to hearing from you

 

Kind Regards

 

What action should we take next? I'm aware it's good to show effort to mediate before jumping in with court action and freeholder has shown his desire to counter-sue for ground rent, even though he appears unable or unwilling to provide us with information on how much we owe for ground rent. Not even sure if he can hold onto the insurance money in lieu of ground rent. Any help and advice greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Kris

Edited November 10, 2015 by kp278
wrong terminology

[steampowered]

I would fill in a court claim form and send them a draft. This is a good way of making people take notice when they are fobbing you off.

 

You would simply send them your draft claim and say that, unless a satisfactory response confirming payment of the insurance monies is received within the next 14 days, you will be filing the claim with the court.

 

You can use this form: http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n001-eng.pdf. If you actually wanted to go through with it you would need to use the moneyclaimonline service.

 

The form doesn't need to be complicated. Just state what you are claiming for in a sentence or two. Just claim for the insurance monies without taking any notice of the ground rent - if they want to chase for unpaid ground rent, they need to tell you how much is owing.

[kp278]

Given the freeholders apparent willingness to countersue - 'Thank you for your email. I received your previous notice of intent to commence legal proceedings by post and was expecting to hear from the courts in respect of the same as indicated. I have not heard from the courts, however, and considering the contents of your email below I would suggest that is not a bad thing for you since I had intended to file a counterclaim for monies outstanding. ' I do not see he would feel much threat from this. He is a bit of an ass though, seeing as he would rather counter sue than just reply to us.

[steampowered]

He is a bit of an ass though, seeing as he would rather counter sue than just reply to us.

Tell him that you want to resolve this but obviously need to know how much the counterclaim is for. Then he can pay you the difference. If he will make you go through the time and expense of court, he will be liable for the court costs (which he would be liable for anyway) and you can seek to hold him liable for your time spent at the litigant in person rate of £18 an hour (which he will be liable for if the court thinks he has behaved unreasonably).

 

If that doesn't get you anywhere, then I would go ahead and issue your claim.

[kp278]

hi

 

ok so i'm back on this after sorting out other unrelated stuff.

 

we've made further attempts to contact and went through another cycle of letter followed by letter before action. now we're at the point of suing. is there anything specific i should look to put on the particulars of claim or just lay out the facts. do i make a claim for anything further at this point (ie litigant in person) or does that come into play later (in court)

 

thanks

[kp278]

and can i claim interest on this?

[Andyorch]

Yes you claim section 69 8% simple interest...you must state this at the end of your particulars and show the calculation.

 

Andy

[kp278]

first draft. i think 2 and 4 can prob be removed

 

1. On xx December 2013 the roof of the property at 22a Kingsway, Camberley, GU17 0JB collapsed resulting in damage to the property.

2. The named defendant is the freeholder of the property and as such is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the exterior of the property. The defendant refused to make a claim under the buildings insurance for repairs to the roof.

3. Due to the urgent nature of the repair I instructed for the work to be carried out and this was funded by myself at a cost of £1500.

4. In March 2014 the Freeholder made an insurance claim on the property and received a pay-out.

5. Despite numerous email and letter requests made by the claimant to the defendant the defendant has failed to cover the costs incurred for my self-funded repairs to the property.

6. The Claimant is entitled to interest at the rate of 8% per annum from the date the debt was due being the (I can get the invoice date – around jan/feb 2014) to the present date (around 800 days) at the daily rate of 32p making a total sum of £256-ish and continuing at the daily rate of 32p. (See Statutory Interest).

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS

1. The sum of £1500.

2. Interest in accordance with section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at such rate and for such period as the court thinks fit.

3. Costs.

[BazzaS]

first draft. i think 2 and 4 can prob be removed

 

1. On xx December 2013 the roof of the property at 22a Kingsway, Camberley, GU17 0JB collapsed resulting in damage to the property.

2. The named defendant is the freeholder of the property and as such is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the exterior of the property. The defendant refused to make a claim under the buildings insurance for repairs to the roof.

3. Due to the urgent nature of the repair I instructed for the work to be carried out and this was funded by myself at a cost of £1500.

4. In March 2014 the Freeholder made an insurance claim on the property and received a pay-out.

5. Despite numerous email and letter requests made by the claimant to the defendant the defendant has failed to cover the costs incurred for my self-funded repairs to the property.

6. The Claimant is entitled to interest at the rate of 8% per annum from the date the debt was due being the (I can get the invoice date – around jan/feb 2014) to the present date (around 800 days) at the daily rate of 32p making a total sum of £256-ish and continuing at the daily rate of 32p. (See Statutory Interest).

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS

1. The sum of £1500.

2. Interest in accordance with section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at such rate and for such period as the court thinks fit.

3. Costs.

 

I would add "the defendant alleges sums owed in ground rent, but has failed to identify these despite requests on

 

Then, even if there are sums owed to Gru, the court will see they have behaved unreasonably, with the implication that you could loose the case (if the sums owed extinguish your claim), but still recover costs .... So you end up in a better position

 

I would leave in the 1st sentence in para 2, but delete the 2nd sentence as Gru has now claimed on insurance.

Keep 4) in : it is relevant that they recovered money from their insurance claim.

 

You mention a 2nd LBA : in general don't send repeated LBA's : it suggests you aren't serious about going to court.

By all means clarify and answer correspondence, agreeing to hold off issuing a claim while you clarify the issues .....

[kp278]

1080 characters online... should i shorten it and send further (the check box) or is it simpler to print forms and do the whole thing manually

[Andyorch]

I would issue through MCOL...shorten your particulars...I don't see any requirement to issue separate particulars...particulars of claim should not be to indepth for an initial claim.

[kp278]

thanks andy. this is what we shortened it to. there's nothing in there for 'AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS....' but this looks to be covered in the rest of the boxes per the image. should we try and fit something in for costs?

 

[Andyorch]

Yes that fine.....if they wish to defend then you can go into particular details either within your response or witness statement.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[kp278]

AOS received intending to defend all of claim. He also ticked the jurisdiction box - is that standard stuff?

[Andyorch]

AOS received intending to defend all of claim. He also ticked the jurisdiction box - is that standard stuff?

 

No it means he has no clue

[kp278]

very good.

 

claim deemed served on the 10th may, aos filed but nothing further so i make that 28 days on 7th june, will proceed with judgement and keep the thread updated

 

thanks

[kp278]

Judgement made on the 9th. I've assumed the defendant will receive notice and request for payment from the court but now im not so sure.

 

Is warrant of execution the usual next step or should i strongly consider the other options such as asset freeze or attachment. He owns a nursing home and drives a porsche (apparently) and has a nice big house though i do wonder if he's ever there.

[Andyorch]

See if payment is forthcoming (is it a forthwith judgment?) then we can consider your options of executing the judgment.

 

Andy

[kp278]

yes forthwith judgement. we received letter confirmation around the 12th so assume defendant got his the same day. will stand fast til next week. thanks

[kp278]

two weeks and no news, is it time to take the next step

[Andyorch]

Yes...had ample time to make payment by now.

[kp278]

okey doke, so straightforward warrant of execution now? i've always assumed that's the standard process. i read there are quite a few options but is standard practice to start with this

[Andyorch]

okey doke, so straightforward warrant of execution now? i've always assumed that's the standard process. i read there are quite a few options but is standard practice to start with this

 

Yes...you can initiate it through MCOL

[kp278]

Hi, warrant issued and got an 'ex77 interim return on a warrant' noting 'defendant has paid £987 and will pay the balance next month.'

 

Joy.

 

As this has come through the court may i assume i dont need to update the bailiffs?

[Andyorch]

No its just an interim update...well done Kp post up when the balance is received and we can mark your thread to success.

 

Regards

 

Andy