gound rent taking house off friend....

lisamellor · 27th July 2006, 22:05

hi there i was wondering if anyone could please advise a friend of mine, she has been receiving letters at her address for a couple of months now but with the wrong name on so she has been sending them back to sender as not known at the address. so today she has received a letter addressed to j.andrews/the leaseholder ( she is not j andrews) now she has lived at this address for around 7 years now and has no mortage on it and the gound rent is £25. per year.

this is the letter she received

freehold collections
po box 142
bolton
bl3 6wr
fax no 01204 385020

18th july 2006

dear sir/madam

final warning before action

collection name..... j andrews/the leaseholder

address .....69 ........

ground rent unpaid £25.00

administration expenses to date £40.00

total outstanding £65.00

despite recent letters warning you of impending action regarding ground rent arrears we have yet to receive payment.

please note as the lessee of the property you are fully responsible for payment of the ground rent and also any administration and legal costs incurred in the recovery of arrears.

unless we have received full payment in full by 31st july we will apply for forfeiture of your lease due to the breach. this simply means that your lease will be cancelled and the property will then belong to us. please note that this is onlu done as a last resort and we would prefer if you paid your arrears rather than take your property from you.

we look forward to receving payment. please write your address on the rear of the cheque and make payment to landmark investments.

freehold collections
arrears department.

now this letter is not even professional it is printed on bog standard paper, it has not even got a phone number on it and it has no name to get in touch with anyone. now my friend hasnt received any letters in her name. she wants to pay the ground rent but to be honest when i looked at the letter it seemed very unprofessional and i dont think she should have to pay admin costs??

so we dont know what to do. any help would be much appreciated.

cheers lisaxx

callumsgran · 27th July 2006, 22:11

Does she know where she has to pay her ground rent? just tell her to ignore the letters they are not addressed to her, she shouldn't be opening them anyway! she is breaking the law!!

lisamellor · 28th July 2006, 09:36

hi cillit, the mail was addresses to j andrews/the leaseholder... so does that mean she cant open it as it said leaseholder?? and she doesnt know where she paid her gound rent to as it used to be a place in the town centre but the address on this says bolton...

lisaxx

Rich44 · 28th July 2006, 15:44

She's not breaking the law if it says /leaseholder as that implies Mr x OR the leaseholder which she most certainly is.

I seriously doubt whether they can "cancel" a lease for the non-payment of £25 sounds a bit OTT to me but as for how legal that is I dont know.

Has she been paying the ground rent and does she have a means of proving that?

The letter could be a con or it could be a genuine DCA (if there is such a thing) either way as long as she has been paying her ground rent then she has nothing to worry about

lisamellor · 28th July 2006, 17:43

hi rich, she has been paying her g/r but hasnt paid it for a few years as she has had no letters from the ground rent people (who were in manchester) that is another reason why i think it is odd as it is 25.00 per year and these people are requesting 25.00 & 40.00 admin costs???? that doesnt add up to me, it doesnt say anything about being in arrears at all. and i find it odd that they are threatening to take her house off her seeing as this is the first letter she has been able to open, and if they were who they said that they are surely they would know what her name is!

lisamellor · 6th August 2006, 19:08

hi all,

help me please!!

well sent the letter off to them saying that if they could prove that they are the people who she is now to pay ground rent to then they would have to prove it.

so they sent her a letter with copies of everything ... fair enough but they are still trying to charge her 40.00 for admin charges. like i said they cant possibly charge her as they sent the letters to the wrong name and she couldnt legally open them so she sent them back.

she is sending them a cheque for the 25.00 tomorrow, along with a letter that i am writing for her.

any ideas on what to write regards to the admin charges and for them to see that they cant charge her??

thanks lisaxx

blacksheep1979 · 6th August 2006, 20:05

Just put that she has never been billed for the ground rent up until the letter of xx so she doesn't acknowledge the admin charges.

If they take her to court for the charges but not for the ground rent that is a seperate fee and nothing to do with the lease then her contract shouldn't be under threat

lisamellor · 6th August 2006, 21:37

this is what the letter they wrote says

dear......

RE your recent letter regarding refusal to pay ground rent and admin charges

thank you for your recent letter upon which you chose to remain anonymous. our recent letters have been sent to a J ANDREWS as this is the person we have as the owner. when you bought the property your solicitor should have served notice upon us to say that you were the new leaseholder. this means our details are wrong due to a fault on your side. we generally charge £25.00 for a acceptance of a notification of assignment- this invoice has not been raised as we were not notified. our client landmark investments are the owners of the interest in your property which they acquired from a mr weisberg, 71-73 chapel street manchester. we have written to all properties concerned but again because we were unaware of your involvement you would not have opened the letter.
under the terms of you lease you are liable to pay us ground rent within 30 days of demand. you are also liable for any costs incurred by our client in recovery of arrears. we have attached proof of ownership.

PLEASE NOW FORWARD A CHEQUE FOR £65.00 TO COVER YOUR ARREARS MADE PAYABLE TO LANDMARK INVESTMENTS. IF THIS PAYMENT IS NOT NOT RECEIVED WITHIN 10 DAYS FROM TODAYS DATE WE WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH LEGAL PROCEEDINGS TO RECOVER THE DEBT

regards

freehold collections

so i am sending the 25.00 cheque tomorrow.

as i said previously i dont think that i should have to pay admin charges.

or should i?? the letters still does not seem to be backing down

lisaxx

callumsgran · 6th August 2006, 21:55

tell them you are only paying the ground rent and not the admin fees as they are disproportionate! they must seek these through the owners of the property as it was them who didnt notify them of the change of leasee!

callumsgran · 6th August 2006, 21:56

p.s send cheque for £25.00

lisamellor · 6th August 2006, 22:13

cheers cillit!!!!!!!!

i thought it would be something like that, but im not as clued up as you lot are!

by the way do you mean that the previous owners should have informed them?? as the previous owner died and the house was up for sale for a while??
lisaxx

blacksheep1979 · 6th August 2006, 23:55

someoen had to own the property after the previous tenant died and

Quote:

under the terms of you lease you are liable to pay us ground rent within 30 days of demand.

You will be paying within 30 days of YOU being asked

Also just point out that the £40 is disproportionate to their costs and they will not be able to recover it in court - or pay it and you get it back througgh court - that way they get court fees on top as well

callumsgran · 7th August 2006, 01:05

No the solicitor should have, as stated in the earlier letter!

Bookworm · 7th August 2006, 01:51

[quote=lisamellor]

Quote:

dear......

RE your recent letter regarding refusal to pay ground rent and admin charges

Wrong. You are only refusing to pay the admin charges.

Quote:

thank you for your recent letter upon which you chose to remain anonymous.

upon which? jeez.....

Quote:

when you bought the property your solicitor should have served notice upon us to say that you were the new leaseholder. this means our details are wrong due to a fault on your side.

So sue the solicitor.

Quote:

we generally charge £25.00 for a acceptance of a notification of assignment- this invoice has not been raised as we were not notified.

"generally?" Either you do or you don't.

Quote:

we have written to all properties concerned but again because we were unaware of your involvement you would not have opened the letter.

Huh? Who WRITES these?

Quote:

you are also liable for any costs incurred by our client in recovery of arrears.

Wrong. You may be liable for reimbursement of their reasonable costs, and you will gladly do so when they submit 1) proof of said costs, 2) proof that you yourself are in arrears.

Quote:

IF THIS PAYMENT IS NOT NOT RECEIVED WITHIN 10 DAYS FROM TODAYS DATE WE WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH LEGAL PROCEEDINGS TO RECOVER THE DEBT

CPR states 28 days... Tut-tut-TUT!!!! naughty collection people!!!

Quote:

so i am sending the 25.00 cheque tomorrow.

as i said previously i dont think that i should have to pay admin charges.

or should i?? the letters still does not seem to be backing down

That depends what the admin charge is for, really. I have the same problem, where the horticultural fees and other cr@p comes to a couple of quid a year, but the admin fee for this is £30 +... Totally ridiculous...

lisamellor · 7th August 2006, 10:07

thanks for your input all!! this is a letter i have drafted up to send today please please feel to correct!!

dear ........

please find enclosed cheque for payment of ground rent.

may i point out some things you said in your previous letter.

you stated
under the terms of my lease i am liable to pay you ground rent within 30 days of demand.

i will pay within 30 days of you asking ME.

you stated.
that i was refusing to pay ground rent and administration charges.

i am not refusing to pay ground rent.

you stated
when i purchased the property my solicitor should have served notice upon you, to say that i was the new leaseholder. this means your details are wrong due to a fault on my side.

may i say that the information you have may be wrong, but this is not a problem on my side as previous payments for ground rent have been requested under my name, not a J ANDREWS.

you stated
you generally charge 25.00 for a acceptance of a notification of assignment-this invoice has not been issued as you were not notified.

generally?? either you do or dont. also when i purchased the property you and the company you are representing did not own the interest in my property, your client landmark investments which they acquired from a Mr Weisberg of 71-73 chapel street, manchester did so why would we pay you??

you stated
i am liable for any costs incurred by your client in recovery of arrears

wrong. i may be liable for reimbursement of their reasonable costs, and i will gladly do so when they submit 1) proof of said costs
2) proof that i am in arrears

you said that if the payment is not received within 10 days from the date of the letter (which the letter is not dated so how would i know) then you would move forward with legal proceedings to cover the debt.

the CPR states 28 days.

yours faithfully

so how does that sound??

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