Thread: Hamlins charges

Hi,
could someone give me some advice please.
we have had arrears with our Abbey mortgage, which have been a nightmare. They sent our account to litigation (Hamlins) because because they wanted payment of arrears in full.
We agreed £300 on top of our interest only mortgage but felt pressured.
We made payments for 2 months then run in to difficulty(robbed peter to pay paul) now they have sent papers saying their asking the court on the 6th July for repossession because we have missed the last two months.
The arrears are £987, my wifes parents have offered to settle the arrears, which has been a great weight off our minds.
I want to settle these arrears but not any charges off Hamlins, can we do this.
can they still ask for possession to reclaim their charges, or would they not be linked to our property.
any advice greatful

Hi, they can't take you to court for charges as you can't be in arrears with them, they should be added to the outstanding mortgage amount. If you pay the arrears in full then there will be no court hearing - if there are no arrears they cannot continue with the claim for possession.

Originally Posted by Ell-enn

Hi, they can't take you to court for charges as you can't be in arrears with them, they should be added to the outstanding mortgage amount. If you pay the arrears in full then there will be no court hearing - if there are no arrears they cannot continue with the claim for possession.

Thank you Ell-enn for the advice, i shall pay the arrears.

Just to clarify, there is little you can do about Hamlin's charges as there will be an indemnity within the mortgage contract allowing them to debit your mortgage account with their costs. There is case law backing up this.

Sorry!!

Mark

Originally Posted by Markiemark1

Just to clarify, there is little you can do about Hamlin's charges as there will be an indemnity within the mortgage contract allowing them to debit your mortgage account with their costs. There is case law backing up this.

Sorry!!

Mark

Hi mark,
can you advise?
Are people taking mortgage lenders on claiming unfair charges.
I think i have read about this & its a long old slog, but before it comes to court the lender settles.
Is this possible or will it be made possible when the bank's lose on appeal at the house of lords on unfair charges.
When i spoke to hamlins they came across as nothing more than in house DCA for Abbey, i know they will have a department of solicitors, but i believe no solicitor has dealt with my account to date, & £265 litigation charge is unfair. plus more charges for them asking the court to here why they want to repossess our property.
We have recieved no correspondents off the court, just hamlins paperwork.
Any advice would be greatful

Hi Ell-enn,
Could you advise on the above points,
Is there nothing i can do about the charges like Mark say's.
if i refuse to pay them would they take me to court for the charges seperately.
Sick of being kicked when down, do i have any chance of beating these charges.
any help would be greatful

I think the key difference here is between charges and costs. What Hamlins have charged Abbey is clearly going to be applied to your account and there will be a generaly indemnity within your mortgage conditions that this can happen. There is nothing the Court can do about this, and I have been in many a hearing where the Judge confirms this to be the case. The case I was trying to remember was Gomba Holdings v Minories Finance. However, in MY view costs are different from charges.

As an example....say Abbey send your case to Hamlins, who do some work preparing for court at a charge out rate of £120 per hour. Each hour is split into units of six minutes. So in total someone spends an hour and a half of your case, and they issue proceedings. They are entitled to bill for their time and the costs of issuing the proceedings (in this case it would be £180 plus the issue fee (£150), plus no doubt the dreaded VAT.

Now, I think the bits that could be challenged is if, say, the Abbey have charged you £300 for referring it to their solicitors. I would suggest that that may well be an unfair charge and would be challengable. The problem is that if its in the contract you signed, then it would be up to you to prove that it is an unfair contract term, and that may or may not be made easier following the result of the bank charges claim.

I'm not trying to pour water on your claim, believe me I enjoy taking on lenders and beating them down. In fact I have several going on for friends at the moment against Welcome Finance, Yes Car Credit, Capquest etc etc. Just don't want you to think this will be particularly easy.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Hi there, you can't be taken to court for charges! However, as Mark says if it is in your mortgage contract that they can make these charges then the only thing you can do is claim them back as unfair same as bank charges. While they have the right to make these charges - they should only represent the actual cost to them, not their inflated cost.

Re the legal costs - you have the right to ask for a statement of these costs showing a Breakdown of how it is calculated.

Wait until you have paid the arrears then check they have cancelled the court hearing, we can then get to work on the other issues.

Ell

Thank you both for your advice,
I will get the brake down of costs & see what i can challenge.