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    • Please see my comments in orange within your post.
    • no i meant the email from parcel2go which email address did they send it from and who signed it off (whos name is at the bottom)
    • I understand confusion with this thread.  I tried to keep threads separate because there have been so many angles.    But a team member merged them all.  This is why it's hard to keep track. This forum exists to help little people fight injustice - however big or small.  Im here to try get a decent resolution. Not to give in to the ' big boys'. My "matter' became complicated 'matters' simply because a lender refused to sell a property. What can I say?  I'll try in a nutshell to give an overview: There's a long lease property. I originally bought it short lease with a s.146 on it from original freeholder.  I had no concerns. So lender should have been able to sell a well-maintained lovely long lease property.  The property was great. The issue is not the property.  Economy, sdlt increases, elections, brexit, covid, interest hikes etc didn't help.  The issue is simple - the lender wanted to keep it.   House or Flat? Before repo I offered to clear my loan.  I was a bit short and lender refused.  They said (recorded) they thought the property was worth much more and they were happy to keep accruing interest (in their benefit) until it reached a point where they felt they could repo and still easily quickly sell to get their £s back.  This was a mistake.  The market was (and is) tough.   2y later the lender ceo bid the same sum to buy the property for himself. He'd rejected higher offers in the intervening period whilst accruing interest. Lenders have a legal obligation to sell the property for the best price they can get. If they feel the offer is low they won't sell it, because it's likely the borrower will say the same. I had the property under offer to a fantastic niche buyer but lender rushed to repo and buyer got spooked and walked.  It had taken a long time to find such a lucrative buyer.  A sale which would have resulted in £s and another asset for me. Post repo lender had 1 offer immediately.  But dragged out the process for >1y - allegedly trying to get other offers. But disclosure shows there was only one valid buyer. Again, points as above. Lender appointed receiver (after 4 months) - simply to try acquire the freehold.  He used his powers as receiver to use me, as leaseholder, to serve notice on freeholders.  Legally that failed. Meanwhile lender failed to secure property - and squatters got in (3 times).  And they failed to maintain it.  So freeholders served a dilapidations notice (external) - on me as leaseholder (cc-ed to lender).   (That's how it works legally) Why serve a delapidations notice? If it's in the terms of the lease to maintain the property to a good standard, then serve an S146 notice instead as it's a clear breach of the lease. I don't own the freehold.  But I am a trustee and have to do right by the freeholders.  This is where matters got/ get complicated.  And probably lose most caggers.   Lawyers got involved for the freeholders to firstly void the receiver enfranchisement notice. Secondly, to serve the dilapidations notice.  The lack of maintenance was in breach of lease and had to be served to protect fh asset. Enfranchisement isn't something that can be "voided", it's in the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 that leaseholders have the right to buy the freehold of the property. It's normal, whether it is a "normal" leaseholder or a repossession with a leasehold house, to claim this right of enfranchisement and sell the property with said rights attached and the purchase price of the freehold included in the final completion price. That's likely what the mortgage provider wished to do. The lender did no repairs. They said a buyer would undertake them. Which was probably correct. If they had sold. After 1y lender finally agreed to sell to the 1st offeror and contracts went with lawyers.  Within 1 month lender reneged.  Lender tried to suggest buyer walked. Evidence shows he/ his lawyers continued trying to exchange (cash) for 4 months.  Evidence shows lender and receiver strategy had been to renege and for ceo to take control.   I still think that's their plan. Redact and scan said evidence up for others to look at? Lender then stupidly chose to pretty much bulldoze the property.  Other stuff was going on in the background. After repo I was in touch by phone and email and lender knew post got to me.   Despite this, after about 10 months (before and then during covid), they deliberately sent SDs and eventually a B petition to an incorrect address and an obscure small court.  They never served me properly.  (In hindsight I understand they hoped to get a backdoor B - so they could keep the property that way.)  Eventually the random court told them to email me by way of service.  At this point their ruse to make me B failed.  I got a lawyer (friend paid). The B petition was struck out. They’d failed to include the property as an asset. They were in breach of insolvency rules. So this is dealt with then. Simultaneously the receiver again appointed lawyers to act on my behalf as leaseholder. This time to serve notice on the freeholders for a lease extension.  He had hoped to try and vary the strict lease. Evidence shows the already long length of lease wasn't an issue.  The lender obviously hoped to get round their lack of permission to do works (which they were already doing) by hoping to remove the strict clauses that prevent leaseholder doing alterations.  You wouldn't vary a lease through a lease extension. You'd need a Deed of Variation for that. This may be done at the same time but the lease has already been extended once and that's all they have a right to. The extension created a new legal angle for me to deal with.  I had to act as trustee for freeholders against me as leaseholder/ the receiver.  Inconsistencies and incompetence by receiver lawyers dragged this out 3y.  It still isn't properly resolved. The lease has already been extended once so they have no right to another extension. It seems pretty easy to just get the lawyer to say no and stick by those terms as the law is on your side there. Meanwhile - going back to the the works the lender undertook. The works were consciously in breach of lease.  The lender hadn't remedied the breaches listed in the dilapidations notice.  They destroyed the property.  The trustees compiled all evidence.  The freeholders lawyers then served a forfeiture notice. This notice started a different legal battle. I was acting for the freeholders against what the lender had done on my behalf as leaseholder.  This legal battle took 3y to resolve. Again, order them to revert it as they didn't have permission to do the works, or else serve an S146 notice for breach of the lease. The simple exit would have been for lender to sell. A simple agreement to remedy the breaches and recompense the freeholders in compensation - and there's have been clean title to sell.  That option was proposed to them.   This happened by way of mediation for all parties 2y ago.  A resolution option was put forward and in principle agreed.  But immediately after the lender lawyers failed to engage.  A hard lesson to learn - mediation cannot be referred to in court. It's considered w/o prejudice. The steps they took have made no difference to their ability to sell the property.  Almost 3y since they finished works they still haven't sold. ** ** I followed up some leads myself.  A qualified cash buyer offered me a substantial sum.  The lender and receiver both refused it.   I found another offer in disclosure.  6 months later someone had apparently offered a substantial sum via an agent.  The receiver again rejected it.  The problem of course was that the agent had inflated the market price to get the business. But no-one was or is ever going to offer their list price.  Yet the receiver wanted/wants to hold out for the list price.  Which means 1y later not only has it not sold - disclosure shows few viewings and zero interest.  It's transparently over-priced.  And tarnished. For those asking why I don't give up - I couldn't/ can't.  Firstly I have fiduciary duties as a trustee. Secondly, legal advice indicates I (as leaseholder) could succeed with a large compensation claim v the lender.  Also - I started a claim v my old lawyer and the firm immediately reimbursed some £s. That was encouraging.  And a sign to continue.  So I'm going for compensation.  I had finance in place (via friend) to do a deal and take the property back off the lender - and that lawyer messed up bad.   He should have done a deal.  Instead further years have been wasted.   Maybe I only get back my lost savings - but that will be a result.   If I can add some kind of complaint/ claim v the receiver's conscious impropriety I will do so.   I have been left with nothing - so fighting for something is worth it. The lender wants to talk re a form of settlement.  Similar to my proposal 2y ago.  I have a pretty clear idea of what that means to me.  This is exactly why I do not give up.  And why I continue to ask for snippets of advice/ pointers on cag.  
    • It was all my own work based on my previous emails to P2G which Bank has seen.
    • I was referring to #415 where you wrote "I was forced to try to sell - and couldn't." . And nearer the start in #79 .. "I couldn't sell.  I had an incredibly valuable asset. Huge equity.  But the interest accrued / the property market suffered and I couldn't find a buyer even at a level just to clear the debt." In #194 you said you'd tried to sell for four years.  The reason for these points is that a lot of the claims against for example your surveyor, solicitor, broker, the lender and now the receiver are mainly founded in a belief that they should have been able to do something but did not. Things that might seem self evident to you but not necessarily to others. Pressing these claims may well need a bit more hard evidence, rather than an appeal to common sense. Can you show evidence of similar properties, with similar freehold issues, selling readily? And solid reasons why the lender should have been able to sell when you couldn't.
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      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

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British Gas forcing me to prepayment meter, can I stop it?


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Okay.. brief background.

 

I switched both electricity and gas through BG around 3 yrs ago and whilst I paid the electricity, I left the gas bill running a little longer than what I should have. I left it mainly, because they were charging me around £60 per qtr which was very handy.

 

So... They eventually came out (at my request) and read my meters and of course the bill was understated, but unfortunately it was around £800. Now.. I setup a plan for £100 per month, but unfotunately I didnt setup a DD and classically bad with money I didnt pay it. So now they are demanding I either pay the bill in full (Which I am unable to do) or go onto a prepayment meter and pay £15 per week + usage.

 

Dont get me wrong, it was all my own fault for getting like this, but I really want to avoid a prepayment meter. They dont really seem that bad an idea, but ive heard of some of the problems they can have and its also bad the way you cant top up online or over the phone by debit card. We have 3 young children and sometimes its difficult to get to the places you can top up.

 

So, my question is.. can I do anything to stop the action? Can I force them to re-set up a payment plan? I am prepared to pay £150 per month, so surely that would more than cover my usage.

 

Any suggestions appreciated:)

 

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Whether BG will set up another payment plan will depend upon their credit management policies.

 

From BG viewpoint, you have failed to pay a bill on time and have a failed payment arrangement already on the account so it may be unlikely that they will be willing to set up another arrangement, however BG may be prepared to do this if you set up the £150 per month on direct debit.

 

If BG are not prepared to set up another arrangement then your only choices are pay in full or have a quantum meter (prepayment) fitted.

 

From my experience on the other end of a phone, these meters have a tendancy to fail. The most common failure being the meter accepting the payment on the card but not actually crediting it to the meter, this also tends to happen at the weekend :(

 

The only course of action you can follow at the moment is to try and persuade BG to set up a direct debit for £150 per month.

The advice I give in relation to benefits should be viewed as general advice and not specific to your individual claim circumstances. I cannot give specific advice on your claim as I cannot access the claim.

 

If you find the advice useful please click on my scales.

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If they still say no then point out to them you are willing to pay off the debt at 150 a month, now if they fit a prepayment meter you will by law only have to pay the minimum collection rate of 3 pounds a week. This is a differance of 138 pounds a month.

 

If you prove to them your on benifit the min collection rate for debt is 3 pound.

 

 

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Installspark - Thats exactly why I dont want one.. it needs to be reliable. I really dont mind the idea in theory.. I would always know what I was spending and would probably be more pro active about saving energy.

 

Ozzywizard-Not on benefits, but im sure I could bring up a budget plan to get them to change to £3 per week, but I would rather go back and setup a DD.

 

As I said, I know its my own stupid fault, but I really wish I had setup a direct debit so the money just went from my account rather than me having to remember to pay.

 

£150 per month would be fine too.. just need to persuade them I guess. Does anyone know of a department that has enough throw to change the system?? That way I could have a crack at asking them.

 

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Department would be collections, best angle is to point out to them they can only legally take 3 pound a week if you was on benifits but you are offering way over that amount. Good luck and let us know how you get on with it.

It really does depend on how far in the process they are like if trhey have applied for a warrant yet etc.

Who owns your meter, Nat grid or an IGT (Independant gas transporter) if an IGT they cannot fit a prepayment meter as they do not have their own engineers to maintain it. Kinda a long shot but worth checking.

 

 

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They havent got a warrant or anything like that.. its at the "intended legal action" which theyve given me til the 16th October.

 

I must be on Nat grid.. im in a fairly built up area so I expect I am.

 

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Yeah you probably are, just good to check as it might be a way out. Way to check :

your home will have a unique MPR number (Meter point reference number).

check your meter or bills IGT MPR numbers should start with 73, 74, 75, 76 and 90. All other MPR numbers will be transported by National Grid.

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

I am really trying to sort out my rather large Elec and Gas bills recently, but cant phone til the evenings. Once I do get a chance, theres always a massive wait, and because its an 0870 number, its out of my free calls allowance with telewest!!

 

Ive tried the "say no to 0870" telephone number alternative, but you cant tell if youve reached the right line cos it just keeps ringing.

 

Im so tired of being ripped off by these companies using 08 numbers, and also with the telecoms companies not having a tarriff where you get them inclusive with your calls!

 

Rant over,, :mad:

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found this number a while ago, 0113 338 1022. It gets you through to BGAS and they've sorted my queries in the past.

 

I only have a mobile so I use this number to ensure that it is included in my free minutes.

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Ive tried the "say no to 0870" telephone number alternative, but you cant tell if youve reached the right line cos it just keeps ringing.

 

That is because direct numbers to BG don't usually go through the IVR.

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  • 1 month later...

Im with BG, not the best company in the world but hey ho.

 

Ive had a gas meter for a few months, rarely spend above £5 per week (although in the winter time I may be moaning!!). Anyway, im happy with it because i find I actually am carefull on my usage because.. strange huh.

 

So, the bill is mounting on the electric, and whilst I can simply afford to just pay the bill and carry on, im tempted to switch to a meter. It may help me to save money, but im curious to know if anyone had any hassles with their electricity meters?

 

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Every utillity company will make you pay MORE for being on a prepayment meter Evey company without exception.

If your happy paying 25 - 30% more per Kw then who can complain.

 

Personally I sat there with a tarrif sheet from every uk distributor and worked out who was the cheapest and how,, then I got my prepayment meter removed and my electricity bill has deacreased from £15 a week Down to a £33 per month dd and I have a credit with my supplier.

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