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    • 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.    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. 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. 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) 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. 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. 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. 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.   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.  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. 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.
    • You can use a family's address.   The only caveat is for the final hearing you'd need to be there in person   HOWEVER i'd expect them to pay if its only £200 because costs of attending will be higher than that
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    • Hello,

      On 15/1/24 booked appointment with Big Motoring World (BMW) to view a mini on 17/1/24 at 8pm at their Enfield dealership.  

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    • We have finally managed to obtain the transcript of this case.

      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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      Please note that a recent case against UPS failed on exactly the same issue with the judge held that the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 did not apply.

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BMW MINI Cooper S Timing Chain Failure - ENGINE SEIZURE


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Travelling on the M25 at 9am lots of traffic, sudden and increasing knocking noise.

 

Indicated, changed lane and decreased speed but within seconds there was a bang and the engine light came on.

 

Engine stopped, but luckly managed to pull onto the hard shoulder.

 

Car was covered in oil around the sides and bumper.

AA towed car to garage.

Timing Chain Tensioner had failed so they carried out a compression test to check damage, which showed a failure on 1 of the cylinders.

 

Thinking this could be fixed they removed the exhaust manifold and found that the bottom end was completely ruined!

I purchased the car from new, now has 46,000 miles on the clock and mainly used for local journeys,

first three years BMW maintained and then well maintained by local BOSCH service centre.

 

It was only in the BMW service garage a few weeks ago for a recall on the turbo collant pump.

 

I have found lots of mini owners in the US with similar issues.

 

Any more in the UK?

 

If so please post.

 

We need to get BMW to accept there is an issue and recall.

 

The mini cost me £22k and is now worth £0.

 

CONSUMER ADVICE?

 

LEGAL ADVICE?

 

HELP!!!

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how old is the vehicle?

did you purchase it new from?

 

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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ok poss getting near the SOGA limit them.

 

if BMW have admitted manu issues

 

as you say you need to find evidence

 

then you'll be covered for replacement.

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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the bottom end was completely ruined!

 

Is that the bottom end of the exhaust or the bottom end of the engine ??

 

There are no BMW issued advisories for the camshaft and associated gear.

Edited by Conniff
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  • 2 months later...
What are the recommendations from BMW for changing the timing kit on a mini?

 

There aren't any recommendations from MINI UK in the service or owners manual. Mine was already replaced at 21K without them letting me know whilst it was in for break replacement.

 

I have since found lots of other owners with the same issue.

 

MINI UK know what is happening, yet refuse to do anything. It will take a serious injury or death before they do anything!

 

Get in contact if you have a similar issue.

 

paperhatftp @ me.com

 

Steve

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quote_icon.png Originally Posted by belfast4 viewpost-right.png

What are the recommendations from BMW for changing the timing kit on a mini?

 

Bottom end of the engine, behind the exhausted manifold.

 

What is, the recommendations for changing the cam chain ??

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Have you considered getting an independant enginneers report done, might be costly but will save you the cost of engine repair/replacement and possibly a succesful claim to BMW UK.

If I have been helpful please tickle my scales or better still contribute to CAG.

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  • 3 weeks later...
There aren't any recommendations from MINI UK in the service or owners manual. Mine was already replaced at 21K without them letting me know whilst it was in for break replacement.

 

I have since found lots of other owners with the same issue.

 

MINI UK know what is happening, yet refuse to do anything. It will take a serious injury or death before they do anything!

 

Get in contact if you have a similar issue.

 

paperhatftp @ me.com

 

Steve

 

Hi Steve,

My wife's Cooper S 07 plate has just been diagnosed needing a complete timing chain and housing, quote from garage ' good job you got it to us you could of had a complete engine failure, still going to cost close on £1000 though!!! When will Mini UK admit that there is a serious problem with timing chains on their vehicles?

Regards

John

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Hi!

 

I had an issue with my wife's 2007 MCS. We had the infamous "death rattle" so I took the car in to MINI. They diagnosed a problem with the chain, tensioner and other ancillaries and changed the lot. After an offer of "goodwill" from BMW, the bill came to around £600. I am currently in negotiations with BMW regarding this offer of "goodwill".

 

Of note is the fact that there is a class-action ongoing regarding this very issue in the US. In fact a law firm has even set up a website in order to bring in more clients to strengthen their case:

 

bmwminicooperclassaction.com

 

Naturally I'll be very interested to see how this turns out but it doesn't really help us poor Brits here & now.

 

Lastly, Does anybody know of anyone who has filled out a Vehicle Safety Defect Report for VOSA?

 

dft.gov.uk/vosa/onlineservices/vehicledefects.htm

 

Anyway, Good luck & I'll keep you posted...

 

Moi...

 

Ps Sorry that I'm too unimportant to post links...

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  • 3 weeks later...

I purchased a 2007 Mini Cooper a year last December from a mini dealer

- has been maintained well since purchase and is currently only done 55k miles.

 

Last week it began cutting out and losing power.

 

Was taken to a local garage - they reported a fault with the vanos unit and catalytic converter ( understandably the latter- which I have no issue with).

 

Garage reported that it required a new solenoid sensor and complete change of both vanos units and full timing chain kit - giving me a bill of £1 k plus.

 

They have told me today that a pulley from the water pump needs replacing.

 

Having read here that other customers have had trouble with timing chain I'm wondering whether this is an issue I should take further with mini.

 

I have contacted mini and they have asked for chassis number and number of dealership dealing with enquiry.

 

The problem is that the car was taken to a local garage for diagnostics- wondering if I have a leg to stand on??

 

I am also unsure whether the garage are also taking advantage of me as a customer as my knowledge of cars is limited.

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don't all forget

 

watchdog are covering the N47 timing chain issue, all filming has been done - on this weds !!

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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All BMW are timing chain engines, there are normally not a serviceable part unless its making a tinny rattling noise which indicates the tensioner is on its way out.

 

Its not unheard of for a chain engine to go wrong but that many and the same car with less than 50K on the clock is VERY suspect......

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  • 2 months later...

After 6 letters to BMW customer service, they rang me recently and offered a full refund on parts (they had already given me 50% off labour (see earlier post for more details)). I settled as I couldn't be bothered any longer.

 

A bit more effort may have got a full refund but it's good to know that it's worth persevering to at least get something.

 

 

 

For info, my main points centered around:

  • Relatively new vehicle (under 6 years)
  • low mileage (around 40k at the time of the issue surfacing)
  • Timing chain is supposed to be non-serviceable
  • FSH with MINI/BMW & TLC/XL packages purchased
  • MINI supposed to be a premium (fight corporate with corporate) product
  • EU regs (fault within 6 years of purchase) & SoGA
  • Class-Action in the States on this very matter (no outcome as yet)
  • Safety issue (possibility of engine failure on outside lane of motorway)
  • BBC Watchdog (other BMW vehicles with same fault)
  • Potential for contact with VOSA

I also queried the responses I had to my questions, especially when I was told that certain info was private - how many recorded faults on this type of vehicle and so on. I suspect that a lot of my letters were not read in full but it's nice to have a basis on which to continue writing without undue repetition. I also made sure that I asked for a response and a refund at the end of each letter as I did not want THAT part of the letter to be missed.

 

Sorry if this info is overly long, I realise that a lot of it may be obvious but hopefully it's of help to some.

Edited by Death Rattle - MCS 2007
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  • 1 year later...
After 6 letters to BMW customer service, they rang me recently and offered a full refund on parts (they had already given me 50% off labour (see earlier post for more details)). I settled as I couldn't be bothered any longer.

 

A bit more effort may have got a full refund but it's good to know that it's worth persevering to at least get something.

 

 

 

For info, my main points centered around:

  • Relatively new vehicle (under 6 years)
  • low mileage (around 40k at the time of the issue surfacing)
  • Timing chain is supposed to be non-serviceable
  • FSH with MINI/BMW & TLC/XL packages purchased
  • MINI supposed to be a premium (fight corporate with corporate) product
  • EU regs (fault within 6 years of purchase) & SoGA
  • Class-Action in the States on this very matter (no outcome as yet)
  • Safety issue (possibility of engine failure on outside lane of motorway)
  • BBC Watchdog (other BMW vehicles with same fault)
  • Potential for contact with VOSA

I also queried the responses I had to my questions, especially when I was told that certain info was private - how many recorded faults on this type of vehicle and so on. I suspect that a lot of my letters were not read in full but it's nice to have a basis on which to continue writing without undue repetition. I also made sure that I asked for a response and a refund at the end of each letter as I did not want THAT part of the letter to be missed.

 

Sorry if this info is overly long, I realise that a lot of it may be obvious but hopefully it's of help to some.

Hi has any body contacted watch dog on this problem as we just got told by BMW that a noise coming from the engine was a hole in the flexi pipe and needed to repair it ASAP having done this we now a light on the dash board ( engine management light and now there saying it's the timing chain ?? I have had the car 3 years and is only done 58,000 miles and I drive it 20 miles monday to Friday for work and I have put more in to this car than its work really I think I was sold a lemon as am for ever putting money in to it I spent over £2000 last year in bills on it and now this I read that all US mini have been recalled why haven't the uk followed ??

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