VICTORY After 5 years of fighting Natwest have cleared the debt and are no longer chasing for payment but did NOT admit fault.

I have heard about the case in Watford County Court with regards to the notice of cancellation, does any body know who the parties involved were and where I can find a transcript of the case?

Where can I find information on the case in watford county court, who was the claimant?

The offer was the same amount as I was thinking about whether or not to accept but their actions led to mistrust in the agent. The Estate Agents Act 1979 states all liabilities should be given to the client, also by not following the code of practice this in turn goes against the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which states if they advertise the fact they abide by a code of practice then if they fail to adhere to its rules then they are in breach of the regulation. The code does have some guidance however there are certain MUST points in the code which as a member you have to follow, this includes informing clients of potential liabilities when an agreement is cancelled. The problem was when I cancelled the agreement within the 7 days they did not inform me of potential liabilities nor did i receive a letter confirming they were no longer acting as agent which is another MUST in the code of practice so at that point I did not know of any liability. As far I was aware the agreement was cancelled as per the Cancellation of contracts in a consumers home etc regulation 2008 which state if the agreement is cancelled within the 7 day period it will be as if it never existed. They even told me the only liability I would face if I cancelled within the 7 days was the marketing fee and noting else, even though they knew at the time they had already arranged a viewing with a potential buyer outside of the agreement.

I'll try to explain better, I arranged for an estate agent to sell the property and PRIOR to an agreement being signed the agent found a potential buyer and arranged a viewing. This was done outside of an agreement so they did it of their own accord. They then began to market it as I paid to have it done straight away which in their agreement did NOT affect my right to cancel, however during the cooling off period I had some issues with their conduct, they erected a sale board when my specific instruction was not to have one, they did not take pictures, nor did they produce a marketing brochure but did conduct a viewing which they arranged out of the agreement that produced an offer on day 6 of the 7 day cooling off period. This offer was not accepted as I did not think they deserved to continue with my business and I was cancelling the agreement due to their poor performance and what I found out later complete lies as I paid for work they had no intention of doing. I informed them of my issues and the fact I will be looking at a new agent, at this point when they were made aware of this it was their duty to inform me of possible liabilities which they did not do. After rightly cancelling within the 7 days, the regulations states that if I do this then it is as if the agreement never existed, I waited a week before looking at another agent who I then employed, they marketed the property the next day, producing a brochure within 48 hours and took numerous photo's as expected by an agent. The problems arose when the buyer made an offer through this new agent and the buyer was the one the previous agent had contacted. The sale took 3 months and in this time I was NOT made aware of the liability of fees to the old agent even though I was emailing them asking for an investigation into their conduct, it was not until the day of exchange the old agent demanded fees when the property legally changed hands trying to force me to pay them.I complained to the TPOS who they are a member of but they did not investigate correctly as I have received documents which prove the agent lied to the TPOS (does not surprise me they did not investigate as the agents PAY the TPOS an annual fee and this specific agent pays them £255k per year) even when I gave the TPOS proof of the breaches of code of practice they said they would not look at it. I have subsequently found out that they purposefully withheld the fee liability from me for 3 months which is against numerous regulations and the code of practice. I also found out that the agreement itself is not completed correctly and breaks several regulations most importantly the notice of right to cancel as it does not conform to the rules. I have now received a witness statement they will be using in court and the witness states that the agreement was not cancelled during the cooling off period because I waived my right as I got the marketing commenced straight away. This however is a lie as their own agreement states the right to cancel was not affected by commencing work straight away so he lied in a witness statement. He also lied when he said that the cancellation of contracts at home etc regulation 2008 did not apply because they started marketing straight away. The regulations state if I cancel during the cooling off period but have services done during that period I only pay reasonable costs for services in that period which was the marketing fee. He also lied when he said they did not need to inform me of the fee liability as this is a breach of the estate agency act 1979 and the code of practice they sign up to as it states that as soon as i cancel the agreement they have to, in writing, inform me they no longer are agent and must state any fee liability that may be due which they were aware of when I cancelled. My issue is that the agent broke the law, lied about their service, ignored instructions, did not comply with the code of practice, breached numerous regulations, did not do their job to a satisfactory standard and has the cheek to chase for a fee that they are not legally entitled to. Am I wrong to stand up for the rights given to me under the law against a company who broke numerous regulations?

I presume a judge could not just discount my evidence and relevant regulation breaches and side with them because they introduced the buyer.

The issue is the agreement is not filled in correctly, they have broken the code of practice they are signed up to, the buyer was found PRIOR to an agreement so NOT a result of marketing or their actions under an agreement as the buyer was a client of theirs and viewing arranged before ANY paperwork was signed. The agreement was cancelled under the allocated 7 day cooling period, the notice to cancel was not as prescribed by law in the regulations as it was missing information. The agents have admitted to finding the buyer outside of the agreement and I have this documented in several letters and they have a witness statement which I can prove contains false information and possibly fraudulent claims due to my right to cancel as it contradicts their own agreement. They may have also committed fraud by failing to disclose information they are legally obliged to by NOT informing me of liabilities when using another estate agent until the property was sold as if I knew I would never have sold the property as I would have to pay 2 sets of fees. By NOT advising me of ANY liabilities when the agreement was cancelled and were informed of me hiring another agent this breaches the code of practice they are signed up to which also breaches the unfair trading regulations 2008 and the estate agents act 1979 so how with all these regulation breaches they can ask for the money is beyond me. Just because an agreement was entered into it does not bind me to those terms if cancelled within 7 days under cancellation of contracts made at home regulations.

There is no mention of waiving rights, quite the opposite, the cooling off period states my right to cancel is NOT affected by instructing them to start marketing straight away. Also I have written conformation from the agent that they did contact and arrange viewings prior to the agreement being signed which was also stated when they came to the initial meeting. I do see from some regulations that if work commences straight away then services should be paid for which at the time of the contract was the marketing however my signature is NOT on the marketing section of the agreement allow them to proceed with marketing. Upon reading the code of practice they are signed up to I can prove with documents that they breached several parts of the code which apparently breaches the unfair trading regulations 2008 as well as breaching the cancellation of contacts in a person's home regulations as they have not complied with schedule 4. They have also potentially breached the estate agency act 1979 by not telling me about when my liabilities occur. I can also prove that the information they gave the solicitor is false as I have conflicting documents from their head office. By providing false information which they will rely upon in court to make me pay their fee surly comes under section 2 of the fraud act?

I have cancelled and there was a cooling of period in the agreement but they are being funny. It was cancelled because the service was rubbish, no photographs, sign board when i said I did not want one, misled about viewings and no marketing documents even though I paid for it to start straight away (which I have now noticed was not signed by me to authorise marketing). I have now sold the property but they have claimed that because I have sold it to somebody they introduced I owe them their fee. However it transpires from letters from them that the person who bought it was contacted by the agent and told about the property PRIOR to ANY agreement so they did NOT find the buyer during the time the agency agreement was in force. As the cancellation was done during the cooling off period which is covered under Cancellation Of Contracts in a Consumers Home or Place Of work regulations 2008 then the agreement and terms are terminated as if it never existed. Am i being foolish or is this correct as they have threatened me with court action via a solicitor.

URGENT HELP NEEDED! I have an estate agency agreement which has been filled in wrong, they have put me down as the owner of the property but I am not. I have been granted probate as executor of a will to sell the property and the estate agent has a specific section in their agreement for such circumstances where they need to put the owners info and obtain my right to sell but did not fill it in or take a copy of the probate. Does this bring the validity of the agreement into question?. Also with regards to Terms and Conditions, should their be a cancellation clause and or cooling off period clause situated within the terms and conditions or can they be anywhere within the agreement?

Hi, been along time but RBS dispute still going. Long story short, after hardship agreement ended RBS tried to get me to consolidate the loan however they wanted to add the backpayments to the total ammount owing £5000 debt owed inclusive of interest, £3000 arrears still only amounts to a total debt of £5000 (of which £3000 overdue). What collections suggested was take the £5000 + £3000 = £8000 plus interest on top of that, this in essence would double the debt owed and also it would be charging double the interest as the original £5000 debt had already been calculated with interest included. I obviously declined this generous offer, then I was bombarded with Triton letters and phone calls but I soon put an end to that by threatening them by email and including the OFT and Stephen Hester on ALL emails. They then resorted to sending a letter from Green and Co solicitors (RBS) again I replied direct and heard nothing for months until March 2011 when I got a letter from Shoosmiths solicitors threatening court action. Now, after receiving this, speaking to the OFT and reading the CCA 1974 it was clear that whilst RBS do NOT have a signed agreement as they have admitted then under the OFT guidlines RBS should not be using a solicitor to threaten court action. Shoosmiths gave me 14 days to reply which I did direct via email so I had proof of contact and explianed the situation and asked if they had a copy of the signed agreement from RBS to base their case on and if I could have a copy. again sent copies to OFT, I have sent a further 3 emails to them but have yet to get a reply back. Has anyone dealt with these before or had this company ignore them. I tend to copy the OFT into all my emails now so I have a third party receiving proof of emails as they are looking into the conduct of RBS as they have a copy of everything going back to 2008.

got them to remove the block on my account, gentlman on the phone said it should not have been blocked until default was in force so have emptied account into another one. I also tried to arrange a payment plan but no luck as they gave me 3 options, new loan for arrears, 6 months at a whopping £800 or wait for defailt and recoveries take over. Useless, what about the banking code, try to do what they can for their customers.

Got another one for you, after entering into a hardship agrrement with Natwest last year due to redundancy they have now suspended access to my account and are demanding the arrears from the hardship payments 10 days after the hardship agreement ended. I cannot access my account either online or via cash points and have to phone them up to arrange for me to go into a branch and take money out. This has come out of the blue with no warning as I used my card on 24/06/10 and have now got a default notice on the 25/06/10 dated 24/06/10. I understand direct debits and standing orders will still be paid and I am in the process of arranging funds to be paid into another account but wondered if I am able to go into a branch and set up a new standing order for a one off payment so I can move the rest of the money so I have access to it and whether they have to adhere to the request. Any help would be grateful

HI all, advice needed. Sent the first 2 letters in this thread to my bank and got a reply back saying that they no longer have the original signed agreement so cannot provide it for me. As they have admitted to not having it do i still need to apply for the court to ask for it or do I use a No win No fee solicitor to work on my behalf and if so has anybody gone down this route.

Hi all been a long time but starting the process again, this time taking the N244 route as suggested in other posts to see if I can get the information I require (especially signed agreement) even though I have been told they do not hold the original agreement. Will follow step by step with the 3 letters giving them enough time to reply and if nothing then the N244 via the court. My question is what happens if they are not forthcoming with the information via the court request, where do I stand and what action would be next. Gonna be anither long hall but have had luck with MBNA and CAP ONE and feel the energy coming back for another fight. Will keep all posted....