I don't believe it! Just emailed this morning and got an automated reply - the conveyancing solicitor no longer works there. I'll be trying to ring them today to see what the hell is going on. As far as I'm aware having read through all the documents again I've not signed or agreed to any letter of authority or power of attorney etc. and have definitely not seen, been in possession of or signed a contract of sale. I can only assume this guy has signed on behalf of the solicitors which as far as I'm aware he has not nor been given any right to do so.

I will - but will they be open tomorrow and especially on a bank holiday weekend - chances are I won't get hold of them until next Tuesday. If there's approx. £5k penalties at that time then what are my options - I'm not desperate to sell.

I'm mystified - I haven't signed or seen a contract, agreed terms or anything - so how can an exchange have taken place?

I have proof via emails of the next auction being agreed.

Thanks, The auctioneer advised this and asked if I wanted to put it in the next auction (September) - I said ok and then on the 13th I received an email regarding the sale and was asked to prepare a welcome pack etc. I thought this was in prep for September but on re-reading this it was to commence the sale from the first auction - my partner has phoned them and it looks like they used their discretion and didn't tell us! I had an email Tuesday advising completion Thursday and then received an email Wednesday to complete the Land Registry transfer and send by next day - I replied that I was still on holiday and this wasn't possible in the timeframe requested as it would take at least 2 days if I could find somewhere to print out and post that day (which I couldn't as it was late). If worst case and I have to pay a penalty - earliest I can get the docs to them is next Tuesday so am I right in thinking I have to pay about 4.5% per day (4 days) charges on £26K??? Cheers, T

Thanks, I put this in auction but was advised that it had not sold as the reserve was not met. The mail would have gone to my business address but I haven't been there for about 4 weeks as I've been working out of the country. Even so, Tuesday was the first I knew about this and I haven't signed a contract or anything. Cheers, T

Hi all, I'm on Holiday at the moment and luckily I checked my email and saw a messgae from the auction solicitors on Tuesday (21st August) that a house we had at auction has been sold with completion yesterday! This seems really bizarre as I had not signed a contract of exchange and was being pressed to return the welcome pack and land registry transfer form. Today I have received an email saying that the buyer has: "now served notice to complete and in accordance with Condition G7 of the Auction Conditions (3rd Edition) you will now liable to pay a penalty for each day until you complete." Can anybody explain what on earth is going on - is this right and what can I do about it? I'm still on holiday returning to the UK on Sunday. Cheers, T

Thanks all, much appreciated and not surprised. That's why I'm not a lawyer! Cheers, T

My daughter parked for too long and received a penalty notice. She forgot to tell me as I am the owner, so after 28 days I received a "notice to the owner" demanding I pay the full £70. I think that I should be afforded the same rights as the driver who could pay 50% within 14 days (£35) I checked the applicable regs which are currently the "Civil Enforcement of Parking Contravention (England) General regulations 2007" to see if I could appeal and in particular I was looking for the point at which the owner is notified to make my case. This also meant I had to understand what exactly was meant by "owner" and the regs helpfully define this for you at the beginning as follows. “owner” in relation to a vehicle includes any person who falls to be treated as the owner of the vehicle by virtue of regulation 5(3); Now it seems to me that this is wrong 5(3) only refers to persons who hire vehicles, it should refer to 5(2) which then includes 5(3) as follows. 5(2) In a case not falling within paragraph (3), the penalty charge shall be payable by the person who was the owner of the vehicle involved in the contravention at the material time. 5(3) Where— (a) the vehicle is a mechanically propelled vehicle which was, at the material time, hired from a vehicle-hire firm under a hiring agreement; (b) the person hiring it had signed a statement of liability acknowledging his liability in respect of any penalty charge notice served in respect of any parking contravention involving the vehicle during the currency of the hiring agreement; and © in response to a notice to owner served on him, the owner of the vehicle made representations on the ground specified regulation 4(4)(d) of the Representations and Appeals Regulations and the enforcement authority accepted those representations,the penalty charge shall be payable by the person by whom the vehicle was hired and that person shall be treated as if he were the owner of the vehicle at the material time for the purposes of these Regulations. Note that the Representations and Appeals regs 4(4)d above also has the same reference back to the general regs 5(3) - and not 5(2). So my question for all the legal eagles is can the charge be applied since my daughter did not hire the vehicle? Also should my rights as the owner afford me the chance to pay 50%? All comments welcome, I'm sure 5(2) still applies and I'm stuffed either way, but it would be interesting to see where my analysis went wrong! I'll clarify my thoughts a little more: With respect to clause 5(2) my daughter nor I fall within 5(3) so the first part is true, however, the second part says that the charge is payable by "the person who was the owner" and "owner" is defined as 5(3) so strictly all applicable owners are persons who only hire vehicles. Crazy, no! I'm sure this will be blown out of the water - but interesting mistake I think! T

Hi all, A quick - update to say, well, nothing really - no more letters have arrived since the last post and so I assume they have simply given up. I'll post again if anything arrives - but it's been more than a month so hopefully that's that. A BIG thanks to the support from everyone who has posted and a special thanks to ericsbrother - cheers my friend, you helpful guidance has been much appreciated. All the best, T

Indeed, here is yet ANOTHER letter - this time a FORMAL LETTER OF CLAIM. And yet, just more ifs and maybes. T Parking Solicitor letter formal letter of claim Redacted.pdf

Thanks, much appreciated, I wasn't in any doubt that it was more trash talk. No doubt there will be a next instalment, and I'll post when it arrives... T

Thanks again ericsbrother, Now how about this:- Just received a "recommendation" to pass this on to a litigation department from their solicitor, and guess what, the costs have miraculously increased to £221! Comments much appreciated as usual. T Parking Solicitor Letter Redacted.pdf

Thanks dx100uk, Yes I noticed that, the phrasing is really quite bizarre, left me a little perplexed more than anything. If it was intended to frighten or bully then they missed the point entirely. I'll put this with the others and see what - if anything turns up next (probably "court action imminent - you could lose your job, house, kids, dog, cat, fish, marbles" or some such cobblers)... what a saga. T

As expected, here's the next letter arrived this morning threatening court action by ZZPS... and of course they take the opportunity to raise the bill by another £36 (what a surprise). Now who is taking who to court here - they seem to blanket assume that the RK is liable and as you say ericsbrother they have no grounds. I have the urge to write to them but is there any point? Cheers, TZZPS Threat 2 Redacted.pdf