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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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Council stopped taking DD, now issued summons!


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I pay our council tax by DD. On the form it gives a choice of 1st day of month, 15th or last day of month. I chose 1st day of month as my pay is in the bank from the day before so should be no problem. However, they took March payment for last year (they do this over 12 months, not the statutory 10) and then didn't take Aprils, and I now know, haven't taken Mays.

I received a letter saying that Aprils hadn't been paid, so I rang them up to get to the bottom of why, cosidering it's by DD. Lady at other end said that she was busy and couldn't answer my questions and would ring me back. She didn't ring back and 4 days later I have now received summons letter for 23rd June.

I've checked with my bank. They say the DD is still in place so I don't know why they haven't taken it. The bank say that they have not received a request for payment and if they had done then they would have paid it as there was sufficient in the account.

Council are now saying that I have to pay the whole year in one payment, which I cannot afford.

Can anyone help?

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the only thing to do is to go to court.

 

let me say that councils don't expect people to go to court and that when you turn up, you will probably find that there is no time listed for you because they expect to have almost a private audience in front of magistrates and go through several hundred files in the space of an hour or two.

 

You should write to the council now, recorded delivery and tell them that you will be in court to defend the matter. Send a copy of this letter to the court -- recorded delivery along with your own note, saying that you will be attending court to defend the matter and that you have let the council know.

 

See whether you can persuade the bank to let you have a letter saying that the direct debit is in place and that there is no reason that it wouldn't have been paid. You may have difficulty getting this letter from the bank but do your best.

 

Stop dealing with the council on the telephone unless you record of the calls. Actually, it is worth dealing with him on the phone because they will say all sorts of silly things. However you must record everything. If you don't record the calls then don't use the phone.

 

When you go to court go with your bank statements and any other evidence which shows that the money would be paid. Make a note right now about the telephone calls that you have had -- who said what to whom etc.

 

When you go to court be prepared to be knocked back in that they will say they didn't expect you to be there and there is insufficient time to hear you out. They will try to usher you off somewhere -- preferably out of the building. You should refuse to leave until they have promised to repay you your costs of attending the court.

 

If they will not give you a new date at which you will be heard plus a promise to pay your costs -- which you should get from them in writing, then go to see the clerk of the court. Even though the court may be in session and the clerk will be sitting in front of a magistrate, you should scribble out a legible note, go into the court and go up to the clerk and pass the note to him or her. Say that you want to complain to the magistrates that you have been brought here on the basis of the summons and now the council telling you that there is insufficient time and that you have to go home. Tell the clerk that you want this complaint to be given to the magistrate immediately so that they can express disapproval with the council and order some costs for appearing. Don't be greedy about the costs. Just ask for five pounds. It is hugely symbolic if you can get this.

 

Hopefully, you will embarrass the council into actually listening to you instead of just processing you -- and that is what you want.

 

Get them promise you another date. They won't be able to give you a date there and then I'd get the name and telephone number of somebody that you can speak to and you will actually listen to you.

 

Finally you will have to keep phoning to make sure that they haven't "forgotten" to write to you and then later on you find that you have a judgement against you because you didn't attend.

 

Dealing with councils is a nightmare. They are out of control. They are in betrayal of their own principles and their own duties towards their constituents. They tend to treat all of their constituents as enemies and they tend to consider themselves as being under siege.

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