Hi hoping someone can help,

Today I received a court summons from Greenbelt group Limited

claiming 9 years worth of maintenance charges for green space land next to my home.

I moved into the property in early 2007, had no communication from these people until 2010.

They say that my title deeds state that I am owe them a share of money for the upkeep of grassy areas within my estate

where I live.

I have always disputed the charge and never paid them any money at all in the 9 years that I have lived at this address.

The green space directly next to my home is in a poor state ruined by the sporting activities from children in the area.

Greenbelt group (whom I have never seen on my estate) have not attempted to replace grassy areas and plants ruined by the kids activities thus I feel the charge is unjustified.

Would this debt be barred under time limitations?

I need to submit a defense and not sure whether to do so under time barred debt

or their failure to provide services that they charge for?

Has anyone had any experience with this company?

Thanking in advance for any advice

so what have you received...

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?428590-You-have-received-a-Claim-**ISSUED-IN-SCOTLAND**-What-you-need-to-do.

and yes they cant lump each year together

so outside of 5 yrs if you are resident & its a scottish court claim - those are extinquished..

thankyou for fast response!

Its a small claim, they charge around £200 per year and are claiming 9 years worth from me.

The claim

1. is about the court having jurisdiction in terms of rule 1 of schedule 8

2. Pursuers are proprietors of property benefited in terms of burdens under title of the defenders heritable property at....[MY ADDRESS].... registered in the land register of Scotland under Title number XXXXXXX

Between or around March 2007 and March 2015, conform to defenders instruction,

the pursuers supplied the defender with property management and land Maintance services.

Invoices specifying the services and charges provided to the defender

were sent to the defender on the dates shown in the statement of account supplied herewith.

The sun outstanding in terms of these services is £XXX.XX which is sum sought.

3. The defender has been requested to make payment but has refused or delayed to do so.

I wish to defend it,

I have never requested them to do any work at all and if they have been doing any work is certainly not upon my request,

the grass area next to my house is a mess with kids sports and certainly not maintained at all.

I just wasnt sure what to put in defense? Like i mean if it can be time barred .

not sure how i can write it professional to say that,

or do i say that i did not request them to do any work neither verbal or in writing as per their claim in point 2,

attach photos of evidence of poor upkeep of grounds near my house and additionally say that its also time barred?

thank you so much for your advice

you need to look at your deeds, terms, tenency argeement etc etc.

t find out if you are conracted to them to do the work..

you cant dispute the 'job' or lack of it they are doing

nor with hold payment 'because' its a mess etc etc.

however you most certainly can put them to strict proof that they sent you such invoices

and you are indeed indebted to them through whatever 'agreement'

their PoC is very vague

look at page 7

box 3

easiest way is to scan it

then XXX out what you dont want

leave clear or highlight

dispute the claim

intend to dispute the claim

then add

the pursuer is put to strict proof to supply copies of all invoices,

agreements, terms or any other paperwork they intend to rely upon

to enable a suitable defence, if necessary, to be entered by the defendant.

it is averred that part of the claim are statute barred under scottish Law

being outside of 5yrs and are thus extinquished

scan up their paperwork please

redact it all

and pop it ALl in ONE multipage word doc

as a PDF

follow the upload guide.

what is the return day please

Thank you so much. I need to look out my title deeds and have a look at exactly what it says there.

I received a threatening letter from them a few years ago but found a self help group page dedicated to this company by a home owner (cant seem to find that now) but he was challenging and encouraging others to challenge their activities something about unfair competition in the clause of the deeds?

My Return day is 20th May

I will go see if I can scan this claim just now, thank you so much

Hopefully this upload works ok

thank you so much

statement of claim.pdf

ok so plenty of time then

dont take what i am saying and doing as 100% correct

i'm not that good on legal stuff.

others will advise too

if i've got things wrong.

FWIW: thats a std statement ofclaim

with just std blanks filled in.

Go out and take photos of the green spaces they are supposed to be maintaining and aren't, a picture speaks a thousand words.

So they claim theyve sent invoices ? Did you get them ?

I would of though any invoice thats overs 5 years old is Statute Barred and not payable (there may be reasons for disputing the rest). But you dont mention this in your Defence reply ?

I assume Scottish courts have ability to strike out/summary judgment ?. If so you could use that to selectively strike out claims over 5 years old, if same as English system you could claim costs as its pre-allocation.

Thankyou all so much for the advice!.

im just not sure what to put in my defence because I don't want to get it completely wrong.

They have not attached any invoices to the statement of claim

they have only attached a summery statement with the 9 years worth of dates/fees for the year plus non payment fees.

There are around 300 houses on my estate so looks like they sending bills out of around 60k per year for this housing developments "maintenance of grass areas".

Im not sure how many of the neighbors pay though?

this is beginning to sound like a bit of spoofing exercise going on here

can you detail what their figures are [money wise]

time to go ask a few other neighbours if they've know anything

300 homes X say even £100 a year is £30k in their pocket

and you say for doing much to nothing too!!

this year the charge is £181.85 - the yearly charge over the past 9 years has varied between £165.14 and £205.84 but there is no invoice with any break down to justify what the cost is actually for, they just say "maintenance"

Hi

If you need to obtain a copy of your deeds please look at this Registers of Scotland link: https://www.ros.gov.uk/services/copy-deeds

(Please be aware that there will be a Fee involved to obtain a copy)

I also wonder if you are leasehold and Greenbelt are the Property Factors: https://www.greenbelt.co.uk/index.php/homepage/what-s-happening/244-greenbelt-group-is-now-a-registered-property-factor

Hi

 

I also wonder if you are leasehold and Greenbelt are the Property Factors: https://www.greenbelt.co.uk/index.php/homepage/what-s-happening/244-greenbelt-group-is-now-a-registered-property-factor

My property is not leasehold,

the housing developer sold off the grassy area burdens to greenbelt group ltd,

they charge homeowners a fee for alleged upkeep.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12467931.Greenbelt_apos_s_growing_problems/

I'm just not sure if I should just dispute on basis of time barred as per dx100uk advice

or if I should enclose photos of the poor maintenance etc as well as being time barred?

SOME of the sum is time barred

IMHO for the minute

put in as a suggested on the form 7

the rest can be for when you or IF you have to defend the case.

plenty of time to fluff it out.

however you have until the 20th so do not rush

let others have their say.

dx

So sorry to be a pain! im not failure with this procedure

Should I for now Fill in Box 3 with

*I intend to appear in court

*I intend to defend the action

Do I send this before I put in my defence statement or do I send it at the same time as the defene statement?

Sorry to ask so many questions I just dont want to get this wrong

thank your for all your help

look at my example in post 5.

no rush you have until the 20th

you do NOT need to file a defence yet.

Im starting to panic now....

I have read my deeds - a little complicated but yes it seems I am required to pay a share of upkeep of grass areas, I am so worried that I haven't sent back these forms yet

I want to do this asap, can I please just check that this is right before I submit it:

I Fill in Box 3 with

*I intend to appear in court or be represented on the calling date

*I intend to defend the action

*I attach a note of proposed defence /counterclaim

The pursuer is put to strict proof to supply copies of all invoices,

agreements, terms or any other paperwork they intend to rely upon

to enable a suitable defence, if necessary, to be entered by the defendant.

it is averred that part of the claim are statute barred under Scottish Law

being outside of 5yrs and are thus extinguished.

thank you so much for help

*I attach a note of proposed defence /counterclaim not yet

it is averred that part of the claim is statute barred under Scottish Law

being outside of 5yrs and are thus extinguished.

Sorry dx100uk I feel like im being totally stupid...

*I intend to appear in court or be represented on the calling date

*I intend to defend the action

ok got that bit

but when and where do i put this bit below? - I though that was the defence?

The pursuer is put to strict proof to supply copies of all invoices,

agreements, terms or any other paperwork they intend to rely upon

to enable a suitable defence, if necessary, to be entered by the defendant.

it is averred that part of the claim are statute barred under Scottish Law

being outside of 5yrs and are thus extinguished.

im sorry Im new to all of this thank you so much for all your help!

post 5 attachment

Ok, So i filled in exactly as attachment

*I intend to appear in court or be represented on the calling date

*I intend to defend the action

The pursuer is put to strict proof to supply copies of all invoices,

agreements, terms or any other paperwork they intend to rely upon

to enable a suitable defence, if necessary, to be entered by the defendant.

I submit this to the court by the return day.......

Will they reply to me or do I just turn up to court

and then the judge will ask them to provide the evidence for above?

at what point do I state the defence of:

it is averred that part of the claim is statute barred under Scottish Law

being outside of 5yrs and are thus extinguished.

Im sorry for the inconvenience, please be assured that I will be making a donation to the site for all your help, which I appreciate very much!

thanks again

Not a inconvenience at all jennyanydots ...please post if you are unsure of any aspect of the process.

Regards

Andy

what are your comms with your neighbours like?

are you aware if anyone else has gotten such claims???

you might find helping them helps you...

there are a couple of things that prick my mind here..........

firstly, general info...

yes you MUST attend on the day specified.

Scottish courts are somewhat more relaxed, for want of 'an' comparison to England.

to that end...you stick to what you have stated if asked anything at all.

if you WANT to add anything verbally

then you could intimate that you have never in all the years they claim you owe

you have NEVER received any invoices to your address

you could also intimate along the lines of

well some of these supposed invoices are outside of 5 yrs

so are time bared.

but play it by ear.

....

the sheriff will indicate your next hearing date

but order the pursuer to comply with you evidence request.

ok, Thank you,

I had a look at SCHEDULE 2 of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973

(Appropriate Dates for Certain Obligations for Purposes of Section 6)

which in my circumstances i think may not help me....

what are your thoughts?

I need to drop the reply tonight so court gets it tomorrow.

thanks again

well leave that bit out then

it can always be bought up at a hearing if it ever gets that far.

or it your actual defence.

what part of schedule 2 worries you.