Hi All -

For those of you who have not read my issue, here is a history on another thread:

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?485667-Got-CCJ-due-to-council-and-bank-blunder!!-what-compo-should-i-ask-for&p=5116746#post5116746

In a nutshell:

- own a rental property in another London borough to where I live

- council initiated CCJ proceedings for non payment of Service Charges (payments were being made but without a reference, so monies could not be allocated to SC account)

- council's solicitors were sending court paperwork to rental property, and not correspondence, despite council providing correspondence address

- CCJ issued

- Council solicitors have taken the responsibility to remove CCJ at no cost to me

- in their draft order to remove CCJ, the solicitors were giving false info in their statement of truth section. AND still continued to send paperwork to rental property, despite having correct correspondence address.

There have been invaluable help on this forum, so any help with this would be greatly appreciated. BF I know you mentioned suing them for negligence - could this be something we look at whilst waiting for SAR's from bank and council?

Many thanks in advance,

Jay

I would wait for the SAR. There's no rush and there's no harm in making sure that you have got all the information possible.

Hi All -

 

For those of you who have not read my issue, here is a history on another thread:

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?485667-Got-CCJ-due-to-council-and-bank-blunder!!-what-compo-should-i-ask-for&p=5116746#post5116746

 

In a nutshell:

- own a rental property in another London borough to where I live

- council initiated CCJ proceedings for non payment of Service Charges (payments were being made but without a reference, so monies could not be allocated to SC account)

- council's solicitors were sending court paperwork to rental property, and not correspondence, despite council providing correspondence address

- CCJ issued

- Council solicitors have taken the responsibility to remove CCJ at no cost to me

- in their draft order to remove CCJ, the solicitors were giving false info in their statement of truth section. AND still continued to send paperwork to rental property, despite having correct correspondence address.

 

There have been invaluable help on this forum, so any help with this would be greatly appreciated. BF I know you mentioned suing them for negligence - could this be something we look at whilst waiting for SAR's from bank and council?

 

Many thanks in advance,

Jay

Are you the solicitors client?

If not, you cannot complain to the SRA or sue them for negligence.

Why do you think that service at the rental address is not good service?

Sorry, you are wrong. You can sue them for negligence.

You're quite right that you can't use the SRA – or the legal ombudsman. I think I may have said elsewhere that you could complain to the SRA – but that was wrong.

Hello Ganymede,

I am not I'm afraid, its the councils solicitors. So SRA is out of the question? But I am sure we can sue for negligence...

Not good service because I do not live there, all other mails are directed to correspondence address. I visit the property probably once a year... council had my correspondence address, they admitted passing this onto the solicitors, so why did the solicitors fail in serving at the wrong address - not once, but twice?

Because they are negligent

To bring a claim under negligence (any type of claim, clinical, professional etc) you have to show:

1: the Def had a duty of care towards you

2: they breached this duty of care

3: because of the breach (i.e. causation)

4: you suffered a loss.

If you want to sue someone else's solicitor, you will have to show they had a duty of care towards you, it will be a much harder burden to prove (if you are their client it is automatically assumed). I have never litigated against someone else's solicitor for prof neg before (although i will try and ask around as it may be just uncommon).

Even if you prove 1 and 2, you need to show a quantifiable amount for 3 and 4. Have you suffered any financial loss because of this? If you were purchasing a house for example, can you show that you were in talks with the estate agent or that you had put an offer in etc and then it was declined and prove you had an adequate deposit etc.? It may not be enough to state you were thinking about buying something.

If the council maintain that they had given my correspondence address, then they would also be liable under DPA because they have not handled my data appropriately. It was definitely not my last known address or usual address.

Hello BF and CAG Community

I have received the council's solicitors GDPR request.

What was interesting was that, the referral made by the council to the solicitors had my correct correspondence address, along with the address of property in question. This was provided to me by a referral document.

Another document was sent to me that the solicitors use to input data into their database. Interestingly, both the correspondence and property address were the same (both listed my rental property). An email attachment was sent between TH and J&P, where the solicitors admit that they had messed up.

I do not know whether this helps my case, but can I complain to the SRA? And/or take legal action against the solicitors? Any thoughts on the matter would be great,

" but can I complain to the SRA? "

See post #3 above..you are not their client....possibly the Legal Ombudman?

Andy

I agree you need to read post#3

I am in a not so similar scenario with my Housing Association to do with both a Paralegal & Solicitor.

As with your scenario is Council and mine is Housing Association the similarity is they will be using in-house Solicitors to carryout there legal work for them so they are working for the Council/Housing Association therefore there Client is Council/Housing Association.

So in your scenario as the Solicitors Client is the Council it is the Council you take action against.

What I find strange is the Council passed the GDPRicon request to the Solicitors? (could you clarify what you actually requested in your GDPRicon to the Council)

TIP: As this is a Council

1. If they mention Legislation/Regulation. (how do you know what it states ask then to provide either a copy of it or a website link to it)

2. Has the Council followed it's own Policies and Procedures. (how do you know if they have you need to ask them to provide copies of the polices and procedures used in your case from start to date. (you then slowly read them thinking to yourself 'did they do that' if not highlight/mark it and use it against them)).

Hello!

Sorr, to clarify - I wrote to the council's solicitors directly, under GDPR. I also sent a SEPARATE request to the council.

The request I sent was using the template on this forum, only adding the following at the beginning:

****START****

Under the subject access provisions of the Data Protection Act, please supply me with details of how my personal data was managed while in your care.

In particular I am looking for a copy of the data originally provided to you by Tower Hamlets council in or before early 2017, prior to commencement of CCJ proceedings, and any subsequent updates supplied by them, including, but not limited to, all of my contact details such as address information. This also includes the correspondence updating my correspondence address when applying for a set aside.

I also require details of any subsequent processing of this personal data, including, but not limited to, its storage within your systems, how, when and by whom it was updated, and its use for correspondence with myself and any third parties such as courts.

Please ensure that all actions relating to this data are date stamped accurately.

While I understand that certain correspondence between yourselves and Tower Hamlets council may be subject to legal professional privilege, I would ask that any such privileged data not directly relating to the supply of address details be redacted rather than suppressing the correspondence in its entirety.

There is no applicable fee for this data disclosure – unless you feel that my request is manifestly unfounded, excessive or repetitive – in which case you have a duty to let me know without any delay.

****END****

The solicitors's response was the following:

****START****

I’m writing to provide you with the additional information you requested from us, following your initial subject access request, received 29th March 2018.

I believe we have responded to most of your questions surrounding the use of your personal data, but please allow me to address the specific questions you asked in your most recent communication:

• Other than with the courts, when applying for and setting aside the county court judgement, your data has not been shared with any third party.

• No automatic decisions have been made with your information.

• Your details have not been used to categorise or profile you in any way.

• Your information is stored and processed primarily on our database, Visualfiles. Initial information provided by our client is stored on a secure, internal server with access restricted to the relevant team and senior management.

Further information regarding the processing of information can be found on our privacy policy here.

Attached are the additional document you have requested:

• Original Data provided by Tower Hamlets

• Our ‘Gateway’ form. We use this form to upload your data onto our internal database.

• Additional communication between our Client, Tower Hamlets, and us, specifically regarding notification of an incorrect address and follow up activity.

****END****

I sent an email today asking for when TH made the referral to solicitors, looking back at email thread, TH referred my case on 27th March 2017. Yet when I asked solicitors, they emailed back this morning stating case was referred to them on 3rd May 2017! This keeps getting better and better...

Can I go to the legal ombudsman? Before doing so, do I need to exhaust solicitors complaints procedure even though I am not the client...?

Thanks in advance.

Jay

Hi

You really need to read my post#11.

The Solicitors were the Councils Client not your's so it is the Council you need to take any action against

Have you made a Formal Complaint to the Council about this and exhausted there complaint procedure?

Understand how your council works: https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/make-a-complaint

Complain about your council: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-your-council

Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman -How to Complain : https://www.lgo.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Hi

 

You really need to read my post#11.

 

The Solicitors were the Councils Client not your's so it is the Council you need to take any action against

 

Have you made a Formal Complaint to the Council about this and exhausted there complaint procedure?

 

Understand how your council works: https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/make-a-complaint

 

Complain about your council: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-your-council

 

Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman -How to Complain : https://www.lgo.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Hello!

Yes I have read your post #11. I was just merely asking about where I stand with these idiots.

Anyway, council internal complaints procedure exhausted, and have now contacted ombudsman about tower hamlets.

I was just thinking of getting a GDPR request through solicitors to see who messed up the address, which clearly is the solicitors...who aren't my client unfortunately.

How do I go about about taking action against council (other than ombudsman route)?

Can I also contact ICO because solicitors handled my data incorrectly despite council giving the correct details?

Again, these are just thinking out loud questions, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jay