Hello, Santander have been messing about since April and have today replied to say they are not legally obliged to hold a copy of the default notice - can anyone confirm/deny? Thank you for any assistance.

Hi, am very keen to get some opinions on this so will try and set out all the facts as clearly as possible. We purchased a flat (bottom in a block of 3), leasehold, in April 2005. At the time quotes for roof repairs had been sent out to the owners and an amount of £2k requested. The sellers lodged £2k for their share for the sale to be able to proceed. The sale completed. At some point in 05/06 the freehold changed hands. In late 2006 nothing more had been heard of regarding the roof repairs so we requested the monies back, and the managing agent refunded it to us. Around April 2007 the managing agent sent us a bill for £4.5k service charges for roof repairs. The new freehold landlord (he has a building company) had carried out the repairs. This firm was not the firm originally featured in the quotes sent out to the previous owners (they passed on all their paperwork). At no point were we given a quote by him, we were not offered to inspect the works, or given the opportunity to get our own quotes. As a result we refused to pay. They threatened legal action. The demands we received did not display the requisite info (landlords name and address for example) per the landlord and tenant act. We offered to meet with the managing agent and/or landlord, they ignored all correspondence. The freehold landlord had a solicitor threaten action against us late 07/early 08, they were very assertive, but did not offer all the info required by law, would not answer questions we went back to them with, and after about 3 months they disappeared. We did offer to pay the max £250 the landlord can claim (found the info on the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal site), but they did not respond. Last week our mortgage lender wrote stating the managing agent had written asking for them to pay the £4.5k on our behalf. They said they would not cough up unless we asked them to, or the managing agent proved we legally owed the money. We wrote back (copying the managing agent) stating the monies are not due. We lodged a complaint yesterday with the RICS (Chartered Surveyors) as we believe the managing agent to be acting unscrupulously and they display the logo on all their letters to us. We want to sell the flat. The agent is one of the reasons why! We believe we will have to take the landlord to the LVT and obtain a ruling that he is in breach and we only owe the £250.00. Then we pay that and we shouldn't have a problem should we try and sell. I will of course go and investigate the LVT process, but first of all - is there anything we can do (faster/easier) I have missed? Are we even correct in believing we are in the right and we are only obliged to pay the £250? Many thanks for any help. DS.

Hi again folks, just to confirm that they wrote back (I recorded delivery and emailed the letter) and confirmed receipt on 21 November. I have received nothing from them since. I'll sit and wait and come back if I need more help, but I am so grateful just to have got the meatheads off my back. I have never heard a posher-speaking thug in my life! Thanks again.

Many Thanks, I will do this immediately. The 'bailiff' says I will receive nothing in writing from Lewis Group now as he has the account not them, am I okay just to send this letter to their head office per their website? I have no address of the debt collector so I assume that's my only option. Thanks so much.

Hi, I really need a hand and will include as much as I can think of: Bought a camcorder in '04, and both me and hubby were POSITIVE we paid it off (during the interest free period) the month we moved in April 2005. But typically we can find no paperwork. Got something from GE early this year, and I replied asking for info but they said they could not help. I generally prefer to do anything like this in writing but I spoke to them at length on the phone, explained I really needed a statement, they said they had not contacted me for at least 18 months and would call me back on a given day and time with the info. I did not hear from them. So Viking debt collection contacted me and I was concerned at this, this was around July this year. I rang them and they were of no help at all and told me to go back to GE who refused to deal with me saying my account (with them) was now closed. No Lewis Group (and the most obnoxious man I have ever dealt with) are chasing me. When I got the first letter I wrote to them explaining the situation. No reply. I re-sent the original letter, no reply. Now a debt collector is putting notes through my door. It's REALLY hard to call during the day and I could not get through to him prior to 9am or after 6, or the days I was able to try and call. I left a voicemail for him explaining I had tried for months to get the relevant info and resolve things, and asked if he could help me to get the info. He kept putting notes through the door, or called for me weekends when I was out. It has really peed off my husband who gets disturbed because he works shifts. Today my husband rung the number on the most recent card, the debt collector intimidated I had large amounts of debt I had not told my husband about (the entire item was approx £250-300 originally!) which is rubbish and I have never had debt problems before. I can absolutely afford to pay the amount, IF I owe it and I believe I do not. The debt collector told my husband he would get the police to accompany him to force me to speak to him, I could lose my job, the court will pass judgement against me and there is nothing at all I can do about it. I rang the guy, explained the position again and he said he had no details except the date the credit agreement began, and it would be against data protection to discuss the account with me. In the end he said he would send the debt back with the advice to go for a CCJ and I said 'Good!' as by this time I was livid at his bully tactics and refusal to let me even get one sentence out. He then rung my husband back to tell him how awkward I was and that he would be issuing a 5 day final notice (this after asking me for permission to discuss the debt with my hubby and me refusing permission - not because I have anything to hide but because if the guy can't get info to help ME sort it, then there's nothing in the world my husband can do). This week I have emailed and posted the previous correspondence to Lewis Group, but have recieved nothing back. I do not want to risk any CCJ against me and I know this is already affecting my credit rating, please could someone let me know my best course of action now? Thanks for anything.