My defense was submitted on on may 5th but the claimant asked for a judgement on 1st, so a judgement has been made against me (it took a lot longer to write the defense than I anticipated) . What are my options? 1. Pay the money and take them to court (court fee of £410) 2. To apply for judgment to be set aside (court fee £150) 3. do I have any other options? Thank you.

Hmmm Should I include it just in case ... couldn't hurt, could it ? Also It is hard to sell if there is no Freeholder / Head Leaseholder. How about the ground rent ? It was an interesting case tough ...

Thank you andydd, One thing they have ALREADY taken me to CC, so this is a defense, and 53% of the claim sum are legal fees and admin charges. The leas is a tripartite lease ... FH - Management Co and the leaseholder However, after I confronted their admin charges and refused to pay because of s47/s48 they stopped sending me demands for 6 months for that specific reason of s47/s48, and I do have the email communication between the agent and a director confirming that they now have the FH name and have instructed solicitors ... without contacting me I think you're right, I will write down what I think is unreasonable and ask to deduct that from the demand. Management fee (entire management fee), excessive gardening, secretarial and accounting, inspections (repeated asbestos), half the insurance, (I have obtained 3 times cheaper quote), reserve fund as they are using it for expensive and unnecessary repairs ... £300 costs, do you mean my research ? I wanted to ask for every single admin charge and legal fee to be returned as they where in breach of lease since day one, not counting the s47/s48 Regards ... a very tired leaseholder.

Dear forum members, I have prepared a defense and would be happy to hear your opinions and advise. Please click here to see it (a Google document) Thank you.

Thank you andydd, I'm doing my research and will post in a day or two. When writing the defense is there any specific language or way ... or should I just write and explain myself as I can ... (with all the evidence attached)

Thank you andydd, As far as I know the management company was formed with the development and was in charge from start. I admired the first claim and paid in full, the second one I send the response pack with an intend to defend, however my son was diagnosed with leukemia and I couldn't deal with the case, I remember waiting for the confirmation that the hearing will be in my city but that never came. Three time it has been added to my mortgage. During this time they where already in breach of the lease and there was no freeholder ( land registry did not know who was the freeholder). I will have a look again at the lease and post my findings here. Thank you again.

SabreSheep, Residents are shareholders of the management company which in it's turn has hired Countrywide to manage properties.

Dear mariner51, There was no freeholder up until last month, the original freeholder wen into administration in 1990 and the the Treasury solicitor has disclaimed the Crown's title of the property. now it's owned by council. They are legally obligated to do the repairs regardless of arrears (I learned it from Leasehold advisory service)

Hi honeybee13, Yes! Please ... Do I have to make a counter claim or just defend the claim? The claim court is in Northampton but I'm in Birmingham, should I contact the court to have it transferred to B-ham ? As far as I understand the County Court is no qualified to review the case, will they automatically referee it to Leasehold Valuation Tribunal ? Thank you.

Dear forum members, Countrywide have issued a court claim over a service charge arrears, legal fees and admin costs. I’m a leaseholder (over 14 years) in one of three block development and the property is managed by residents company who have hired Countrywide to manage the property. They manage properties so badly that and estate agent has recommended my friend not to buy in the development. I have refused to pay the service charge as the management company in in breach of lease and Countywide is in breach of its management obligations, in particular: 1. According to the lease Windows should be painted once every 3 years however they have not been painted for over 11 years, resulting in wood being rotten and irreparable. 2. The development had no freeholder since 1990 when the original freeholder went into administration (final dissolution 2010) and according to law, if the freeholders name is not on the service charge demand the bill is not payable, but in past they have charged several times for admin and legal fees in excess of 10K. When they tried to collect it from me last year, I told their solicitors, that there is no freeholder and they stopped sending me demands. I have an email from a director to countrywide saying that the freehold is sorted and now they can collect the service charge from me. 3. They are constantly ignoring my reports of problems. - The gutter of the roof is blocked and the escaping rainwater damaged the porch which is in verge of collapse due to rotting. ] - The rear big communal light is not working for a year (despite three repair bills for the same light when it was working) 4. Excessive and unjustified expenses such as: - During last year on light bulb replacements in communal areas alone Countrywide has spent £1,100 (there are not more than 45 communal lights) Buildings insurance has risen to £9,800 while quotes have been obtained for as low as £2,800 - In 2011 £4,500 has been paid to chartered surveyors for holding a tender to paint the windows (quote obtained was £70,000 for 40 apartments ) . Unnecessary expenses such as repeating Asbestos inspection, Out of Hours premiums, secretarial fees etc… - Overly expensive general repair bills. 5. Excessive management fees (I have obtained quotes from 3 different companies with the lowest quote of £40 They have taken the service charge from me in past by the following means County court 8 years ago (admitted and paid hence not disputed now) Four times added to the mortgage County court recent tried to defend but court was in another city and I could not attend nor transfer it to my city. My question is, can I claim back the following charges going back 5 (if not 5 then how many) years and what are my chances in leasehold tribunal. All administrative charges imposed by Countywide on me All legal charges including past court fees All charges from mortgage company for adding arrears to the mortgage 50% of service charge + 8% interest Any additional advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you Thegreenpimpernel, I drafted a contract, where I as a leaseholder gave the premisses to the LTD for use. This made the company responsible for business rates and not the leaseholder, myself. Tough council rep tried to find a way around it ... but no letters have been sent since. The issue is, that council knowingly that it's wrong is trying to get money. If anyone is in a similar circumstances, I recommend the above action to be taken. The council has no legal powers to enforce it, if the company in question is no longer trading and you have a contract in place.

As I understand the LAW the leaseholder is not responsible for the council tax, the occupier is. And the occupier was a limited company. Am I correct ?

Conniff, Thank you very much for grate info My Business rate was £7000 ... How can I calculate the rate I was supposed to pay? Can you put me into right direction?

When I called council they said I should write to them about this but it my not solve the problem.

Hello, I would appreciate any advice given on the following problem I have. A little background information. In June 2011 I opened a Limited Company and rented premisses (light industrial unit) to start a business. The lease was under my own name as the landlord would not make it on a name of a Limited Company (but it was OK on directors name). When I moved in the councils representative came along and took the details of the Limited company to send the bill to. I explained, and showed him that, I have not started trading and I will only start in 6 month time, at that time he told me that I don't have to pay for first 6 months and then would only pay %50 of the rateable value as a small business. I completed the form and sent it to the council. All correspondence with council was on the name of Limited Company. The address of the unit was also the registered address of the company. After 6 months the business still was not trading and it was likely it would never trade due to the nature of business and the current economy. By then we had spent all available money on research and development, which showed that the business was not going to succeed. We moved out and the company is now in liquidation. Today I received a letter from City Council at my HOME address demanding a business rate of £1803 for business premisses (period of 06/10/11 to 30/09/12) with a note "If not paid in 7 days it will be passed to a bailiff". What are my options? Should I just Ignore it as it's a Limited Companies liability? Thank you!