Hi cerberusalert & unclebulgaria67, Firstly, thanks again for all your comments and advise. I got a call from my local Trading Standards after I had emailed them yesterday. According to Trading Standards this DCA should not be carrying out this activity as they are not licensed. Trading Standards said they will start an investigation into this company which may take some time. Will update this forum when I get anymore info from Trading Standards.

An update on my situation. Spoke to Citizens Advice bureau but they weren't much help as they had no experience with overseas debt. I also called OFT and they did a search on the DCA and told me that they do NOT hold a consumer credit licence but OFT were not able to provide any further info and said it was best to discuss this DCA with my local trading standards. I asked the OFT that if they are licensed then should they be able to sent out such threatening letters but OFT said they could not advise as they were not licensed by them. Can this really be true? I thought OFT would be able to deal with this matter as the DCA is a registered UK company and even if the debt being chased is in euros the DCA would need a licence before they can send out letters i the UK.[/size]

Hi Murfe, I am now facing a similar situation to you - being chased by a UK debt collection company called CommunityFees.com for spanish community fees. What's the latest with your situation? Thanks.

Hi Guys, I have made an appointment with my local Citizens Advice to get more help and will let you know what happens. It's been really good discussing my situation with you guys and your positive words have helped me a great deal. I really appreciate you all taking the time and effort to comment, it really does help.

Thanks again for your comments. I spoke to the National Debt Line who also gave a lot of assurance about the whole process and suggested that I work out an income and expenditure chart to see what I could afford to pay back each month and then contact the debt recovery company to see if they will accept that amount. They said that a EU debt can be enforced in the UK as we are a part of it. Anyway, I was thinking that maybe I should ask the debt collection company to provide me with a copy of the original agreement signed by me relating to the community fees - is this a good idea to start with?

Hi, Firstly, thanks 42man/unclebulgaria67 & ceberusalert, I appreciate your help and advice. I followed the link provided by 42man for the other reference to kettlewell for someone called ruby1 also being chased by them and that was as recent as July 2012.And it seems Kettlewell had persued ruby1 via the courts and also some solicitor in Spain had got the sheriffs office involved. This is all very worrying indeed as it seems Kettlewell have the authority to chase the debt and nothing can be done to stop them. I have received the final notice of payment from them so not sure what they will do next and when. I spoke to one of owners who still owns a villa on the resort and he said that a lot of current owner have stopped paying their community fees as the Urbanisation Committee have not been providing accounts on how they are spending the money collected from the owners. Other things like street light on the resort not working for 10months, problems with cracks in the walls and pavements: electricity boxes falling out of the walls, various part of the resort not being maintained, etc. How can someone go about challenging the amount of the debt? Is there anyway that an independent valuation of debt can be obtained? Is there anyway to stop Kettlewell progressing any further until an accurate breakdown of charges is provided?

Hi, I'm a new member to this forum so apologies if I have posted this in the wrong place. I have just received a letter from a UK company called communityfees.com based in North Yorkshire. The letter is headed Kettlewell Solutions Ltd. Basically, it relates to a Spanish property on a golfing resort that I bought in Dec 2003. However, due to financial difficulties and also the resort not being completed by the developer the whole site started to deteriorate over time. I tried to sell the property at less than half the original purchase price but it never got sold. I tried asking the local Spanish bank, with whom I had the mortgage with, for help but they were unhelpful. Then I started defaulting on the Spanish mortgage as it was becoming unaffordable. The bank then sent a valuation guy (2009/10) to visit the property but as I was in the UK, I got the cleaner to give the keys to the valuation guy so that he could enter the property to do the valuation. After which the keys were kept by the bank/valuation guy. Also, from about 2004 onwards the local communal areas were not being maintained yet I was sent invoices for communal charges. I kept arguing that I would pay only once they did the maintenance work for the communal area. But since 2009/10, I have not heard anything from the bank or the community people until today when I got a letter demanding payment of unpaid community charges along with various other charges like Spanish legal fees of around 3000euros and interest of 700euros, etc. Not sure how I should respond to this letter and also wanted to know if this company are legally authorised in the UK to do this sort of work? Any help is appreciated as I don't know what to do and am very worried about the whole mess that I have got myself into.