I moved into a property in October of 2006. I was signed up to a 12 month short assured tenancy. After that tenancy agreement finished I was still living in the house and paying rent but had no signed tenancy agreement. In May of this year I received a call from the Letting Agency notifying me of this fact and asking if I would come in and sign a new 12 month agreement which I was more than happy to do. Around a week after signing I received a letter from the Letting Agency saying that I owed them £145 for the renewal. This came as a complete shock as nothing had been mentioned to me. I called them immediately and was told that this was a standard charge and that I'd been notified of it when I had gone into the office to sign the tenancy agreement. I pointed out that if that was true then I'd have questioned the charge at the time or payed but was told that I had said I would pay at a later date(so not true). I refused to pay without getting some advice but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get through to the CAB. Eventually the letting agent told me that if I refused to pay they would issue me with notice to leave the property. I ended up paying but ensured that it was noted that I did this under duress and that I would be taking further legal advice to check whether this was legal. Should I have paid this?

Almost hitting the month point. Whaty do I do next? 1) Report them to FSA. 2) Can I take legal action to have the money they've obtained from me returned? 3) Can I take legal action to ensure they can't enforce this "debt"?

Received an offer today for 60%. Decided to phone Tommy McLean, told him I'd be rejecting the offer, that legal was going to start next Thursday unless he came up with something better and he's now offered me 90% as a final settlement with no clauses to stop me claiming in the future. He was very helpful and anyone that gets to this stage and is worried about going legal should perhaps think about calling him and making the same sort of play I accepted this as I need the money(moving house) and I can't be bothered going through the courts for the next 2 months like some have. Donation once the cash is in my account :o) Thanks to all who helped.

If you put a CCA in now rather than wait for them to contact you *if* it came to court action i assume it would look better to the judge that you were pro-activley trying to sort this out rather than ignoring it. Might go in your favour and mean you got the whole thing sorted rather than have it hanging over your head..just a thought.

Ask in writing for a copy of the CCA, their deed of assignment and a full and detailed statement of the account. Theres a letter template in the forum here and it'll cost you £1. They then have 12 working days to repsond(they probably won't or will resend another "account on hold letter". They then have a further calendar month to respond then you can go legal on them...come back in a month and 12 days and I'll tell you what I did next...I'm on day 2 of the calendar month and don't expect to recieve anything before the month is up. Then I'm going to look at going legal!!

LBA on it's way :o)

Okay so today is the last day before they have to adequatley respond to my CCA request. *When* they don't..whats my next step??

LOL...just had a phone call about this even though I've repeatedley told them to only write to me.(I want the paper trail) The woman that called asked for my date of birth to confirm id and I refused to give it unless she explained what it was about. She said she couldn't give me details till she confirmed my id. I then said I couldn't give her my personal details until I confirmed her id and asked for her date of birth, address including post-code and a telephone number to contact her on. She hung up *smirk*

I've only checked Experian and my credit file looks damn healthy, all green lights and smiles. The only bad thing I've noticed is that I'm not on the electoral roll which is something I need to get checked. Is there a big difference between them all then? Also re: the interest charges Crapquest are charging me. Is that legal??

Another question...I've looked at my credit record and there is no record of this debt or any other on there..is this normal??

Okay I've had back an acknowledgement letter stating my account is on hold for 28days. I also recieved another letter with my account balance and a list of the last 5 transactions on it, in no way a full and frank summary of my account. I added this line "I would also request a statement of my account detailing any outstanding balance and a summary of all payments which have been made." to the CCA letter. Can I reply back and re-iterate that I do require a full summary and would my right to that information come under the Data Protection Act which I think it would? Also according to the statement they're charging me interest on my account of almost 25% of the payments!! Something that was never revealed to me and another reason I want a full statement. Any advice??

Just a couple of quick questions to clarify. 1) I've had a sod-off letter. They replied within 4 days of my prelim request. Do I send my LBA now or wait till the 14 day deadline has expired? 2) The LBA seems to be set up for people that had no response. Do I amend it slightly to say something of the lines "Further to your letter dated 10th October in which you refuse to repay the illegal penalties you have been charging me I am making one further effort to solve this issue. I hope that it doesn not come to court action however..." Thoughts?

Recieved a "sod off" letter from the ever so famous Tommy McLean today. Will get the LBA sent off shortly

Have sent a CCA letter. Lets see what happens now...

Prelim going in the post tonight...£3000+. That'll teach the ******s not to extend my overdraft ;o)