My daughter bought a new flat, made by Barratt homes about 18 months ago. Last week she had a letter from some solicitors called FS Legal about a "Leasehold Action Group for your Development", essentially warning her of the potential problem of a ground rent clause which may make life difficult in the future. I have the agreement but can't work out if she has a problem or not. Does anyone know what to look for? who could point me in the right direction? Many thanks. Regards to all. Fred

Morning I have just been sent a letter asking for over £2000 in ground rent for my flat payable in 14 days otherwise they will pass it onto their solicitors and add fees and charges. Long story short. Management company changed hands a few times, I asked for an outstanding balance in August 2017. I now have whats outstanding some 6 months later. I have done some research and correct me if I am wrong but according to Section 166 of the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002 they must send me a letter in the correct format and allow me between 30 and 60 days to pay the arrears. I have already said that I can pay 2/3rds in a lump sum and the pay the remainder off plus my usual monthly payments which was declined. Am I correct in saying that because they did not request the arrears in the correct way and allow me 30 days to pay the balance that I can inform them of is near the end of 14 days. They are also claiming that they can charge me solicitors fees, which 3 years ago amounted to £1200 for a debt of £1700. This went to the Small Claims Court, the judge awarded costs but they decided to add on another £800 which I do not know what it is for. Dont these cost seem unreasonable. The case never went to court, if all the solicitors cost nearly as much as the debt. i have asked for copy invoices of the solicitors fees and well as documentation but the management company have refused this unless I pay the full outstanding balance.

The parking around here is all private property, and we all have permission to park here for free. There has been lots of works going on recently due to the bad quality of the buildings, so they've used cherry pickers to inspect the works, especially due to lack of fire protection. Today they needed to get into a bay that a van was parked in, in order to put a cherry picker there. They've used a loader and loaded the van onto a flat bed to move it away. And literally right now, I can see them getting ready to load another one. There is no prior notice to them needing access to these bays. They sometimes put barriers up the night before. Surely tampering with someone's vehicle like this is illegal? Apparently they've been moving lots of peoples vehicles without asking, or warnings. They've parked up for now.

Got keys to HA property in March - Within 10 days I noticed infestation of Wood Lice Wood Worm (didn't move in until April due to having flooring fitted and furniture delivered Reported to Housing officer 30th March who said that I am liable as I was now the tenant and if the wood lice were coming through a gap I was to block it up (messages kept) Explained that how could I possibly of known there was an infestation when I viewed the property back in January as viewing was very quick less than 5 mins and who goes around looking for Wood Lice, the same as when I got the keys in March. Explained that I wanted to get this sorted as I was having flooring and furniture delivered the following week prior to me actually moving in. I never received a reply Messaged again on 31st to ask if she had received my message again explaining I had furniture & flooring being delivered I never got a reply April 21st Received a reply saying she had spoken to the Rangers and they do not treat Wood Lice June had a Ranger turn up to clear some rubbish and apparently treat the wood lice infestation, on entering the property he said he was not prepared to treat as the problem was to bad and we were insitu and the chemicals are too dangerous. (The whole bungalow needs doing) Plus I have a son with Sensory problems Fast forward to July Has Surveyor around to inspect a wall, while he was here I told him about the Wood Lice and looked around the property and said the property should never of been let with this problem and that he would raise a job to get the work done the time scale was 6 weeks. He also said that I would have to move out while they treat the property. Nothing really happened nobody contacted me, I kept chasing to no avil. October I threatened legal action as I have not put flooring down in any other room other than the my sons and my bedroom due to waiting for the HA to sort the Wood Lice Kept being told that the surveyor had moved to another department and when I contacted him he said it was not his problem now as he was not in that department. Had another manager come around who didn't really say much other than it was still the Surveyors problem. Last week I called and basically told the HA I was going to go Legal as the Woodlice had been seen on my sons bed and enough was enough. I was told could I defer until the end of the week which I did. Now this manager called who said they are not responsible for removing/lifting my flooring. I politely told him the history and that I was not prepared to lift any flooring as this has been ongoing since March. I got a call yesterday (Sunday) asking to come around and inspect the severity. Of course I had to explain that there is flooring bla bla he got of the phone quickly and said he would speak to the manager I get another call today saying can a Carpenter come around and lift the floorboards in the bedroom and treat the infestation. My question is Am I liable to lift the flooring as I gave the HA a chance back in March and they knew full well I was having furniture and flooring fitted but failed to reply And its the whole bungalow not just one room. The flooring in my sons bedroom is stuck down as it is vinyl plus its obviously furninshed I have carpet and gripper rods in my bedroom and obviously its fully furnished My son has special needs too

I purchased a Leasehold property on 30 Oct 2014. Since then I have had no demand for ground rent until this morning. I have received 13 x 6 monthly demands for ground rent dating back to July 2011 totalling £975.00. All of the demands are stating that payment is due on 7 October 2017 so there is no suggestion that previous demands have been sent. I have yet to discuss this with the solicitor who undertook the conveyancing. Can anyone tell me the legal position with this?

My mum lives in a flat that has a communal garden (she has access from patio doors as do all the grd floor)' A few years ago she cleared a bit of unkempt ground near to her and erected a shed. She told the freeholder she had done this. They then started making all sorts of demands and requests for monies and said that they would not accept any ground rent until it was sorted out. My mum continued to pay the ground rent (was even sent a DD form by he management company) and is up to date. The shed has been subsequently removed. She is trying to remortgage and needs confirmation that the GR is up to date. The management company say they can't do this due to the dispute over the shed and requested photos to prove its not there. This was done nearly 2 weeks ago and all we hear from the management company is that they are chasing the freeholder. My question - regardless of the freeholder saying they will not accept the GR, the fact that it has always been paid on time, not returned and no communication has been received to say otherwise - Do they have any grounds not to confirm that the GR is up to date.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ban-on-women-in-ground-close-combat-roles-lifted

I have just received two letters from a solicitor acting for the freeholder of the flat. We are currently in arrears on the ground rent on our flat. It isn't a huge amount, £250. Unfortunately I have been off work due to disability for the last two years. First letter was dated 23rd March. It demanded payment of the account in full within 7 days. They also added £180 in admin fees for the landlord and a further £120 in legal fees for the solicitor. Second letter was dated 1st April. It says they have choice but to issue proceedings as they have not heard from us. They have added a further £69 bringing the total due to £619. They have now also contacted our mortgage lender as well. We only received both letters today. The reason being is that we collect our post from the local sorting office every few days. (We have had issues with post going missing in the building previously) This has caused a huge amount of distress and I wanted to figure out where I stood and the best course of action. I'm a little bit perturbed that they think they can issue a demand for full payment within 7 days of the date of the letter when that covers Easter. Should I contact the landlord on Monday or the solicitor? Some notes. We don't seem to have received any "final demand" or similar from the landlord. Also, the letter of the 23rd of March includes a latest statement dated the 22nd of March. We haven't received that from the landlord. The last contact from the landlord was an application for payment dated 27th November 2015 Looking back over things we had a "final reminder" dated October 2015.

On Friday I was extremely concerned about a thread on one of the ‘Beat the Bailiffs’ facebook sites that eventually led to the debtor being removed from his car and with many police in attendance. Background: The debtor (Tony) did not seek advice on the site. Instead, his brother Paul sought advice from the Social Media Site on his behalf. It would seem that ‘Tony’ had not paid a penalty charge notice and accordingly, a warrant of control was issued and passed to Marston Group to enforce. The bailiff attended the property early last Friday and after a short period of time, clamped his car. In ‘Paul’s’ initial post he called for ‘Boots on the Ground’ to attend the address (in Oldham, Lancashire). As is usual with the site, the full address and postcode were provided. One poster (John) spoke with Tony a number of times and reported back that he had advised him that: The warrant was not a legal document as it was not signed. Tony should stay in the car as his vehicle could not be removed while he is inside. and that: He should tell the bailiffs and police that "Wesley is just getting ready with a crew". (Wesley posted himself to confirm that he would be attending). Further alarming posts were made that indicated that the bailiffs would be attacked (for example: “law doesn’t matter, lets all go out and lynch the fxxxing bailiffs”). The situation esclated very quickly indeed and from reading the posts the indication was that many people were on their way to the address (in Oldham) with Wesley himself posting that ‘we have a Mexican standoff’. Further posts reported that about six police officer had arrived together with more bailiffs. In all, almost 400 posts were made on the site and yet....not one person bothered to ask any background information such as: Did he receive all the notices from the local authority? Did he appeal the penalty charge notice? Did he receive the Notice of Enforcement from Marston Group? Did he respond to outline a payment proposal? Instead, as is always the case with these sites, the suggestion made was to ....submit an Out of Time statutory declaration to the Traffic Enforcement Centre. One person exhibited a copy of the warrant of control and it was plain to see that the warrant was a legal document. Naturally, it did not require a court seal or a 'wet ink signature'. Telephone calls were made to the bailiff by an admin member of the Social Media Site (a lady with supposedly 30 years of legal experience) asking that the vehicle remain clamped until the Out of Time statutory declaration had been processed. Naturally, with the expectation of many more ‘supporters’ shortly arriving, the enforcement agent took the decision to remove the vehicle (by this time it had been clamped for over two hours). A tow truck was in attendance. The debtor was removed from the vehicle. Fortunately, for the bailiffs, the police and the debtor the 'Boots on the Ground' stunt was a complete failure.

I have a terraced house with a lease that is 999 years old in July this year I received a ground rent demand with additional admin charges totalling £198 I panicked and wasn't sure what to do I thought the extra admin charge was ludicrous and wrote back to them but receive no reply since then I have received additional ground rent demands and on 9 December received a letter from a firm of solicitors Landau and cohen demanding an extra £180 (£150 plus Vat) the ground rent demand is for the period 1/4/11-1/4/2015 which is £6 with fees added on top the bill now stands at £384 the letter is threatening possession of the property I am trying to get a copy of the lease from my solicitor or the land registry company Any help or advice is greatly appreciated

I am thinking of moving to a retirement flat. I currently receive Pension Savings Credit and Council Tax Benefit. If, when I move, I have the same capital and income would I be entitle to help with the ground rent and service charge? Also, I assume the if I did there would be limit to this or does it depend on the number of bedrooms? Thank you.

I am in the onerous position of having to deal with SIMARC who are the agents for my freeholder. I missed the payment of ground rent in January of £60:00, I have now received a demand for £120:00 which I believe is unreasonable. The only method of payment is via the SIMARC web site using credit or debit cards, neither of which I have access to at the moment. I have emailed SIMARC explaining the situation, but I cannot obtain a reply or any form of communication. They have also threatened further costs, if I do not pay the full amount within 14 days. Is there any further steps I could take? Regards

Hi, I'm a new user so hope I've started this thread in the right place !! I am planning on having an extension built on to my property and the plans have been passed by Stockport council. I emailed the Ground Rent company and informed them of the intention to extend. They replied to my email and asked me to forward copies of the plans which I did. There was no mention of "Admin Fees" in the email. Today I have received a letter from them stating "We wish to confirm that the fee in connection with considering the possibility of granting the consent is £600.00" This will take 10 working days and if I want to expedite sooner then a further £144.00 is required. How can they justify that kind of fee ? Their statement only says this is for "considering the possibility of granting consent" so they could just say No ! Help !! Thanks

I made a huge mistake earlier this year, and briefly considered moving to TalkTalk from Sky. My complants letter should make things clear: ==== Customer Relations Department TalkTalk Group P.O. Box 360 Southampton SO30 2NP 8th January 2013 Cancellation Number: XXXXXXXX Dear Sir / Madam I am writing in regard to the above cancellation to confirm it in writing as I have no confidence whatsoever in the ability of your telephone ‘helpdesk’ staff to follow simple verbal instructions. In a moment of madness we considered switching over to TalkTalk on Friday 4th January and placed an order for the broadband, phone and television product. This was quite straightforward. We then contacted Sky to instruct them that we were changing providers, only for them to come back with a significant price reduction that made us decide to stay with them. Calling TalkTalk to cancel the order - around 20 minutes after placing it - has been an infuriating process. Despite being given a cancellation number of XXXXXXXX, we were bombarded with SMS messages and emails informing us that the engineer would be visiting on two different days for various installations. As you charge a £70 fee for a missed installation we are naturally concerned that these unwanted installs had been booked after the order was cancelled. We were also assigned a phone number of XXXXX XXXXX. Trying to resolve the problem has been a complete nightmare. I have heard of the Infinite Monkey Theorem, in which it is speculated an infinite number of monkeys sitting at typewriters and hitting keys at random will eventually result in one of them producing the complete works of Shakespeare ~ I was however completely unaware that any company operated a helpdesk using the same policy until I encountered your aftersales team. It took three evenings of calls to hopefully cancel everything. One of the stumbling blocks was that unknown to us, the original helpdesk operator had only cancelled the TV package, resulting in an extensive round of being transferred, given over a directory worth of different 0870 numbers to ring, endlessly confirming details only for it all to be repeated to the slack-jawed halfwit that we got transferred to next before we managed to cancel everything else. We did call a fourth evening after we discovered a Direct Debit had been set-up at my bank (which I have since deleted via online banking) after we had been told everything was cancelled. This time we somehow managed to speak to a competent advisor as soon as we were connected, who stated the contract had been cancelled but it would ‘take a few days for the system to catch up with it.’ A few days for a computer system to update? Did someone forget to feed the hamster in the wheel that powers the I.T. department? Given the ineptitude of the previous advisors, would you please confirm in writing that the contract is dead. As I stated previously hopefully everything is cancelled ~ I’m rather reluctant to take their word for it, hence wanting written confirmation. Yours extremely happy we stayed with Sky, Unclebob48 PS - Just in case you only read this bit, please cancel the bloody order! And please feed the I.T. hamster. PPS - I sent this recorded delivery so we’ll know if any money is taken from my bank account afterwards. If it does, the Ombudsman will be all over you like a rash. Well, maybe. And karma will probably bite you on the arse too. ==== I did get a reply. ==== Dear Unclebob48 Thankyou for your recent letter. I am sorry you had to contact TalkTalk to resolve your complaint. My understanding of your complaint is as follows: You decided to place an order with TalkTalk for TV, Broadband and Calls, however after the order was placed you contacted your current provider to let them know you were leaving and you were offered a very competitive deal which you agreed to accept. However when you contacted TalkTalk to cancel your order the Customer Service agents were not clear as to when the order would be cancelled which resulted with you having to make numerous calls to TalkTalk to ensure the order had indeed been cancelled. I have checked the records on your account and I can confirm your TalkTalk order was cancelled in 10 January 2013. I fully appreciate the points raised in your letter and understand the obvious distress and inconvenience this matter has caused you. However, I would like to take this opportunity do(sic) confirm we care passionately about providing a first class service and it is always distressing to learn we have fallen short in that area. I am sorry that you feel we have failed you in that respect. If you would like to speak to me, my personal number is 0333 001 1938. Please feel free to contact me at any time. If I am not available, my answering service will record your message and I will pick it up as soon as I am next available. Yours sincerely Karen Fraser Manager, Chief Executives Officer ==== Fair enough, order should be cancelled, right? Wrong. I got a reminder text yesterday, informing me that the Engineer would be calling in on 07/02/2013 to install the phone and broadband. I ignored it, thinking it must just be an automated message sent in error. Today, the postie dropped off a TalkTalk Wireless Router. Naturally I am now waiting for a returned call from Karen, having already tried to explain the situation to a 'customer advisor' over a line so bad they were probably working from a call centre in Delhi. Sorry for the wall of text, needed to vent. TL;DR - TalkTalk do my head in.

We have received a demand on ground rent from a new company which owns by same shareholders of the landlord of our flat. The demand was chasing not only the yearly ground rent of GBP100 (which we paid yearly), and also the difference of inflation amount since the flat was built in 1995 - that is GBP830:mad2:. However we did not own the flat from 2004, we rejected to pay the amount for the period that we did not own the flat. We then wrote to them for dispute. The landlord did not response to us at all and later they sent the demand to our mortgage bank and requested the amount:-x. At the same time, we investigate about the landlord about the new company and find out that the original company (which we used to pay the ground rent) was strike off:???:. The directors of the orginal company bought a new company and request for the ground rent and the additional amount. Unfortunately, the mortgage bank paid the demand and claimed that they did not consider the dispute as a good enought for them not to pay. We then decided not to pay the ground rent anymore until a full explanation from the landlord. However, the landlord did not reply us and reject to send the demand to another address. Recently, we find out the new company is a dormant and plan to strike off again. We have following questions? 1) Is it legal for the landlord to transfer the freehold from one company to another company without notification to the leaseholder of the flat? 2) Can they collect the ground rent for the period that we did not own the flat (obviously it is unreasonable!!!) 3) Can the landlord refuse to send the ground rent demand note to another address? 4) Is it legal for the new company to collect the ground rent (the company is dormant and plan to strike off)? 5) We did not hear anything from the landlord since they sent us the GBP830 demand note on ground rent. What should we do? We are so miserable ... not to know what we should do. We want to sell flat , however, we have no clue whether it would affect our selling.

Hi, Can someone please help with this issue!!! I received a letter from my mortgage provider, stating that they had received a letter from my Ground rent company,showing that I was owing arrears for 2 years. The letter included various copies of the Ground rent company's correspondences to me. I never received any of these demands and on close inspection, noticed that all the letters had been sent to my previous address. I have previously been receiving letters from my Ground rent company at my current address and know that they in fact have my current address. They have now added charges to the amount owed because of a lack of communication from myself. I do not believe these charges to be warranted and would like some help with writing a letter to them stating this, and if there are any acts or laws that they are breaking by doing this. Thanks in advance.

In July last year the company we pay our ground rent to changed. I had happily been paying it monthly to the original company with no problems. So as soon as i learnt a new company would be taking it on i emailed them straight away to explain that i can only afford to pay it via monthly payments. I emailed them a few times with no response, and then at the beginning of Dec i received a pack detailing what i owed them for the remainder of last year and for this year. They said that i must pay them what i owe for 2012 by the 1st Jan 2013. Not having the money to pay what i owed in one go i again emailed them and said i would pay what i owed them plus 2013 payment via 12 monthly payments. I received a letter this week stating that i must pay everything that i owe them within 7 working days or face late payment fees of £45. So again i emailed them stressing i can only afford to pay via 12 monthly payments. I also payed this months payment as they had provided their bank details. So the next day i finally get the first email from them saying that this ground rent can only be payed off with one payment. So i wondering where i stand with this now? The previous company had no problems taking monthly payments, and i carnt afford to pay in one go so this is the only way i can do it All advice welcome???

I am looking to buy a 50% shared ownership of a house which has been repossessed. The amount is only small and I have the right in the lease to purchase the other 50% but here's the question- could I be responsible for any rent arrears in relation to the other 50% of the lease. It is highly likely that if they couldn't afford the mortgage then they couldn't afford the rent. There is no mention in the lease or in the sellers details.

Hi All, I am about to start the process of extending the lease on my flat (currently at 73 years). I am not sure whether to go down ther formal or informal route yet. Is there a difference in cost? If the cost is the same I think the formal route would be best as I get a longer lease and peppercorn ground rent. I don't have the valuation to extend the lease yet but I have made an inital enquiry and the Freeholder/landlord has recoommended extending to 99 years with a £250 a year ground rent. Is £250 a reasonable and standard ground rent for a converted 1 bed flat in Brighton? I have heard conflicting opinions from local extate agents. Some say £150 is more accurate. Any advice on the formal or informal route costs and ground rent would be very welcome. The Lease advisory service were a bit vague. Thanks Jay

Hi guys, I took out a loan with toothfairy finance almost a year ago for £100 and after being unable to pay on the agreed date due to a change in circumstances I have been threatened and mentally tortured by this company. I've tried emailing them countless times to work out some sort of payment plan but I get the generic response. I currently have no job as i have just finished college and i literally have no money so I cant even make token payments. Yesterday a ground collection Muscle Man from marshall hoares came to my door and tried to pressure me into repaying even after telling him I had no money. I have send 3 letters to toothfairy in the past stating that I would not accept a door visit but they just dont seem to listen. I live in Scotland and I was under the impression that the laws are different up here but they wont stop harassing me 7 calls a day, 2 letters a week and constant emails and now this. I appreciate any advice you can give I just want to know what my rights are or what i can do?

Can my landlord charge for administration on my ground rent demand ... I have a set ground rent of £25 per year .. I have a demand for £28.75 .. I dont mind paying the extra .. but is this within his rights? The demand is just for the ground rent .. also does he have to include a legal statement of my rights as a leaseholder, im sure what he has added is outdated, it reads 'for the purpose of the landlord & tenant act 1987 section 47/48 etc...