Hi, I'm afraid I have to go into a bit of slightly irrelevant history before I get to the point, so please bear with me! I own a freehold property that I bought in 2005 and currently rent out. I discovered two months after the property purchase completed, that although my property is freehold, there is a management company involved and a covenant in the Land Registry deeds. The management company refused to agree to the register of the title in my name, until I signed the covenant, so I had no option but to sign it. Around two years after I bought the house, the management company started to try and charge an annual maintenance fee, which I have disputed in full since they first contacted me, on two grounds - firstly that I signed the covenant under duress (although I am aware that is a case of 'caveat emptor' and it may be deemed that I should have been aware of what was in the deeds). The second ground is that the management company have not provided me with any tender documents or invoices for any work carried, despite repeated requests, and the management company's fees represent more than 50% of their annual expenditure. Despite the fact that I have disputed their invoices in writing on numerous occasions, they have passed the debt on to a third party, Property Debt Collection Ltd, who have disregarded, or failed to understand the nature of my dispute, and it is they who have now served the Notice in the thread title. They claim in the accompanying letter that they will commence possession proceedings if the amount remains unpaid; have added a £650 preparation fee to the outstanding sum (disproportionate for a two page Notice, surely?); and refer to an estate rentcharge, which I don't believe this is. They also state in the Notice that they intend to enter the property and take the income thereof. I have tried to research this Section of the Act online, but I am struggling to find out firstly whether this is even the correct Notice as the charges are estate management charges and not a rentcharge, or whether thay can take any action such as their threat to enter without a Court order? I have read of a charge being added to the mortgage under Section 123(4) but I don't want my mortgage company to pay a disputed debt. I would actually be happy to go to court as I would like the opportunity to put my defence! I should also comment that I work in residential lettings, so I am relatively familiar woth most legislation, but this is a new one on me! Any advice would be gratefully received.

Folks, I have started a petition on www.change.org to have section 136 of the act changed such that assignees of a debt can only charge a multiple of the price the paid for a debt , rather than the current practice of trying to recover the full amount, usually by frightening a hard pressed debtor into a financial arrangement he cannot afford. If you feel able to support my petition place go to the change.org website and sign. Title is Amend the 1925 Law of property act S136 Thanks