Hi to everyone, this is my first post here but I have been reading this forum for years and up till now have got most of what I needed by reading but this time I could do with a bit of help. Hi and sorry if this is in the wrong thread, I tried to look where to place it but this seemed the closest I could find. I own a freehold flat that was originally leasehold but I purchased the freehold several years ago. I pay a service charge to Warwick estates every 6 months A few years back I moved to live with my partner but still kept the flat and because of this I ended up forgetting to pay the service charge of £665.32 + reserve fund of £53.67. I was issued with a £90 admins fee and £72 claim fee. This I also missed because I was absent from the property. It was then sent to PDC and they slapped on an additional £180 referral fee. eThis I also missed as it escalated quite quickly and they put on another £250 instruction fee. At this point I did some reading on CAG and decided to pay Warwick estates directly via bank transfer which is my normal means of paying them. And paid everything apart from the £250 PDC instruction fee as I have no issue with paying my service charge and understand that by not doing so in time had incurred costs. This was in April 2018. I heard nothing and thought it done with until today I received a court claim of £2345 for the full amount including what I had already paid. This now includes an extra £840 PDC law additional costs £115 court fees and £80 solicitors fees issuing claim forms. I intend to challenge it and say I didn’t receive the last letter they sent me regarding the £250 PDC instruction fee and that I paid everything else to that date. But I am getting worried now. I hate these debt companies with their massively inflated costs and am seeking help with how I should proceed and whether I will be able to defend myself. Regards Leo

Hi all, I am new to this forum so please forgive any mistakes. I am having an awful experience with the above companies. It all started with a service charge debt.. not very old..was due in December 2017 in advance for months Jan/Feb/March/April. Hands up.. I can never afford to pay in advance but have always paid by the end quarter month. In April 2018 received a letter from Property Debt Collection for the service charge (which obviously had no quibble with) but they had added excessive fees. £250 for the Managing Agent to instruct them and £350.00 for their initial letter to me (which contained land registry entries which imo a bit premature at this stage). I offered to pay the Managing agents the service charge and they flatly refused to deal with me saying I could now only deal with Property Debt Collection. I tried to pay Property Debt Collection the service charge debt, plus £250 for the Managing agents fee (ok.. it was late so that's my fine), but only a reasonable fee for their letter of initially £10 which I increased to £50.00. They flatly refused this saying they do not take part payments. I offered them this on more than one occasion and also went back to the managing agents... no joy To cut a very long story a bit shorter, it was passed to PDC Law (obviously related) who have taken me to the County Count Money Claims. It has gone through the process and it seems that the Judge has entered that I pay them £833.20. This is a lot more than I expected to pay as I sent the court a part admission and defence and acknowledgement of service etc within the timescales. I also sent him all evidence of me trying to pay and the various parties refusing payment. So today at the last final hour I gave in and as the Judge instructed rang PDC to pay them the money of £833.20 as on the Judgement for Claiment . I was in total shock when they refused to take this payment from me. They said they had issued a Section 146 Notice, on the 5th October, which I have not received (I run a business from home and every piece of post is logged in), they also said they had sent one to the Building Society. I said sobeit but this is what the Judge has ordered. I literally begged them to take the money as I said it was the last day for payment and the CCJ could then not be lifted in the usual way apparently. It appeared they were blackmailing with this as they said it would be if I paid them a sum of £2308.15 !! I have informed the Court about their refusal who said this was unusual and asked me to send this in to them in writing. I so worried about this. .. I have been dealing with this for my son and it appears that I have go him into a whole lot of trouble. Can any help please??

Hello, Need some help with the above named company. We own our home on a "Freehold" - there is no mortgage on the property. It is in our name and we have no finance against the property. It is a house and stands on its own land detached. We live in an area that has a property management company who is named on the deeds and within the covenants. We moved into the property seven years ago from new build and there has never been a previous owner except of course the developer. Each year a company (various named companies) but the most recent called HML Guthrie has been invoicing for the service charges (or the part of, each property is due to pay - in our case £150.00 per year) but has always been in the wrong name - despite Land Registry having the correct property owners names since moving in. I personally have written to the actual maintenance company and advised them that it is in the incorrect name and it has never been changed. This has been done 3 times over the years and I still have the letters sent, each one referencing the previous dated ones, however, they have not been sent recorded delivery but it would be very odd for three to not reach their destinations and even more so, they had return address labels on them, 2 I am sure about. I advised the property maintenance company that until such time as they put the change in place they would not be paid as we would not pay on an account in the wrong name. It then got left and we haven't heard from them for around 3 years. Recently (two to three weeks back) we have received yet another letter in the wrong name but from HML Guthrie and then within a few days we received a demand for payment from PDC with a document to fill out asking for our bank details and mortgage numbers. Obviously we won't be doing that and we have no mortgage but seems they want to levy the charges against a mortgage, may be standard practice? I got in touch with PDC and advised them that it was in the wrong name and that HML Guthrie will also be advised. We then receive a letter from HML Guthrie with a request for payment on it for the back monies and extortionate charges (details below) in our name which they have acquired from Land Registry. 31/03/15 - £600.00 - Arrears 01/04/15 - £150.00 - Charge 01/04 - 31/03/16 10/02/16 - £96.00 - Arrears Collection Fee 14/07/16 - £150.00 - Charge 01/04 - 31/03/17 18/11/16 - £36.00 - Arrears Management Fee 21/03/17 - £150.00 - Charge - 01/04 - 31/03/18 30/03/17 - £180.00 - Instruction Fee 30/03/17 - £168.00 - Debt Collection Fee £1530.00 - Total All the charges were previously sent out in the wrong name. I have written to the Debt Collection people and advised them they will get no monies based on knowledge I have got from reading some posts here with DCA'. I have also asked HML Guthrie to provide proof of their right to collect the monies on behalf of the management company, such as an agreement showing they have such rights. They (HML) are not mentioned in the deeds but the management company is and we have no issue with paying the charge although we strongly deny owing them for previous charges when not in our names and certainly not the ridiculous charges they have levied onto the invoice for silly things such as arrears management fees and instruction fees etc... HML have failed and downright refused to provide proof of right to collect and at this point we refuse to pay monies to a company we have no real proof of who they are. It has been suggested to ask our neighbours but this is beyond us doing the work for them now. Obviously you will see the amount of frustration these people (for want of using a different word) have caused us. We are now being chased constantly by email, they don't have telephone details but they have been told to put everything in writing via Royal Mail. Can someone please offer some help and advice here. Surely they can't get away with this and there must be some way of stopping them?

Dear sir, Will be very grateful if you can help me regarding unreasonable charges levied against me for not paying service charge ,reserve fund and service charge deficit fees. I agreed to pay the original charge in 3 instalments which was agreed to by the management company HML Anderton in september 2017 . I failed to make the last 2 instalments which were due in february and march 2018 for 500 pounds and 490 pounds becaue I forgot . They claimed to have sent me a reminder letters which I never received. I have now received a letter from PDC property debt collection company dating 26 april 2018 with the following charges Service charge - 670.33 Reserve fund - 390 service charge deficit - 45.67 Reffereal fee - 300 managment fees - 96.00 PDC instruction fees - 240 PDC additional costs - 10 I called PDC to make payment of what I initial owed of service charge,reserve fund and service charge deficit which was 1106.00 but they refused and wanted a payment of 1751.90. Can please advice how I go about this . The letter sent to me includes 1. register of title 2. information sheet 3. reply form Have filled the reply form saying am only prepared to pay what i owe and need an explanation for unreasonable fees added. will appreciate the help Regards, Dennis

My daughter as never paid her service charge for the private estate she lives on after disputes over when the company RMG took over full responsibility and lack of work. After the debt built up she offered to do a repayment plan which they rejected. They then instructed PDC to recover the debt which they didn't. Now the outstanding charges amount to £378. They have now instructed PDC Law to take the matter to court. Which they have, and as a result they are asking for £378 in charges, £390 in admin fees and late payment fees ( for which she as never even had a contract explaining any such like ) and £840 in costs including £192 for the debt recovery agency. She as spoke to RMG and offered the full amount of £378 but they tell her she needs to speak with the debt recovery people as they are now handling the matter. Where does she go from here ? I think the charges are well inflated and if need be will try and defend them if it goes to court but she just wants a quick solution. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Hi all, I'm hoping I can get some help on this I have a property that is let out (with permission from my mortgage provider) while I have been working abroad. The mortgage provider has my correspondence address on file. The management company for my estate charges me an annual fee. I've been late paying this before so I signed up to their online account so I can track it online, which is easier for me. In September 2015, they emailed me saying that they were moving to a paperless solution and would be emailing invoices and other correspondence from October 2015. I did not receive an email and forgot about it until Jan 2017 when I got an email requesting payment for 2017 charges and promptly paid. I picked up my mail from my rented out property August 2017 (most of my mail is redirected but some slips through occasionally) to find a letter from my mortgage provider stating that a charge of approx £720 was added to my mortgage in respect of late rentcharges. This letter was dated June 2016 but they sent it to the address I have let and not my correspondence address so I did not get it at the time. I have received letters from them before and after this date to the correct address. I went back through more mail to find that PDC had sent me letters chasing the management company's invoice (that I did not receive). A quick summary (all these letters went to old address so I only got them in August 2017): early Feb 2016 - management company sent "final demand" letter for payment (not paperless!) (approx £150) late Feb 16 - PDC wrote asking for £370 and including a form asking me to authorise them to take it from my mortgage provider early March 16 - PDC wrote again asking for payment mid March 16 (10 days later) - PDC wrote again stating Section 121 and asking for payment of £720 to avoid legal proceedings. They sent this to my mortgage provider too late March 16 - Mortgage provider writes to me (at wrong address) saying PDC alleges arrears of £720 stating that they won't take action unless they get evidence that PDC can take forfeiture action early June 16 - Mortgage provider writes (to wrong address) to inform me that £720 has been added to my mortgage I called mortgage provider and they told me that PDC provided "evidence" of a CCJ against me in April 2016 and that is why they paid. I checked my credit file recently and no CCJ has been recorded. I also never received a letter from PDC after mid March. I've seen other posts about PDC on this forum but most people were able to stop action before they went to the mortgage company. I'm looking for advice on what I can do now to get those funds back from PDC. I have also filed a complaint against mortgage provider for not writing to my correct address.

Hi all on CAG, Sorry about the header, while it is not majority but it is still over 40% of the total! I am new to this forum and have been doing some reading for the past 2 days. I have been contacted by Property Debt Collection Limited (PDC) for 2 years worth of Property service charges on 2 accounts which amounted to around £3900! (a quarter of it was not owed by us but by the previous owner). However the total was taken to £6300 due to various charges (which means about £2400 or the charge is about 70% of the original debt was just extra charge!) Here are some of them listed out: Debt Referral Fee - £120 x 3 (it was charged twice on one of the account) court fees - £120 x 1, £95 x 1 Admin Fee - Late Payment: £30 x 2 PDC Fee- £150 x 2 Costs- £655.80 x 2 Solicitor Fee - £80 x 2 I am concerned the most about the "Costs" part (that's all they put on the statement) which amounts to £1310! My question is: are these charges legal or enforceable (from my reading so far, it seems no to most)? Any advice on what to do next as they are pressing for payment and threaten to get court judgement? Any help/recommendation is appreciated.

Dear All, After just finished dealing with the Identity Theft problems (my other thread) , here I am again, someone please help me... I own a flat and pay service charge always on time to the Managing Agent. The service charge period run from April to March. I notified the Managing Agent that I was working aborad by email. However, while I was abroad, the new Managing Agent was appointed in April 2013. And they sent me the service charge bills in advance for 01 April 2013 to 31 March 2014. They quickly transferred this to the DCA called Property Debt Colletion Ltd (PDC). Now that I am back in the UK, I saw the reminders and threatening letters so I immediately settled the full amount of service charge directly to the Managing Agent and apologised to them and explaining them that I was abroad and I always pay my service charge and ground rent in advance on time. However, they said, saying sorry is too late and I have to pay for the Arrears Collection Fees, Legal costs, and other DCA costs of £300. What I want to know is that this service charge is for the period April 2013 to March 2014. I settled the full amount in August 2013. Am I legally "Late" for payment?? Is it legal for them to charge me £300 extra costs, just for being late for a few months? I checked my Lease and it says as follows, honestly I dont understand the legal words, somebody please help me.. "In pursuance of the said agreement and in consideration of the payment by the Tenant to the Landlord of the Premium and of the Rent and of the convenants on the part of the Tenant hereinafter contained and on the part of the Tenant to be observed and performed the Landlord HEREBY DEMISES unto the Tenant the Demised Premises TOGETHER WITH the rights set out in the Second Schedule hereto but EXCEPTING AND RESERVING the rights set out in the Third Schedule hereto TO HOLD the same unto the Tenant for the Term SUBJECT TO all rights easements privileges restrictions covenants and stipulations of whatever nature affecting the Demised Premises so far as the same are subsisting and capable of being enforced and affect the Demised Premises YEILDING AND PAYING therefore the Rent in advance without any deduction whatsoever on 1st January in each year (the first such payment being a proportionate sum being due on and from the date hereof until 31st December next following) and by way of additional rent the Service Charge as herein provided Tenant's Covenants I To pay the Rent at the times and in the manner aforesaid"