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Dear all, Thanks for the fantastic job of running this great forum. A friend of mine kindly referred this to me today. My situation (apologies for the length): In 2012 (sept) i urgently needed a set of my company accounts (ltd company) for Visa purposes so i spoke to an accountant and he said he would be able to help me. All i needed was 4 months (my company had already stopped trading st that point) of account statements he charged me £1100 and he said this included annual tax filing as well. There was no terms/condition of service was provided to me or signed, all these happened verbally (i made a bank transfer to his account). He did prepared the documents (though i had to review and suggest changes heavily), and i used the documents for my application which was successful. After around 11 months he send me an invoice of £800 for tax filing purposes and when i inquired he said this is the charge for annual tax filing 12/13 (my ltd company only operated for 6 months). I was very surprised the charge, informed him that this is not we discussed or agreed and my upfront payment should also cover the tax filing. There was no indication from his side about this charge and i was only aware when i received the invoice. And on top of this the charges are really high for filing (only filing, no invoices to customer or any other activities) for 6 months. But he was very adamant despite me offering him a goodwill payment of £100. He has now filed a claim (issued on 05/08/14), i have done the acknowledgement via MCOL and now need to file the defense. My key points are: 1. There was no clear terms of agreement provided by the service provider. 2. There was no clear breakdown of charges 3. I clearly mentioned him that my company was not operating anymore (so he knows that all he has to do is calculate 6 months worth of transactions for tax filing) 4. I have been prompt in paying him the agreed charges (paid him the £1100 straight away as a single payment). 4. Whatever charges he is claiming for the services he has provided is quite high (i checked with few other accountants and i was told that i should not cost more than £350 for just tax filing and my accountant is claiming £1900 in total). 5. I have been consistently in communication with the accountant and disputed this claim. does the above points makes a decent defense or do i need to think more? Also is there any stickies for 'how to put a good defense' I am very new to this and your valuable insights will help me to make my case. Thanks for your help! Regards, Vincent

Hi, I wonder if someone may be able to help please, this is my first post here, this post is a little long as I have tried to provide as much detail as possible. I used to rent my property which I solely own out via ABC Ltd, I entered into this contract for what I thought was a one year lease May 11-May 12 Part way through the lease I realised it would be better if I leased the property privately, so I served the relevant section 21 notice on the tenant to expire at the end of the 1 year fixed term lease. I advised ABC Ltd that following the end of the 1 year lease I would no longer be requiring their services, they confirmed this. I then entered into a business Investment arrangement with my girlfriend who works self-employed that in short says she can do whatever she wants with my property to generate revenue, in return she would cover all costs associated with the property (regardless of if the property was vacant or not etc) So if she chose she could be an agent if she so wished, the terms of the business arrangement are specific and were drafted by a legal firm to make sure they were sound. One of the terms of the Business investment is that the property owner will not receive any revenue for a period of 24 months during the initial period, however thereafter for the remaining period will receive increased revenue going forward. This allowed her to build up capital in the first 2 years of the deal and I don’t have to worry about the property at all as I have other things to look after for the next 2 years, a win win if you like. Prior to the end of my initial tenants lease under the Business Investment she elected to enter into a rental agreement with my former tenant, on all the paperwork she is the landlord, receives rent in her business account, deposit is held and registered in her name etc etc. 3 months later I receive an email from ABC Ltd who advise they have used a detective agency and that the tenant they introduced to the property is still in there and so they want their pound of flesh, renewal commission 9% plus VAT. I decline, the case is referred to the TPO yet they don’t seem to give a hoot and side with the ABC Ltd. Yesterday I received papers from the court as a defendant for the claim by ABC ltd for the lost renewal commission; however they have also listed my partner as a defendant also. So we have completed the acknowledge slips to send back to buy some time, I then spent all of yesterday preparing statements for her and myself, these have not been sent back yet, then I stumbled on this site and thought maybe I couldget some advice/steer and answers to a few questions please. 1.Only I entered and signed the terms with ABC ltd to rent my property out initially as the property was mine, so why have they listed my girlfriend as a defendant, can I have her removed or does she have to complete a full defence. I have done a draft one for her which states she is not a signatory on any of the claimants paper work, terms and conditions, lease agreement with initial tenant for the first year, or on their named statements etc and stated that all of this information is further discussed in my Defence document. It seems cheeky that they have listed her as a defendant when she has never had any dealings with them. 2. My partner is just that, we are not married and separate legal entities. 3. in my draft defence document I refer to: a) The terms signed with ABC Ltd have my signature on only, though in the names at the top for some reason at some point I have written her name too, don’t know why I ever did that, though she has signed nothing. b) The deposit protection certificate arranged by ABC Ltd has my name only on it. c) The lease agreement with ABC ltd only has my name on it d) The terms signed with ABC Ltd in May 2011 are a version which are improved following the OFT Foxtons court thing. e) I have written TBC - meaning "to be confirmed" and initialled alongside several sections to do with renewal commission as when I read them I was not happy with those terms, they state this doesn’t mean anything. f) The statements from ABC Ltd paying rent to client: Me (only) and landlord listed as me (only) g) Copies of communication stating no longer require services any longer etc all between me (only) and ABC Ltd. Post the initial tenancy in the draft bundle I have also included: h) A copy of the tenancy agreement between my girlfriend and the former tenant (she is landlord my name is not on any paperwork) i)copy of deposit protection certificate in her and former tenants name j)copy of the business Investment legally drafted by girlfriends solicitors which allows her to control my property k) Copy of bank statements from girlfriends business account which shows monies paid from former tenant to her business account (not me). I have then put some text in that states all the above clearly shows I was not the landlord or received any monies in the subsequent rental period (as per business investment I get nothing for first 24 months) so 9% of zero if it was deemed I was the landlord. Also ABC Ltd terms state they may charge renewal commission for up to 2 years following the initial lease. I have also stated that I do not believe they may pursue my girlfriend for monies under an agreement I entered into with ABC Ltd, she is a third party and has no arrangement with ABC Lts and has never had any business with them. I have drawn reference to the case of OFT V Foxtons which states that aparty may not purse a third part for renewal commission if the house is sold and that I believe this is similar, relying on a term to collect renewal commission from a third party. I have also stated that ABC Ltd is registered as a member of The Property Ombudsman of which their code of practice for letting agents :TPOS website letting agents code of conduct (I can’t post link won’t allow me as a new user) the version dated Aug-11 states: FairContracts 3iYour Terms of Business must be transparent in relation to client commitments.They must be written in plain and intelligible language and comply with other requirements of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.You should not use terms that may be deemed unfair, and consequently unenforceable, by virtue of the aboveRegulations. Your Terms of Business must not contain terms which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Code of Practice for Letting Agents. 3jYour Terms of Business must not include any terms requiring the client to paycommission where another agent or any other third party renews the tenancy of a property which you were previouslyinstructed to let; or which requires the client to pay commission in circumstances where the tenant agrees to purchasethe property. Now as I'm sure you can imagine all of those ads up to a significant volume along with all the exhibits/appendices. Should my initial defence be this thorough or simply a skeleton argument and then submit a more detailed defence when asked to supply documents later? I have also added at the end of my girlfriends’ statement/defence that all the above clearly demonstrates she should not be a party to the claim and thatI we feel she should be removed, can this happen? The other thing is I obviously would prefer this was allocated to small claims to control costs, the value is for £X000, (much less than £10k) but it should only be £X000 minus £1000 as the former tenant ended up moving out early anyway so they would be due less commission if we were found to be liable. (I guess their detective was on holiday that week). Also their calculation for interest is at a rate set out in some court scheme;wheras their terms talk about interest on overdue amounts would be at BOE baseplus 2%. So which interest calculation should they be using? I'm sorry it is so detailed and long and so many questions, any help and/oradvice greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance. ps Do you think the OFT would be interested in the case given their rulings on Foxtons, if so doesn anyone know who in the OFT dealt with this ? edit: sorry some words joined up together making difficult to read (dont know why)

Hi, I'm struggling to get my head around this for some reason. I have a PHR for the following matters to be decided: 1. Whether to strike out all or part of claim as it has no reasonable prospect of success. 2. To ascertain what is/are the claims. What the issues are in the claim - the matters in dispute the ET will decide. Whether any further information is required of either the claim or grounds for resistance. 3. To make such orders as appropriate for the hearing inc disclosure of relevant documents, preparation of sets of documents, preparation and exchange of witness statements. 4. Allocating time for hearing after consideration of the parties estimates of it's likely length and to fix date of hearing. 5. To make such other orders and directions to achieve an early and just conclusion of the proceedings. Lastly, to consider that some or all of any party's case has little or no reasonable prospect of success to make an order for up to a £1000 deposit. I have submitted ET1 for Disabilty discrimination, breach of implied mutual trust and confidence, failure to follow own grievance procedure/failure to hear new grievance, failure to make reasonable adjustments and support any return to work, protected disclosure. Although with the p/disclosure, I now think technically it was not made in good faith so will ask for it to be withdrawn - what's the best way to word it without rubbishing other claims? Respondent has said my claim is time barred, no disabilty exists, protected disclosure not made in good faith, lack of reasonable belief, no detriment and requested the PHR. They submitted a 28 page ET3. I've never been to an ET although have read up on them and no idea what to take with me to this PHR. Also, I remember a few posts on here stating do not resign while still been employed. Why? Would using test case be helpful for my claim at the PHR and where would I find the relevant ones? Any advice much appreciated.

I have sent in my esa50 five weeks ago. Just got a call today from a witheld number.They were saying my name and asked if I was that person, But the line was very poor I asked who they were but had to give up in the end as, The line was very poor. Do ATOS ring you from a witheld number.Or am I stressing for nothing thanks for your help.

Hi All Here is my predicament. We are expecting another baby in Sept and my wife will go on mat leave for approx 6 months. She is the main earner in the household so we are going to lose approx £1200 per month. Est income will be £2000 Est outgoings will be £2600 Outgoings include £900 of loans, credits cards and other finance. If I could 1/2 the payments I am making to these lenders in the short-term (6-12 months) and make a few cutbacks elsewhere, I think I could make the books balance. Finance includes the following: Private loan £20k @ £280 p/m Personal loan of £8k @ £230 p/m (halifax) 3x credit cards of £6k @ £140 p/m (halifax, barclaycard, vanquis) DFS @ £70 p/m Solicitor @ £100 p/m What I plan to do is write to all these creditors with an offer: Are they likely to listen and help? Is there any chance they might freeze interest? Would DFS try to reposes the sofa? Any other advice? I know this is going to affect my credit rating and quite frankly I would be glad of it. Finance people throw credit at me and I am not responsible enough (see above). The alternative is IVA or BR but I think as it's a short-term problem and we are homeowners, I should avoid that. I would be extremely grateful for any advice. Thanks Ryan