Breach of contract caravan storage/service costs

[Angel104]

First I will appologise if this post gets a bit long.

Basically we had our caravan stored at a storage site we pay £33 a month. Middle of august they sent us a letter saying that they now offer caravan servicing and to contact them if we were interested- which we did and got the caravan serviced. We asked how much the bill was and they said it would be sent out in due course. 10th september we went away for 1 week in the caravan- when we came back we could not access the site with our swipe card we saw a lady at the site who said the card had been cancelled because we had not paid for the service- we explained we had not had the bill and that the service was seperate as they were still getting the storage payments she said we would have to sort it out on the monday. We took the caravan home and we were then forced to store it elsewhere as our landlord told us to move it. We did not receive the bill for the service until 20th september and paid it. As we took the caravan elsewhere we cancelled the direct debit to the other people.

Now we have had a letter from a firm of solicitors saying that they are taking action for breach of contract because we are still liable for the storage payments for the next 9 months. Does anyone know that if they stopped us access if this would have terminated the contract.

[Edz11]

The solicitor may have a heard a different story. "they just took their caravan away and stopped paying". So he reads it as breach of contract by you.

 

You need to reply.

 

I would say that you had a contract for the storage of your caravan and that the payments were up to date at 15 August. This is when you returned with the caravan and tried to use the site you had already paid for.

 

Tell them that you were denied access and told that your right to use the site had been withdrawn - because of a mythical bill that hadn't been paid. Point out that you had not broken the terms and conditions of usage and payments were up to date. Tell them that the site owner unilaterally terminated the contract and that you had to make other arrangements for storage. Tell them you consider that the breach of contract was made by the site owner and that they are liable to damages for breach of that contract.

 

If you've any legitimate costs I'd list and total them up and ask for payment.

 

Why this? Well the Solicitor will have said "we can bang a letter out for £50 - that usually works". But you need to put them on notice that it is not a straightforward case and it will be defended. The Solicitor will go back to their client and say "is it worth it?". I think you'll find the answer he gets back is "no".

[pt2537]

it is truely difficult to advise on this, as Edz11 says there is a potential Breach of Contract by the site owners. however, if i were advising you as a legal rep, the first thing i would need to look at is the contract between parties and would also need to know what express terms were agreed at the time the contract was entered into, lets not forget that verbal terms are as binding as written one.

 

Damages may be recovered for Breach of contract but they would need to be clearly quantifiable and the case of Hadley and Baxendale which established that where damages are too remote they cannot be reclaimed so this would need to be considered also.

 

to be honest, you would be better served by going to speak to a local solicitor, many offer a free 30 minute consultation and would give you an idea of your chances of succcesss with this

 

Regards

paul

[tomterm8]

I tend to agree with paul on this matter. I also suspect a simple letter from a soliciter is very likely to resolve the matter without court action.

[sequenci]

my interpretation would be that the contract for the storage is seperate from the contract for the servicing so the owners would have been wrong to have stopped your access, in my humble opinion they have breached the original contract. i'm only a layperson with limited knowledge in this area but that is how i read it.

[pt2537]

its how it appears sequenci but then again that is based upon what we have been told, without the contract in front of us it is very hard to make an informed judgment. you really need to see the terms of the contract before you can be sure of a breach of the contract

 

thats my view anyway

 

Regards

paul

[sequenci]

for sure, i guess these sort of contracts would have no regular form and content.

[setmefree]

If the contract is to store your caravan on their land, then i cannot see how a seperate bill for maintaining your caravan can be used as their defence,they have refused you access to your storage point.

Also if it did go to court i'm sure the Judge would be looking at the contract for the terms and conditions of maintaining your caravan as well as storage.

[Angel104]

Thanks everyone I am seeing a solicitor on monday.

[pt2537]

Good luck Angel104

 

im sure you will have a good case, but with this sort of issue where contract law can be a bit of a minefield its best to seek the guidance of a solicitor even if its a free 30 min consultation to see how good your case is

 

the thing is you will be able to present all the documents to the solicitor and also you will be able to tell him or her the info he will need to consider the contract and if the other party has breached it

 

 

I hope everything turns out well for you, if you need any advice please ask us, we will help where we can

 

Kind Regards

 

Paul

[Edz11]

I was trying to avoid a solicitor's costs. I'd have sent off a letter along my terms and if it provoked a response that required further action THEN I would have gone to Messrs Sue, Grabbitt and Runne. Why pay £50 (or more) to send a letter that Angel104 could do herself. The idea was to keep it nice and low key so that they site owner realises that it isn't a simple case and so leaves Angel104 alone.

[pt2537]

Hi Edz11,

 

i mean no disrespect but you are assuming that this is as straight forward. i have suggested that Angel104 lays out all the information in front of a solicitor as it concerns me that where contractual issues give rise to a dispute we must be in full possesion of ALL the facts before we can say yes they have breached the contract!!

 

all we have are very small snipets of information, we are not in possesion of the contract between parties nor are we aware of the express terms agreed at the formation of the contract.

 

a solicitor will offer free 30 min consultation, this will give angel104 the chance to have all the facts assesed and it will then give a better idea of where they stand.

 

Angel104 doesnt have to go with the solicitor to take the case on but it will give her the chance to have it looked at by a legally qualified person

 

Kind Regards

 

Paul

[Edz11]

No, we're in total agreement. Contract law is is more than a little complicated. Your "half hour free" sounds the right approach but as you know yourself you have to get the right Solicitor to get the right advice. It's all down to contract and terms.

 

I just speak from lots of experience in using them that you tend not to get a sensible response in the half hour - I'D want to go away and think about things if I was a Solicitor! Just trying to avoid them having a bill of any description.

[Angel104]

Yesterday we went to a solicitor- he went over everything and said they have no case against us for breach of contract in fact he said we have a case against them. He is now going to write to them and put them straight.

[pt2537]

Hi Angel104

 

GREAT NEWS

 

im pleased that this is the case. as i said contract claims are notoriously difficult to advise on without being in full possesion of all the facts surrounding the creation of the contract, we must also remember in contract, verbal agreements are as binding as written

 

if you are happy for the solicitor to handle the case then thats fine as his costs would be recovered from the other party should you win, which i have no doubt you will but its gotta be said

 

i hope this gets resolved quickly for you and if you need any thing else dont hesitate to ask, its what we are here for

 

Regards

paul