Advice on Torts (Interference With Goods) Act

[MoonHawk]

Hi

 

I have had a static Caravan sited on a holiday park for several years. We fell behind the payments for the park and have just received a letter saying that the caravan has been sold by the park.

 

As per our Torte letter sent to you on the 17th April, your caravan has been sold to recover some of the debt outstanding to us.

 

They are still after a further £700.

 

Neither I or my wife have received such a letter. Looking at the "Torts (Interference With Goods) Act 1977", my understanding is that the letter must have been sent "signed for", either by Registered or Recorded deliveries. This obviously has not happened.

 

Is my understanding correct and if so do I have a case for a claim against the company? The caravan was on sale for far more than the price they claim to have sold it. The price which it was on sale for was set with advice from their sales staff.

 

Any advice would be most welcome.

 

Best Wishes

MoonHawk

[legalpickle]

Firstly, 'Signed For', 'Registered' & 'Recorded' delivery are all one and the same. Special Delivery is the other option.

 

Secondly, have they agreed to reimburse you the difference?

 

Thirdly, did you receive any letter from them advising you that you owed them money, and if yes how long ago?

 

Once I have that I'll try to help you a bit more.

 

Best of Luck.

 

Please keep us posted on anything that happens with this.

[MoonHawk]

Thanks for the reply LP

 

My understanding was that 'Registered' & 'Recorded' are different. see TS Factsheet: Trading Standards Fact Sheet 31

Part II enables a notice of intention to sell to be served. This notice must be in writing and must be sent by recorded delivery or registered post and if money is due the period between the day of the notice and proposed sale must be at least 3 months.

My assumption would be that the registered is refering to Spacial Deliver. I believe one difference is that Recorded is with the other normal mail, but Registered/Special is kept separate until delivery.

 

They have not agreed to any reimbursement. They are actually asking for more as they claim that the sale was less than what we owed. The caravan was on sale by us through their sales office at about £13k to £15k. We sent them several prospects over the last 3 years and several of them were sold other caravans, usually because they were told the lease is longer on them. We owed them around £3,900 and they sold the caravan for £3,200, claiming we still owe £700.

 

We have received letters about monies owed, but they were the usual statements. We have also in the last three years been in constant contact with them to try and sell the caravan. Including asking a letter from the MD to pass on to a potential buyer regarding the time they would be allowed on the site. The last letter received (before this one) was a standard bill for the quarterly fees.

 

Best Wishes

MoonHawk

[Aequitas]

Never mind the Torts (Interference With Goods) Act, surely the site owner is in breach of the Mobile Homes Acts. I thought an agreement to pitch a mobile home could only be brought to an end by a site owner by an order of the court. It may be, however, that the rules only apply to residents. Even so, I would have thought that the site owner needs to bring the agreement to an end first.

[legalpickle]

Thanks for the reply LP

 

My understanding was that 'Registered' & 'Recorded' are different. see TS Factsheet: Trading Standards Fact Sheet 31

 

My assumption would be that the registered is refering to Spacial Deliver. I believe one difference is that Recorded is with the other normal mail, but Registered/Special is kept separate until delivery.

 

They have not agreed to any reimbursement. They are actually asking for more as they claim that the sale was less than what we owed. The caravan was on sale by us through their sales office at about £13k to £15k. We sent them several prospects over the last 3 years and several of them were sold other caravans, usually because they were told the lease is longer on them. We owed them around £3,900 and they sold the caravan for £3,200, claiming we still owe £700.

 

We have received letters about monies owed, but they were the usual statements. We have also in the last three years been in constant contact with them to try and sell the caravan. Including asking a letter from the MD to pass on to a potential buyer regarding the time they would be allowed on the site. The last letter received (before this one) was a standard bill for the quarterly fees.

 

Best Wishes

MoonHawk

1. It's 'Special Delivery' not 'Special Deliver'. Sorry, semantic is my middle name ,

2. According to Royal Mail 'Registered' is 'Recorded'. That might not be what TS mean, but if you go to the Post Office and ask for 'Registered' they will do it 'Recorded'.

3. It may be worth looking through the 'Mobile Homes Act' as Aequitas points out.

 

Why didn't you pay the quarterly fees bill? How long ago did you receive it? Previously when you have received the quarterly fees bill, how long has it taken for you to pay them?

 

They may have sent it by recorded delivery but it not reached you. That's why I always recommend that people send everything important by special delivery as it is guaranteed but recorded delivery is just as bad as 1st or 2nd class.

 

Have you had any valuations of your caravan? How long ago did you purchase it?

 

What I am trying to get at here is whether you have any evidence that the caravan was worth £13k-£15k. If you do then it is a pretty easy case that they did not have the right to sell it and that you can claim from them the difference. However if the caravan was only worth £3k then all you'd have is a defence to them selling it - as I agree that they probably shouldn't have sold it - but not a claim against them for more money.

 

Also, do you have a copy of the contract? If yes can you post it up here - minus the confidential details - so that I can see if there is anything relevant to this case in it.

 

If you can find the two Acts relating to this and any other Act, Regulation or Directive and post up here links to both the full texts and as many explanations as possible as well as links to any previous cases relevant to this then I'll study them in more detail and post back here as well.

 

I wouldn't sue for more than £5k without a Solicitor unless your case is pretty much open and shut otherwise you are risking their costs. Obviously if this isn't a financial problem for you then not to worry as the risk may be worth it, but if it is, then study this VERY well before you sue them.

[MoonHawk]

Thanks Aequitas. I'll have a look. This was a holiday site and not residential, so there may be a difference, but I'll see.

 

Lots of questions to answer here.

 

I do not care too much about Royal Mails definition as I am not looking to send anything. I am interested in what the law means by it. In the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 itself there is a distinction between the two:

Part II Notice of Intention to Sell Goods

(4)The notice shall be in writing and shall be sent by post in a registered letter, or by the recorded delivery service.

 

We have been behind payments for a few months and I am not disputing what we owed them in any way. They were away of my intent to sell the caravan and to settle the account. I had even spoken by phone to the MD a couple of months ago about this. Over the years we had fallen behind a few times but always paid up. I am self employed so not always able to pay straight away.

 

The caravan was not valued by anyone. Usually caravans at the age it was at go between £4K and £20K depending on condition and where you get it from. The price was originally set at £18K a couple of years back, with the advice of their sales staff, arrived at by what they believe a good price for ours was. There was no valuation as such. We brought the price down in order to make it more competitive to sell quicker. The value was coming down because they do not allow a caravan to be sited there above a certain age and the number of years left for ours was 4/5 years. This meant they caravan would have to be re-sited after that. Hence them selling other caravans to people we sent them from our own advertising.

 

I'll scan the contract later and put it up.

 

I have not made a decision about what action to take yet as I am investigating my rights. What I am looking at is that they sold the caravan based upon the "Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977" but failed to send the Notice as required by the act. I am suppose to have three months to remedy the situation from receiving the notice and I did not have that.

 

Best Wishes

MoonHawk

[MoonHawk]

Just checked the "Mobile Homes Act 1983" and it does not apply.

(1) This Act applies to any agreement under which a person ("the occupier") is entitled-

 

(a) to station a mobile home on land forming part of a protected site; and

 

(b) to occupy the mobile home as his only or main residence.

 

Best Wishes

MoonHawk