Mortgage Express appoint LPA Recievers Walker Singleton to scare tenants off!

[chillinlong]

I do have a copy of the SAR and the cheque has not been cashed im afraid, looks like I might have to send another SAR and this time keep my recorded delivery slip .

 

 

Thanks again.

[diddled]

Have you thought anymore about lodging a complaint with RICS

[chillinlong]

I will be organising a few complaints for everybody I can think of, I am just waiting on a few opinions at the moment. I will keep you updated.

 

Thanks

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi All!

 

 

Chillinlong,in reply to your posts and in my view:

 

1.You should sue the LPA Receiver for breach of its implied obligation to get the rent less the agreed management fees.

 

2.If you had tenants in your property before this LPA Receiver appeared on the scene and they left as a result of the LPA Receiver's Actions,you should sue them for the loss in rent.

 

3.It is worth mentioning that although the LPA Receiver is appointed to manage the property but it has both a duty and obligation to you to collect the rent less its fee - normally 10% of the rent and pass this onto to the lender.

 

4.I think the objective of the LPA Receiver here might be to force the mortgage payers in repossession,sell to contacts at a below market value then chase the mortgage payers for the shortfall after the sales too.

 

5.Actually,Mortgage Express has previously done this in the past by selling a property at a shortfall then chasing the mortgage payer for this shortfall and it turned out that Mortgage Express sold it to one of its other companies! And lost the case....Heartbreaking isn't it?

 

If I find the link to the case I will post it here for you.

 

Anyway,please do not say that you have not been warned!

 

I hope this helps.

 

If you have any other questions,please feel free to ask as I am a private landlord and have worked in the mortgage industry too.

 

All the best! Keep us posted!

[Nightmare4banks]

As I mentioned in my previous post on this thread - the link to the case -

 

Duty to obtain best price - sale to associated company

 

Property Law UK

Edited January 13, 2010 by Nightmare4banks

[chillinlong]

Hi Nightmare,

 

Thank you so much for your post, some very good points you state.

 

Some of them were my throughts precisely such as sue for loss of rent, but on the opinions of various solicitors I have come accross they are saying we have a case on Negligence, so not sure whether all your points would be included in this. But I intend to find a solicitor that will take on all these points and find every point we can sue on urgently before it gets worse.

 

Interesting article about the ME selling to an associated company, I have some concerns whether Mortgage Express and Walker Singleton directors are very good friends and lining each others back pockets to say the least.

 

Come on everyone, I know there are more of you in the same situation with Mortgage Express please PM me or post and we can then look at possibilities of a class action, you are not alone! I am willing to try and organise this, I already have a few people contacted me with regards to this but we need more people to join in and stop these bully boy tactics being used when we have worked so hard to get into BTL only for banks to take them off us in an illegal way like the mob.

 

Thanks again

[diddled]

ME & WS very good friends ? I imagine a very close relationship.

 

I have copy letters sent to and fro between xxxx Bank & WS, they are all on first name terms.

 

A letter from WS to me states "The receivers fees have been calculated in accordance with a scale of fees agreed with xxxx Bank PLC which have been discounted to reflect the volume of business undertaken for xxxx Bank"

[pigland]

Hi Diddled,

 

It appears WS are not being transparent and are not complying with Subject Access Requests. Now being a firm of surveyors and a member of ARLA I don't think that's very good!

 

Pigland

Edited February 18, 2010 by pigland

[doots14]

I was just wondering if you had a information as what I can do about the above companies.

 

I ran across your article when I was trying to find out more info on the work that these two companies are doing. I'm about two weeks from losing my property due to non collection of rent from S&W.

 

The story so far,

 

I own a one large bedroom basement flat in Leyton E11 4HL.

I’ve had it since 2002; I went into arrears on the property when we had a problem with the plumbing, and tenants moved out. It took a several months to chase the insurers for the funds to fix it and while that happened it was unoccupied so we fell behind. Beginning of last year we found new tenants through an estate agent and refurbished and furnished the flat for a year long rental. A month after the tenants moved into the property the Mortgage Express put the property into receivership with their LPA (receivership firm) company Walker and Singleton. They claimed it was because the Estate Agents (Pure Estates) had deposited the rental income into the wrong bank account. They took control of the property and its management without my consent and refused to discuss anything with me.

 

To this day I have still no idea of exactly what happened during the time their receivers were supposedly managing the property. During the year before they handed me back the property I tried on many occasions to get information on the property from Mortgage Express and Singleton and Walker but neither of them were prepared to speak to me about the property claiming confidentiality reasons.

 

I have requested many times for both the receivers and mortgage express to provide me with details of rental payment received by them last year, how long my tenant stayed and when she moved out, why did Singleton and Walker not find new tenants after she moved out, etc etc. This information is still outstanding and I still remain in the dark about what happened in the 14/15 months they had full control of the property.

 

My belief is that at some point the tenant moved out of the property and W&S neglected to place another tenant into the property, leaving it unoccupied. Having chased W&S without success they gave the property back to ME, and I was handed the keys 4 weeks later in June/July 2009.

 

Soon after that ME started pursuing me for an arrears total of over 9,000 pounds. After several requests for statements to show how this amount was arrived at I am still none the wiser. I started and continued to make the monthly payment from when they handed the property back to me in July although I could not place tenants in the flat due to the damages in the flat and the missing furniture. Although the damage and missing furniture happened during the time S&W were managing the property I have not received a single explanation or reimbursement for this loss.

 

I have since borrowed funds to refurbish and furnish the property and given it Omega Lettings who have signed a 3 year Guaranteed rent agreement from the 1st Oct 2009.

 

After a conversation with an agent from ME in October when he called to chase payment of the arrears I informed them of the new tenancy agreement and how much rent will be coming in. He insisted they would require all of the rent well above the monthly payment. I told them I had borrowed monies to repair and furnish the flat and so I could not pay them all of the rent as mortgage immediately. The agent got angry and ended the conversation by saying they will start repossession proceedings.

 

I called MEX to pay the mortgage on Monday only forthem to tell me that the eviction notice is being served on the 20th January 2010. I have no formal notice of this even happening and of I hadn't rang I wouldn't have been any the wiser.

[diddled]

Hi

As ME have informed you that an eviction notice is being served on 20th January, can I suggest you send a CPR letter by guaranteed delivery today, as they clearly dont seem to have complied with the pre-action protocols.

Have you ever made a SAR to either ME or WS?

Maybe best if you have a chat with Pigland as he has lots of experience with ME & WS

[doots14]

I have sent hom a couple of emails but his inbox has exceeded the limit so he can't recieve any more emails. whats a CPR ?

[diddled]

Very basically, CPR = civil procedure rules, if party A has threatened legal proceedings party B can send Party A a letter requesting disclosure of documentation that will put you on a level pegging with them. Am I right in thinking there has already been a possession hearing or are they exercising statutory rights without involving the courts?

I'm really not the best person to help you with this, have you tried Ell-en

PM me if you think I may be able to help

[doots14]

Ok but even if I do a CPR isn't too late now the Baliffs are going in tomorrow. I need to get them called off today.

[pigland]

Hi Doots,

 

I've now emptied my message box, I can now take more messages.

 

Who did you speak to at MEx, and did you make a note of the time of the phone call?

 

Can you confirm that you've been told by MEx that they are serving an eviction notice on your tenant, or did they say Walker Singleton were serving the notice?

 

It’s important to know if Mex are acting as Mortgagees in Possession?

 

I'm trying to find out if you can apply to the court to get possession of your property whilst it's with an LPA receiver, Ell-en, Bona or Nuke-em could be a good port of call.

 

In the meantime Doots, we do now have masses of evidence that suggests Walker Singleton who are a firm of Surveyors are deliberately compromising the position of mortgagors.

 

'The receiver owes a duty to the mortgagor to use reasonable skill and care in obtaining a proper price for the property and to manage the property with due diligence (In Re: Medforth v Blake [1999] 3 All E.R. 97'

 

As they are a firm of surveyors they must be transparent and are accountable.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Pigland

[pigland]

Further to reading many threads and Private messages it is apparent that MEX and the LPA receivers are hiding behind the law and no one is really accountable.

 

Therefore, I feel that everyone that has a complaint with Mortgage Express should write directly to Richard Banks the Managing Director or to Richard Pym the Chairman to make them directly accountable. Even send your SAR requests to one of the Richards! Ask them why they are using Walker Singleton when they've had so many complaints?

 

Even if someone else writes back address your reply back to Richard and explain that due to the incompetence of their bank and their internal systems then you will only deal with them.

 

I feel it is important that the letters and replies (minus personal details) be posted here.

 

Richard Banks and Richard Pym are responsible for the orderly winding down of Bradford and Bingleys (MEx) balance sheet by protecting and creating value for the tax payer. They sold part of B&B to Santander leaving other parts including the mortgage book of Mex. It seems they don't want this mortgage business. Mex don't care about you, they want the mortgage money back and don’t care how they get it! MEX by abusing the Law of Property Act 1925 are appointing LPA receivers to circumnavigate the court process to take your property and to pay back their mortgage book. I have been informed that over 40% of their large portfolio business is with LPA receivers.

 

It is apparent that when interest rates dropped MEx used this to their advantage.

 

This is how they did it:

 

Mortgage payment £250.00 per month….The Credit Crunch hit and the payment was late.

At the same time the interest rates dropped; your new mortgage

payment was now £100.

 

This meant you were technically 2 1/2 months in arrears.

 

Hey presto! LPA receiver instructed.

 

LPA receivers like Walker Singleton it seems are not answerable to anyone. It appears from all of the evidence that Walker Singleton have been making the position of the mortgagor much worse. Let's stop this! I suggest that if Walker Singleton have done this to you write to either Stephen Malloy or David Heap and tell them you're holding them responsible for shortfalls of rent and the eventual forced sale. At the same time copy the letter reply here (minus personal details).

 

Pigland

Edited February 18, 2010 by pigland

[chillinlong]

Hi Doots,

 

Sorry to hear about this, like the others say you need to find out whether the court has decided the eviction based on a reposession from Mortgage express or the LPA Walker Singleton. If it is by MX and you never recieved anything, if you attend the local courts you might be able to set aside the judgements but again its all down to who and what has been done, it is strange how nobody has told you anything though. Would be good if you do a SAR meanwhile from both and Drydens as they are Walker singletons solicitor and you might find info they have used agaisnt your tenants.

 

Pigland, I did write a long complaints letter to Richard Pym and then recieved a reply saying somebody will be in touch with me to deal with the complaints. guess who it was, the Director of Walker Singleton, it gets better this is B & B complaints handling division now is it?

 

I am sorry to reply late and I hope you managed to resolve this morning.

 

Please let us know how you got on.

 

All the best.

[pigland]

Doots...Good luck from me to!

 

Chillinglong.

 

After you wrote to Richard.pym@bbg he or one of his colleagues must have emailed or discussed your letter, your personal information and property would then have been discussed with Walker Singleton. The SAR should follow Richard Pym down to Walker Singleton. Don't forget to request this if they've not sent this to you.

[chillinlong]

I will go through all the paperworks and figure out. I know there is no letter about the complaint within the SAR so I will have to request along with conversations they have had with LPA reciever but they have said in the letter due to Durrant they do not have to send anything other than the papers alreqady requested for some reason.

 

Thanks again Pigland.

 

Doots any news?

[diddled]

Re the Durant argument-is it MEX or WS who are hiding behind this?

Whilst MEX may well be able to rely on this, I doubt very much that WS can, because all the personal data held by WS regardless of whether it is electronic or manual will be held for a sole purpose, ie managing your properties.

[doots14]

Hi Guys,

 

Mixed news from me, I managed to get the eviction notice cancelled. Apparently a senior management suit made the call. But having spoken to Mr Patel, they inform me that they still want a payment plan in place, otherwise they go back for another one and oh and get this they want to appoint another LPA reciever to manage the property.

 

It was an LPA (SW) that got me into this hole in the first place you couldn't make it up.

[pigland]

Today (20 Jan) I spoke to Steve Malloy at Walker Singleton and enquired as to when he was instructed on my property, he told me October 2008 and said 'we are trying to let this at the moment at £350pcm, I then asked him why his firm hadn't collected any rent and why the property hadn't been advertised for rent since June...he then back tracked and said ' oh no it looks like it was on hold in October 2008 and then we had instruction again from Mex in June'. He then asked why this was, I said that was for him to find out. I asked him again why there was no rent he said he didn't know and would look into it. I said to him Mortgage Express were acting as Mortgagee in possession, he corrected me and told me that they were not and that WS were the LPA receiver and were responsible for the property. I said thank you for pointing that out and as per the 1925 Law of property act the LPA receiver must act with due diligence therefore I hold his firm responsible. He asked if I was threatening him, I said yes! I also pointed out to him that his company used the tactic of leaving properties empty on many other people, I said he must stop this, I also told him I was aware that his normal reaction to anyone challenging him was spitefully recommending to Mex as an exit strategy to sell the property I said if he did this I would take further action. I told him I wouldn't let this lay and I was sending him an SAR request and that I would only deal with him. He requested my telephone number, I said I would like to communicate with him via email or in writing. He said he would email the reply to his enquiries today. I then asked if his firm was a member of RICS. This he confirmed and we finished the conversation.

 

Apparently their are around 2700 mortgage express customers with Walker Singleton at £500-£1000 per go plus rent collection. I suggest that every time we communicate with Walker Singleton or MEx we Diarise it on here. This way they're in the public eye and accountable.

 

I am also happy to receive PMs.

Edited January 20, 2010 by pigland

[pigland]

Well done Doots! This lot are just genius. Write to Richard Banks and ask him if an LPA receiver is stlll instructed and whether they were going to use SW again as they previously cost you £9k and they have numerous complaints against them from other MEx customers? Post the reply here!

 

Make sure that you get a complete inventory of the property condition just in case the LPA takes it.

 

Any legal minds have any advise for doots?

Edited January 20, 2010 by pigland

[doots14]

@ Pigland Do you have an address for Richard Banks rather than the P.O.Box address for Mex you can PM with it. But you inBox is overloaded again

[doots14]

this is a quote from Richard Banks when he was appointed MD of Bradford and Bingley aka MEX

 

Richard Banks commented:

"Bradford & Bingley is in a unique position, and it will be a challenging role to maintain the momentum and motivation of colleagues during the wind down of the business as we protect taxpayers and repay HM Treasury and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme ("FSCS"), whilst also treating customers and creditors fairly. I look forward to working with the board in achieving a successful outcome for all stakeholders.

 

I have highlighted the line I think we should make it come back to haunt him

[diddled]

Doots-well done, at least you have a bit of breathing space for the moment.

 

Pigland-love your post re your telephpne conversation with Steve Molloy, did you manage record it?