Urgent Help Needed - Eviction out of blue

[Leakie]

Hi six of spades

I have just read the whole thread,

All I can say is that you are a credit to your family,

and I hope that if I get in that position that one of my sibiling would do the same,

good luck for the future!!!!!

I will follow the thread

 

All the best

 

Leakie

[Leakie]

I forgot to add thank god for the likes of CAG, Ell-enn & letdothis

I am so glad that I found CAG,

 

 

Leakie

[sixofspades]

Thank you for your kind words Leakie.

 

A quick update regarding the Subject Access Request I mentioned in my previous post - Kensington have "lost" it.

 

I rang them today to confirm that the new direct debit mandate had been set up (it had) and decided to ask if they'd started on the Subject Access Request. Turns out that there is no record on the account of it being received and furthermore, no record of me having phoned them to ask about it as documented in my previous post.

 

After proving that they had in fact signed for the letter (together with another letter I sent at the same time which they acknowledge receipt of), the advisor put me on hold to chase it up. After being on hold for about 5-10 minutes, she returned to tell me that she would have to pass it onto their postal department to see where the letter had gone. Before ending the call, I made sure she made note of this on the account. I followed this up by ringing Royal Mail to check if the included postal order had been cashed - it has not.

 

It's quite a coincidence for such a particular letter, one for which there is signed proof that it was received by Kensington, to suddenly vanish into thin air like that. I'll be contacting them later in the week to see what they're playing at and if they don't pull their finger out, my word am I going to escalate this with the relevant authorities.

 

If anyone can offer any advice on that, I would greatly appreciate it.

Edited August 16, 2010 by sixofspades

[tigger72]

Hi, i have read your post with interest, I too am facin evicition from kensington, the date i have is 26th august and when i spoke to them last night they said i have to send off my bank statements in order for them to make a decision to accept the offer of payment, although reading your post I see people have stated not to send bank statements? I was going to send them today as I only have 8 days till the eviction, if i dont send them where do i go from here?

 

Many thanks in advance

[sixofspades]

Hi Tigger72. I have replied in your own thread.

[sixofspades]

Kensington have finally responded regarding the Subject Access Request but only two weeks after they received it.

 

Turns out they've found it after I proved they had it but they've returned it plus the fee on the basis that only my father had signed the request - the request was only for him in the first place though. They have stated that they need my mother's authorisation too. I immediately rang them to get them to clarify that I would only need to send £10 to cover both my parents and they said that is correct. As such, I have returned the SAR with the £10 fee to Kensington, including a Subject Access Request for my mother too.

 

I had my suspicions they wouldn't want to play nicely and I'm rather annoyed that unless I'd prompted them, I doubt they'd have done anything about it. They'd made no attempt to log it onto my parent's account. Also, waiting 2 weeks to ask for my mother's authorisation seems like a cheap tactic to get the 40 day period extended. That said, I found it most interesting to read that Kensington were in fact fined over £1.2 million by the FSA back in April for charging excessive fees to customers in arrears from 2004 onwards. They were ordered to contact customers to pay back these fees - my parents have never been contacted. It's going to be very interesting to find out why that is.

 

Hey Letsdothis, how are you getting on with your own claim for unlawful fees?

[letsdothis]

Hey Letsdothis, how are you getting on with your own claim for unlawful fees?

 

Not heard a dickie bird. The 8 weeks is pretty much up soonish so if I haven't heard by the 31st then off to the FOS we go. I will keep you informed.

 

As for the 40 days, you are probably correct, it will start the day they reserve the dual request.

[sixofspades]

So the ball is finally rolling on the Subject Access Request.

 

I returned the necessary fees and authorisation to Kensington last week and today confirmed that they had received them. Although this wasn't quite that straight forward - once again, I think they had plans to sit on it but I didn't let them. I demanded they have an answer for me by the end of the day. I got that answer about 30 minutes ago and they have told me everything is in order and I should receive the requested information on or before the 1st October.

 

In other news, in preparation for the review hearing in 2-3 months, I'm currently in the process of enlisting the long term services of the solicitors the court provided back on our hearing day. CAB advised me to do this in case Kensington try to pull a fast one and also because I'm entitled to free legal aid anyway. The next 3 months is going to be very interesting. I'll keep you posted.

[letsdothis]

I know it isn't easy, but do not worry about the 3 months. As long as the payments are made in full and on time, the court can quite clearly see that you are doing as told. If you give the court no reason to think any different, you have no worries.

[sixofspades]

I'm really not worried as such. In fact I'm feeling quite empowered now.

 

I intended to make a case to the courts to reduce the monthly arrears payments to better reflect a reasonable long term repayment schedule. This will be to relieve financial stress, to reduce the reliance on 3rd party contributions in the budget and to prevent changes in the housing market rendering the agreement unsustainable. I'll also be enlisting the solicitors help regarding unlawful and unfair fees charged by Kensington (just in case at least) and to provide assistance with Family Law should a conflict of interest arise between my family and my father in relation to this matter.

[sixofspades]

Hi all. Been a bit busy lately so not had much time for an update but here goes.

 

Well disappointingly, at least according to the solicitor that helped in the first court hearing, I'm not entitled to legal aid despite CAB insisting that I am. This refusal according to the solicitor is on the basis that I'm not a named defendant in the case despite the fact I've orchestrated the entire defence and been recognised by the court as an affected and interested party. I also hold third party authority on the mortgage account. Going to have to look into that one.

 

Secondly, even though I'm still waiting on the results of the Subject Access Request, I mentioned unlawful fees on the account to Kensington and they claim those fees have already been reimbursed to the account. I've seen no evidence of this and have been told we pretty much have to pay money to be able to see it. Naturally, I'm just going to wait for the SAR to arrive as it should be in there but I also suspect if Kensington have paid back some that, it isn't anywhere close to what we should be getting back. For example, I refuse to believe that charging £25 for a failed direct debit is a true cost to them. They also gave me some rubbish about not having to reimburse early repayment charges on the account despite a court telling them they had to back in April.

 

Finally, the last phone call I had with Kensington, they decided to let slip that they had applied their solicitors fees to the mortgage account because "we had to take action on the account". Are we able to claim these fees back?

 

I absolutely loathe this company with every fibre of my being.

[jimbo45]

Kensington should NEVE EVER have been allowed to lend people money

That said you WILL need to defend -- but given the new guidlines on evictions and re-possessions I suspect that so long as you are attempting to pay something back you'll be ok.

 

This company is a NIGHTMARE to deal with and if they re-possess you'll probably only get a FRACTION of what you could get if you SOLD before any re-posession.

 

Cheers

jimbo

[sixofspades]

I finally got the Subject Access Request through from Kensington earlier this week (late I might add). I've yet to give it a thorough going over but my brief skim read is revealing some interesting stuff. There are several forms pertaining to actions made on the account (relating to a re-mortgage I believe) that do NOT have authorisation from both account holders. Only my father's signature appears on them with the space for the second account holder being left blank.

 

Does anyone here know what the possible legal ramifications of that are with regards to Kensington? Is this grounds to take Kensington to task for placing debt into my mother's name without her written permission or acknowledgement?

 

Also (I may have mentioned this earlier), I have been told by a friend in the banking industry that the terms of the mortgage my parents have indicates they could be victims of irresponsible lending. The mortgage goes well into retirement age and I'm left puzzled as to why Kensington would give them such a mortgage.

 

Finally, could someone give me a run down of what unlawful fees I am able to claim back for my parents on their mortgage? A significant portion of the arrears owed is in the form of failed direct debit payments, early repayment charges and arrears charges and even some solicitor's fees (I can imagine just how well Kensington would take it if I got a solicitor and charged it to them - this is not on!)

 

Thanks in advance.

[sixofspades]

It's been a while since I last posted about this matter but as today was the 2nd and final hearing in the courts, I think some closure for those who have helped me is in order. And its great news.

 

The purpose of today's hearing was to assess the arrears repayments in the long term (C&G vs N). Prior to the hearing, I contacted Kensington who, at that time, seemed to be unaware that a second hearing was talking place even though they wanted the 3 month review to happen to get more money out of my family. Regardless, I attended the hearing with my parents to get the repayment amount reduced and the Judge agreed that, going forward, my parents now only have to pay the CMI plus £100 towards the arrears effective immediately (the old arrangement was £300 towards the arrears). Kensington did not attend the hearing (they didn't turn up at the first one either...pfft!) but the judge informed me that if Kensington were not aware of the hearing, they had legal grounds to ask for a 3rd hearing to put their case across. However, the Judge then looked through the documentation the court had sent to Kensington and it turned out they were informed that today's hearing would take place.

 

After the hearing, I contacted Kensington again to update them on what ruling had occurred at which point Kensington let slip that they did indeed know about the review hearing today but were happy to keep the "current" arrangement (CMI+£300). As such, they did not send their solicitor's to represent them. This acknowledgement of the second hearing will now prevent them from initiating a third hearing - they chose not to attend. I told them the arrears repayment had been reduced at the hearing, effective immediately, to CMI+£100. They have acknowledged this and will put it in place once the court informs them directly. I suppose all that's left to do is address the matter of unlawful charges at some point in the near future but for now, I need a break.

 

I'd like to extend a big, big thank you to all that have helped me and my family get through this. A special mention goes out to Ell-enn who pulled my family back from the brink of collapse and gave me the strength to sort this situation out with her swift advice and amazing support. I hope to repay the staggering generosity extended to me by everyone here, of which there are too many people to mention, by helping others in need at CAG.

 

And for those reading this who are currently going through what I and my family have just been through, you are in good hands. Dealing with an unexpected eviction is not an easy road to walk but there is light at the end of the tunnel no matter how worried you might feel. Stay strong.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, thank you so much for updating us on your situation, and well done again for standing up for yourselves. Great news that the arrears payment was reduced to a more affordable amount. You have given terrific support to your family throughout all of this and I sincerely hope all goes well for you in the future.

 

When you are ready to challenge the charges levied on the account, please let us know and we can advise further with a letter.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn