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The claim includes statutory interest under S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of the issue of these proceedings in the sum of £49.15 The Claimant claims the sum of £972 What is the total value of the claim? £1112 Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? I dont know the details of the PAPDC to know if it was pursuant to paragraph 3, but I did receive a Letter of Claim with a questionaire/form to fill. Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred? No Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account? Credit Card When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ? no Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ? Online Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) ? Yes Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim. Assigned/purchaser Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? I was aware, I'm not certain I received a 'Notice of Assignment' from Capital One but may have been informed the account had been sold without such a title on the letter? Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? Yes Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ? Not since the debt purchase, and not from Capital One. Why did you cease payments? I can't remember - it was the tail end of the pandemic and I may not have had enough income to keep up payments - I am self-employed and work in the event industry - at that time. I also had a bank account that didn't allow direct debits and may have just forgotten payments and became annoyed at fines for late payments. What was the date of your last payment? Appears to be 20/4/2022 Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? No Here is my Defence: Defence - 1. The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature. The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made. 2. Paragraph 1 is noted. I have in the past had an agreement with Capital One but do not recognise this specific account number or recollect any outstanding debt and have therefore requested clarification by way of a CPR 31.14 and section 78 request.. 3. Paragraph 2 is denied. I am unaware of having been served with a Default Notice pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974. 4. Paragraph 3 is denied. I am unaware of any legal assignment or Notice of Assignment pursuant to the Law and Property Act 1925 Section 136(1) 5. The Defendant has sent a request by way of a section 78 pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974, for a copy of the agreement, the Claimant has yet to comply and remains in default of said request. 6. A further request has been made via CPR 31.14 to the Claimants solicitor, requesting disclosure of documents on which the Claimant is basing their claim. The Claimant has not complied and to date nothing has been received. 7. It is therefore not accepted with regards to the Defendant owing any monies to the Claimant and the Claimant is put to strict proof to: a) show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement and; b) show how the Claimant has reached the amount claimed for and; c) show the nature of the breach and evidence by way of a Default Notice pursuant to sec 88 CCA1974 d) show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim 8. As per Civil Procedure 16.5 it is expected that the claimants prove the allegation that the money is owed 9. On the alternative, as the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of section 136 of the Law of Property Act and section 82A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 10. By reasons of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief. .................. Please note that I had to write a defence quite quickly as I hit the deadline. At the time of writing the defence, I hadn't been able to find correspondence from Capital One, but had since found default letter etc. I submitted CCA request and CPR 31.14. However, I didn't get any proof of postage or use registered post for the CPR (an oversight) but did with the CCA request. I received a pack which included a letter from Overdales, going over the defence I'd filed, as well as letters of Lowells and reprints of letters from Capital One. But I have no idea if this pack is in response to the CCA request or the CPR ! I would have expected two separate responses ... although I do know they are both the same company. Looking over the pack today, and looking through old emails .. I find some discrepancies in the Capital One default letters (notice of default and Claim of default). They are both dated *before* an email I have stating that a default can be avoided. The one single page of agreement sent (so not the full agreement) has a 16 digit number at the top in small print, next to 'Capital One' which corresponds to a number called 'PURN' printed at the top of each of the 10 pages of ins and outs of the account (they're not official statements, but a list of monthly goings) yet no mention anywhere on either of the account number. I cant really scan them at the moment - I can later tomorrow, but that will be after the mediation call I'm sure. I guess I may be on my own for this mediation ... I am not certain the CCA request has been satisfied .. or if the CPR has been . And then I appear to have evidence that the Default notices provided are fabricated ? Yet, I do have (elsewhere ... not at home) Default letters from Capital One I can check ..
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Rent Increases Incorrect (So is Arrears)


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Hi,

 

first of, just to let you know what I have:

 

Assured Shorthold Tenancy (6 month fixed) which started 16 Nov 2011, it's now a monthly periodic.

 

The letting agents, only having just ventured into private letting (monthly) for the first time ever, issued me with an AST which is a bit of a frankenstein AST.

 

By this I mean:

 

  • When dates and "months" are mentioned, they used the lunar (not 28 day calendar) as reference.
  • Tenancy, as quoted "The tenancy begging -3 Oct 2011 and is for a fixed term of 6 months and ends on Mid-day on 03 April 2012 subject to terms in this agreement."
  • Rent, quoted as "Total Monthly Charge £450"

 

Rent is to be paid, in advance for the following month i.e. from the 3rd of the month to the 3rd of the next.

 

Then when they mention under "changes in rent", this is how the terms are listed out:

 

  • We may review the rent due for the premises at any time after six months from the commencement of the tenancy, provided you are given 4 weks notice of such charges
  • We usually increase rents with effect from the First Monday in April each year, but reserve the right to increase on another date. We can reduce the rent at any time.

 

The on the 9th October 2012 (part way through the month 03 Oct - 03 Nov) they wrote to me the following:

 

Dear Adridude,

 

This letter gives you four weeks notice of a rental increase on this property which will commence 06 November 2012.

 

The new rental means your weekly rent will be £114.23 instead of £103.84 (per month £495 instead of £450)....

 

What happened is that the rent change happened mid-month i.e. 03 Mov - 06 Nov was £450 / mo then 06 Nov onwards was £495.

 

The Shelter helpline have told me that how it works on month periodicals is that:

 

1) When notice is served, that notice period starts at the first day of the next period and if the notice period continues into another period, the notice changes take effect from the start of the next period from the notice period end date.

2) Rent changes can only take effect from the start of the period after after the notice period has ended.

 

(or something to that effect) I got a little confused as the council told me a whole other story (which I will explain later in the thread)..

 

Am I right in thinking that, the notice period should have started as of the beginning of the next i.e 03 November meaning that the rent increase should have taken effect as of 03 December 2013.

 

Another question, looking back at the history of my account, this has happened each of the 3 times. In one case I received a letter in April stating that the rent wasn't going to increase that April, but it did anyway in November? Can they do that?

 

Finally, the rent increase in question here has been in dispute since it happened. Whilst disputing it, I notified the Council to get the HB raised to cover it so I don't go into debt because of credit reports etc... so they did. The dispute happened for months and months with no budging from the LL.

 

Finally, the person who was handling the dispute left the company entirely and left it all to a bunch of people with no organisational skills. From here on (mid 2013) noe o the repairs are being done, which I'm also disputing, amongst others things and somehow the whole dispute "vanished"...

 

Early this year I received a letter about "arrears" of about 2 weeks (as HB weren't paying the full amount). I contacted them, set up a payment arrangement and make it VERY clear in writing and with each bank transfer that they are nothing but "TOKEN" payments.

 

I've asked time and time again to review the dispute as the increase wasn't even agreed, plus all their dates are wrong, but they seem more interested in collecting arrears. than dealing with this.

 

Can someone have a nose over this and have a look at how I could approach this?

 

Cheers,

 

A

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Common sense would suggest that a rent review clause that did not specify an amount (or relate it to the inflation rate in some way) would not be allowed. The OFT agreed in 3:102 of this document:

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf

 

Alternatively, a rent increase can be proposed by giving a month's notice using a Section 13 notice. Such a rise can only happen 12 months or more after the last rise.

 

Otherwise, assuming you have always made it clear that you do not agree to a rent rise, it may be that the rent rise is invalid.

 

How you approach it is obviously difficult. If you refuse to pay they may issue a Section 21 to evict you.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply and apologies for the long silence... I've had a word with:

 

1) Shelter

2) Community Legal "whatever they are now" lol

3) And a Freebie "first 30 mins" lawyer about this

 

and they all confirmed:

 

1) If you're on a monthly tenancy (AST, fixed term turned periodic), despite what the contract says, reasonable notice is "one term", i.e. in my case "one lunar month" not the "28 day month"

2) When notice is serviced by letter, and not by S.13 of the Housing Act, the notice period STARTS as from the first say of the next period, allowing reasonable notice

3) When the notice has been served and exhausted, its effects can only take place as from the start of the next period after it expired

 

All of the above only applies if the rent increase wasn't even agreed in the first place in writing.

 

Just a on a note to others. This is all very well, but you risk getting serviced a S.21 Notice for Possession (Eviction) if the Landlord/lady decides to be an evil one about it.

 

TAKE HEED OF THE ABOVE.

 

In my case I have backups, so this won't really bother me.. What bothers me is being taken for a ride.

 

Anyway, I'll keep good notes on this as the parent company of this little letting agent is a big housing association which should know better.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just to update any onlookers,

 

There's been some good news. It appears that my complaint directly to their group Chairman has scared the M.D. into a meeting with me next week.

 

I did some research, and between shelter, CAB and legislation.gov.uk it is every clear that:

 

1) The rent increase was unlawful and therefore cannot be applied as a "reasonable notice period" needs to be given and must start on the day after the end of the current period.

2) Reasonable notice is exactly one period.

 

So i've got it clearly backed that this increase cannot be applied.

 

Lets see how this meeting goes.. They've allowed me to record the contents of the meeting provided that they are given copies of the recording at the end of the meeting, which I can do there and then. So this time they won't have a leg to stand on :)

 

Edit, I'll update after the meeting with the M.D. and possibly some excerpts from there recording.

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  • 1 month later...

The agent is driving all of this. I've got back near to £900 in regards to the most recent arrears and they've apologised, but in the same letter have missed me a S21 (LOL!).. Anyhow, that just gave me cause to go after the other rent increases (all within 6 years) which are also incorrect, getting me another near to £1000 + interest.

 

Then there is the matter that their parent company, the one whose logo appears on the letterheads etc... is a massive housing association which usually deals with social letting. I wonder how interested the local Borough Council will be when I waltz in there with their overpaid HB in my hand :)

 

I'm more than certain that any other "monthly" contract issued was done so with the same shoddy contract template. That would account for quite a bit of the south east seeing as they're one of the more dominant names on the social market (at first glance with google) :D

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