Winderbray/JCF PM/PCB Lawers Claimform - Service charge arrears - Refused Payment Plan - Now N244 for SJ+Strike Out.

[1penny]

Hello

 

Very frustrating but the e-mail that was in my junk folder has been permanently deleted and I cannot retrieve it. I think it had an attachment.

Should I ask the managing agent or the solicitors for a copy of an up to date statement ?

[lolerz]

Absolutely, yes.

You'll likely also get one as part of your CPR 31.14 request you'll send off as part of your defence

[1penny]

Should I ask before the defence is sent ?

[lolerz]

yes

[1penny]

Ok many thanks, I will call the managing agent today and ask for them to send me one.

I will try to look for any other docs that might be useful, but these might be at my mothers house.I won't be able to get there until the weekend though.

[1penny]

I have got a statement so will redact as best I can and post up tomorrow.

1Penny

[lolerz]

Thread title updated.

 

 

[1penny]

statement.pdf

Hello

Good morning.

Redacted statement attached.

[lolerz]

Thank you for this. Give me an hour or so for me to have a look.

Meanwhile, what did you propose as your normal payment plan?

[1penny]

I proposed £200 per month initially which was refused and with help proposed £400 a month plus any additional amounts as and when we were able to. This was also refused.

We maintained payments as much as possible along with some larger ones.It has been really tough with the cost of living crisis coming straight after Covid. I feel my health (mentally and physically) is suffering as a result of the stress.

Our boiler broke down over Christmas which caused an unexpected bill but some larger payments were made in the last year so we are showing that we are doing what we can.

 

Regards

1Penny

 

[lolerz]

Looking at it I can understand why £200/month wasn't accepted as it's not enough to cover the most recent service charge period. Just for that you'd need to be paying roughly £250/month.

No reason for them not to accept £400/month though, especially if you were also going to make supplemental payments. That's going to be our argument as realistically that's all they're going to get from any court action anyway.

Finally, do you still have the emails from the solicitors before they issued the claim form? It'll be useful to see because I reckon we'll be able to argue our way out of the interest/legal fees they're claiming as they didn't follow the Pre-Action Protocol.

[1penny]

I think I still have some e-mails, but some went to junk and got auto deleted, including the last e-mail before the court claim arrived.

Last year we were threatened that our file would be sent to collections, then several threats of legal action and even forfeiture of the lease. 

I will check for any letters, but mostly communication was e-mail only and some telephone calls in the early stages, but then they wouldn't answer my calls.

Work is hectic at the moment so will look for docs over the weekend.

[lolerz]

Make sure you keep EVERYTHING from now on!

[1penny]

Ok will do.

Many thanks for your help so far.

[lolerz]

Any update on this and uploading those documents?

Just time-conscious that you haven't yet filed an acknowledgment of service yet (Which needs to be done by Thursday at the latest!) else you'll get a judgement in default. Really important we stick to those dates

pop up on the MCOL website detailed on the claimform

.register as an individual on the Gov't Gateway Site
Go to HMRC's login page.

Click the GREEN sign in button.
Click “Create sign in details”
Enter your email address where asked.
You will now be emailed a confirmation code. ...

You will now be issued with a User ID for your government gateway account.
 note down your details inc the long gateway number given, you might need it later.

then log in to the MCOL Website

.Select Respond to a claim and select the start AOS box.

.then using the details required from the claimform

.defend all

leave jurisdiction unticked.

click through to the end

confirm and exit MCOL.

.get a CPR 31:14 request running to the solicitors

 

Remove any mention of a default/termination notice in your CPR 31.14 request as not relevant here. 

type your name ONLY

no need to sign anything.

you DO NOT await the return of paperwork.

you MUST file a defence regardless by day 33 from the date on the claimform.

[1penny]

Hello Lolerz

Many thanks for chasing.

I only arrived at my mothers late this afternoon

Will find the docs tomorrow.

Can you remind md which ones would be useful ?

Andyorch advised in an earlier post that we had until Monday 4th March ?

I will upload more docs tomorrow afternoon.

Many thanks, really appreciate the help

1Penny

[lolerz]

A copy of the bills. A copy of the yearly budgets, any letters regarding arrears you’ve had etc. Already have a statement so not worried there.

Especially important is a copy of any Section 20 notices for the works. Seeing these would be great as well.

 

A copy of at least the bit of the lease where it goes on about service charges etc would be handy as well to see if there’s anything about a reserve fund being collected and what proportion you are meant to pay (see if this adds up with what they’re demanding)

 

theres nothing really to gain by waiting to submit the acknowledgement of service at this point so get on MCOL on Monday morning and complete the above steps.

[1penny]

Ok understood.

Will be on it tomorrow to see what I can find.

Thanks

1Penny

[1penny]

Hello Lolerz

I have uploded some pages of the lease and service charge statement of acc for year ended 31 Mar 2023

Working on some other paperwork but only have my phone so finding it slow.

Lease Documents merged.pdf

Attached are some other letters including the last arrears notice that I could find from the managing agents and Sect 20 notices.

The external works to the building were long overdue with the last external works being completed 15 years earlier around 2008.In 2018 and 2019 we had electrical work and a boundary wall rebuilt at significant cost which wiped out the sinking fund.

We feel that the freeholder was not ensuring that the managing agents were maintaining the building to the level required. The fact that the external works were left so long has led to substantial service charge demands over the past 4 years during unprecedented times with the pandemic followed by the cost of living crisis.

Many thanks

1Penny

 

Edited February 25 by lolerz
PDFs Merged

[lolerz]

Duplicate posts hidden.

Oddly, they felt the need to transfer £30k from the Service Charge to the Reserve fund and then plead poverty with a £7.5k deficit...

With that arrears letter, Were any demands for admin/legal costs accompanied by Summary of Rights and Obligations - Admin Charges? Too many MA/FH fail in this area and it makes any admin charges unlawful.

Get that Acknowledgement of Service sent off tomorrow via MCOL.

 

Now turning our attention to your defense:

When writing your defense, you need to go through their points in order and either admit or deny them. You would be looking to admit that you are the leaseholder but deny the charges. The best way to do this is to number each sentence in their particulars of claim and write a statement accepting or denying it 

 

Our standard holding/no paperwork defense will be a good basis for this but will need tweaking based on the points above. Plenty of claim form threads will have it posted so get reading up over the next few days (5-10 a day) and have a go at drafting up a defense. 

Their Particulars of Claim is so vague it could be for literally anything. Their entire point is that there are unpaid service charges pursuant to the lease and that they want interest. Normally for these types of claims, they'll mention in what clause of the lease are they demanding the service charges and they haven't done that. It's such a laughably weak Particulars of Claim for something like this that it reads that they've just done it at 4:55 pm before going home. Like they never bothered to read the lease, just know one exists (but have no idea whether it's enforceable)

I'd be looking to put them to strict proof on what basis the Service Charge is due and payable, how the arrears are made up, and what attempts at communication were made before the court claim.

They don't need to know that you hold a copy of your lease, it's whether they do and are willing to use it.
 

Include this line as one your first points:
 

The claimant has not complied with paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action protocol) and failed to serve a letter of claim pre-claim pursuant to PAPDC changes of the 1st October 2017. It Is respectfully requested that the court take this into consideration pursuant to 7.1 PAPDC. 

Post up your defense here FIRST so that it can be reviewed and tweaked for submission!

 

[1penny]

Hello Lolerz

 

Many thanks for your reply and help so far.

I need to drive back home now (2 hrs), so will read your response in more detail tonight and will reply if I have any questions.

I couldn't find any letters from the solicitor unless I have it filed somewhere else. I think that the managing agent only charged for stage 2 & stage 3 letters as per the statement of account (£36 & £72). There were numerous arrears letters but it seems that no charges were added.Have I provided you with enough info ? Do you need me to copy the body of an e-mail example received from the solicitors last year, perhaps the one threatening us with forfeiture of the lease ?

They said in their e-mails that if we didn't pay the outstanding balance by a certain date then they would commence legal action without further notice. I am very sure that they didn't send us a letter in the post headed "letter before action".

I will get the AoS sent online tomorrow.Also need to do the CPR 31.14 request, so will get this sent off by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest.

Will read up on formation of a defence. The defence would need to be sent 33 days from the date of issue, so is it 18th March 2024 very latest ?

Much appreciated

 

1Penny

 

 

 

[lolerz]

Yes 18th March

In regards to PAPLOC. Paragraph 3.3 of the Pre-Action Protocol states that the PAPLOC should be sent by post and that email may also be used. i.e They may send their PAPLOC by email AND post but not just email. It also explicitly mentions that other methods are communication are acceptable if you've made a specific request not to use post (you haven't done this). As such, they're not compliant with the pre-action protocol by sending it to you just by email.

Further to this. Under CPR 6.3 and PD 6A, Service by Email is only accepted should you have explicitly stated that you're willing to accept service by email.

[1penny]

So the £7,997 deficit that they created, this must relate to the £799.70 balancing charge in September 2022 that we all received ?

[lolerz]

Yes, that is the case.

Your lease states the annual service charge is split equally which means the deficit will be as well.

[1penny]

Hi Lolerz

Regarding the MCOL AoS, is it only required for one of us to file the response online (it is a joint claim) ?

Thanks

1Penny