~~~**IMPORTANT** Mortgage Claimants ~ PLEASE READ ~~

[phill2007]

Hi,

 

Sorry for the delay in replying, I forgot to mention, it was by default as the Halifax never submitted a defence, they claim it was on their solicitors desk and they did not get chance to respond. They are still saying they will not pay at this stage but will be exercising their right of appeal. They have until the end of July, so we'll see!

[Bona]

how come to the end of July an appeal has to be lodged within 21 days of judgement

[phill2007]

Many thanks, I was not aware of the fact they only had 21 days to appeal, the end of July was the date I set them to pay me by.

 

Thanks again

[zootscoot]

It wouldn't be an appeal it would be an application to set aside.

[The cobbett slayer]

It wouldn't be an appeal it would be an application to set aside.

 

And there is no reason for them not to have the set aside allowed. They simply have to demonstrate that they could have submitted a defence, the fact that they didn't seems to be irrelevant.

 

This happened in my Natwest claim and when they went to court for the set aside the judge dismissed any arguments I put forward and allowed Natwest a further 14 days to file their defence.

 

If they do apply to set aside, I personally would even waste my time trying to defend it.

[espire]

hi guys,

Im about to submit my N1 claim form into the county court for Arrears/late/non payment by dd etc all against GMAC, I've made a claim for Solicitors cost as I think/feel being charged £1571 a bit high, I asked them to forward details as to why the charges are so high and they've failed to do so, has anyone here claimed HIGH solicitors along with other charges:(

espire mark

[maybelline]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/11819-guidance-notes-incomplete.htm

 

I think the guidance suggests not going for certain things, this link might help.

[espire]

thank you 'Maybelline', I'll fight that one another day!!

[Bona]

I am fighting GMAC and have a costs case against gmac for solicitors fees suggest you look at the gmac threads under mortgages

[espire]

Thanks Bona

 

espiremark

West Sussex

[Pen]

Hello everyone.

 

I don't think I have been on this particular thread before, but I am hoping someone can help me out.

 

I have just, with loads and loads of help from CAG members, claimed back my bank chargers from LTSB, Well done CAG! I am know hoping to do the same with my mortgage chargers from Abbey. I have just recieved most of my statements from my current Mortgage account after sending the SAR and the £10.00 Fee.

 

A lot of the chargers are easily recognisable. But! there is about £4,000 in litigation fees. these Fees should not have been placed on my account in the first place. to cut a long story short, we had an agreement in place with Abbey to reduce our mortgage payments when we were going through a bad patch, Abbey took us to court denying the agreement, we defended it all the way. In the end Abbey did not bother turning up for the final hearing so the judge agreed and Told us that as long as we continue to pay what we are paying Abbey can take a run and jump. He also stated that Abbey would not be allowed to claim costs in relation to the hearing.

 

However we have noticed on the statement all these litigation fees which I am unhappy about as they have been added to the principle loan, one in particular is for £850.00 so over 25 yrs becomes quite a lot of money.

What can I do about this, can I reclaim them ?

 

Pen

[half ax I]

Pen

 

Probably not what you want to hear, but I would check the terms and conditions of your mortgage. There may be a condition that they will charge you all legal fees they incur in respect to your mortgage so irrespective of award of costs in a court they are able to charge their costs to your mortgage under the terms of the contract. However they must be able to justify that these charges are reasonable and you should be within your rights to request a fully itemised breakdown of these charges and if you think they are excessive then I think you can complain. I think the Law Society may be the organisation that can determine the reasonableness. If they have used external legal resource they should have invoices and again these should be able to stand up to scrutiny though I doubt they will offer them up.

 

S

[maybelline]

why would a mortgagor put in an application for costs but no defence??

[Pen]

Hi Maybelline, no idea. We went to court about 6 times over this issue because each time Abbey had not supplied us with a witness statement or other such evidence so the judge kept setting another date etc, but each time we would be paying the costs for their solicitor. one solicitor told us it would be cheaper if we didn't defend as then we would not have to keep paying his fee's which I did not think was far at all. If Abbey are in the wrong why should I pay there solicitors fee's. I questioned the Judge on this at the final hearing and the judge agreed with us that we shouldn't pay. He said if they do appeal on our statement we should inform him.

 

what had happened was we got into 2 months arrears due to my illness, however we where paying our full mortgage payment plus £80.00 to wards the arrears which abbey had agreed too. somewhere along the line they wanted more and we refused because we had an agreement for this amount with them. In the end the judge agreed with us and made a order that we continue with the payments we were making. Now because of the interest risers we have increase our arrears payment by a further £100.00 to £180 a month. yet even though we have increased our payments to suit the increase in interest, Abbey have took the issue back to court to change the directions to suit. this seems so unfair and unnecessary and again they will put more litigation fees and solicitors fees on to our account. Once again we are defending this action as unnesassary, not only have we stuck to the directions we have increased our payments yet by defending it we will be hit with more costs, maybe we should not have bothered and let Abbey do what they want as we will end up paying these fees either way.

 

I will not be able to attend the hearing so I have wrote to the court explaining what has been happening and enclosed copy's of recipts of all our payments to show the increase. I will just have to wait and see.

 

Halifax. I have my original T&Cs and yes it does say somthing to that effect. hmmm

 

thanks everyone

 

Pen

[moneymania]

Pen

 

Probably not what you want to hear, but I would check the terms and conditions of your mortgage. There may be a condition that they will charge you all legal fees they incur in respect to your mortgage so irrespective of award of costs in a court they are able to charge their costs to your mortgage under the terms of the contract. However they must be able to justify that these charges are reasonable and you should be within your rights to request a fully itemised breakdown of these charges and if you think they are excessive then I think you can complain. I think the Law Society may be the organisation that can determine the reasonableness. If they have used external legal resource they should have invoices and again these should be able to stand up to scrutiny though I doubt they will offer them up.

 

S

 

Wouldn't that be classed as an unfair indemnity clause?

Surely a clause like that would prejudice your right to issue a claim against them.

[moneymania]

Many thanks, I was not aware of the fact they only had 21 days to appeal, the end of July was the date I set them to pay me by.

 

Thanks again

 

any update on this one Phill?

[phill2007]

Hi

 

Halifax have appointed a solicitor and applied for a stay on the judgement. Hearing is due for the end of the month, I've just strengthed the particulars of my claim in preparation and am awaiting further info....

 

Will leave further messages soon.

Phill

[phill2007]

Hi

 

Halifax have appointed a solicitor and applied for a stay on the judgement. Hearing is due for the end of the month, I've just strengthed the particulars of my claim in preparation and am awaiting further info....

 

Will leave further messages soon.

Phill

 

 

The particulars changes have been accepted by the court but the hearing has now been adjourned until 10th September.

[phill2007]

Hi all

 

I was in court this morning in my case against the Halifax for the charges that they leivied on my mortgage account at closure for an Early Repayment Charge of £3999.95. The judge agreed that the default judgement was to be set aside and a hearing has been set in the fast track before the end of the year.

 

Is anyone able to offer any advise at this stage, the judge today said if I were to continue then it could set a precedent for others reclaiming ERC as well as Exit administration fees.

 

My worries are obviously that if I now lose then costs could be awarded against me. However the judge was extremely helpful and appeared to show that he would like it to go to trial to settle the issue once and for all, in a similar manner to that of bank charges.

 

If a moderator is available for discussion I wouldn't mind a quick chat if possible to see if I can move this issue forward.

[Guest DEATHLORD]

Hi Phil,

Just one question is this case due to a repro or just that you are claiming the erc back.

I'm doing the same now and the company did not wish to give any information at all and to this date they have not. They should have given it by the 7th at 16.00hrs but todate nothing so now just waiting!

Ive done mine as a breach of contract, which the judge accpeted and as to costs he ' said see if you win first ' to the company so I think they will not get it.

Hope thngs go well for you but be careful as I know the mortgage companies watch this site.

[phill2007]

Hi Phil,

Just one question is this case due to a repro or just that you are claiming the erc back.

I'm doing the same now and the company did not wish to give any information at all and to this date they have not. They should have given it by the 7th at 16.00hrs but todate nothing so now just waiting!

Ive done mine as a breach of contract, which the judge accpeted and as to costs he ' said see if you win first ' to the company so I think they will not get it.

Hope thngs go well for you but be careful as I know the mortgage companies watch this site.

 

Hi Deathlord, purely seeking recovery of the ERC and Exit Administration Fees. Good luck sounds like you've already got the case wrapped up, as soon as the judge accepts it's a breach of contract, then you can prove it was a penalty.

 

Keep in touch and let me know your outcome!

 

Phill

[Guest DEATHLORD]

Hi Phil,

Yes well the b*******ds have not sent any thing but a letter saying I was late not sending a fax by 2 hours! as the court office haven'tsent it I don't know what they are complaining about.

But I DO know that they do not want to give any thing in writing!.

So lets see now as I think its a case of having there defence stuck out as not sending any thing to me or the court.

I do believe that all the case which are due to repro should be treated as a breach of contract as that is what you have done if they take you to court to recover there mortgage. And I think the judges are now seeing this as it is no more than a money making excuse for the companys.

[blue_boy_38]

Hi Phil,

 

I can't see where you state the reasons for your original claim. Is it cause you think the ERC is a penalty - or was the term considered unfair in your particular cicumstances?

[metxs]

hiya all... is there sum1 out there i can discuss spml with.... charges,arrears etc..3 yrs is up end of january 2008 thank god. but they really want our house pls help!

thx

[iconoclash]

"(In the end Abbey did not bother turning up for the final hearing so the judge agreed and Told us that as long as we continue to pay what we are paying Abbey can take a run and jump. He also stated that Abbey would not be allowed to claim costs in relation to the hearing."

 

Hi - what does that mean exactly? costs for hearing? they sued you under the same contract as that which embodies the terms of their costs - yes? Think this should be looked at closer - what was the courts specific decision in relation to the costs? may be something to challenge them on.