My mother owns a leasehold on a flat which she lets out via an agency. On Thursday she received notice from court for a possession hearing for non payment of ground rent, interest and admin fees totaling £582. This was followed by a letter from a firm of solicitors stating that she must pay the £582 plus their costs of £1007 in order for the case to be withdrawn, however if not paid additional costs for instructing council to attend the hearing will be added.
THis was the first she heard about it. The claim form had 4 copy invoices exhibited all sent to the flat in question, at which she does not nor has ever resided, addressed to "owner/occupier". The letting agent hasn't ever received them nor have tenants ever forwarded one on so i assume they were binned (assuming they ever sent them). She pays the maintainance charges which are considerably more than the ground rent so in the absense of an invoice she never thought about rent.
I contacted the firm of solicitors to explain why she never received an invoice and said we would pay the £582 immediately so would they withdraw the claim once recieved, but was told its tough, it was her responsibility to inform the freeholder of her address and the case will only be withdrawn if she pays their costs too!
Please can someone advise if they are within their rights to have issued these proceedings? Had they ever contacted her at the correct address, which would have been easy to find if they had checked (its on the land reg docs etc) she would have paid immediately. Furthermore the solicitors obviously obtained the correct address when issuing the claim as her name and home address were on the claim form, yet no letters demanding payment were sent to the address prior to issuing the claim.
She is a disabled pensioner and this has caused her a lot of distress. It doesn't seem right that they can have issued these proceedings without ever having notified her then demand £1k to make it go away!
THis was the first she heard about it. The claim form had 4 copy invoices exhibited all sent to the flat in question, at which she does not nor has ever resided, addressed to "owner/occupier". The letting agent hasn't ever received them nor have tenants ever forwarded one on so i assume they were binned (assuming they ever sent them). She pays the maintainance charges which are considerably more than the ground rent so in the absense of an invoice she never thought about rent.
I contacted the firm of solicitors to explain why she never received an invoice and said we would pay the £582 immediately so would they withdraw the claim once recieved, but was told its tough, it was her responsibility to inform the freeholder of her address and the case will only be withdrawn if she pays their costs too!
Please can someone advise if they are within their rights to have issued these proceedings? Had they ever contacted her at the correct address, which would have been easy to find if they had checked (its on the land reg docs etc) she would have paid immediately. Furthermore the solicitors obviously obtained the correct address when issuing the claim as her name and home address were on the claim form, yet no letters demanding payment were sent to the address prior to issuing the claim.
She is a disabled pensioner and this has caused her a lot of distress. It doesn't seem right that they can have issued these proceedings without ever having notified her then demand £1k to make it go away!
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