fivetide

iTrader: (1)

*****long post warning******

This is why flats are a pain in the rear. Basically we let this one out but the original builder appointed a right shower to look after the place.

Thanks to the builder blockign up a vent we had damp in the stairwell for four years (amongst many other complaints such as over charging and inaccurate invoices which simply said things like "replace bulb £200")

After many years of battle we finally got trading standards in which seemed to work a bit, they repaired the stairwell and dropped the charges they were trying to put on us (they could have had it done for free by the builder if they'd only done their job).

To get them moving (and my only way to come back at them) i stopped payign their fees although i did pay everything they invoiced for such as electrcity, stair cleaning etc.

This has left a debt of £450 which with their last letter they said was "justified" although no reason was given. Basically if i hadn't done my job for several years i'd be a bit brass neck to say i was justified in getting paid!

So anyway, they ignored my last letter offering a split and sent a court threat instead. I know that small claims court likes to see evidence that both parties have tried to resolve things by negociation so i do feel i'm one up, plus Trading Standards agreed with me that the work was rubbish.

Question is - even with that am i likely to get creamed and/or should the letter below be enough to scare them into just sorting it out? Be interested to know!

cheers,

5t.

7th January 2009

Re: 3 ******* Park – Letter from solicitors

Mr Dinsmore,

I was saddened to receive another threatening legal letter from your company re: disputed costs. As I have stated to you previously I would like to find a solution to this and I do not and did not expect anymore of these letters.

I wrote to you, with no reply, on 2nd December asking you to justify the fees charged for the period when Hacking & Paterson failed to provide the services set out under their contract, specifically repairs to the property due to damp.

I also suggested a way out which would be to halve the debt and return to an even footing, this would be a good deal for you since I had been paying the fees for several years while no work was carried out.

Instead of responding correctly the next letter was one threatening court action, dated 23rd December 2008. As a reasonable person I am still willing to offer you this way out. If you proceed with the action threatened in your letter I warn you now I will defend the action in court and having checked with Citizen’s Advice, believe I have a good case. This route will only lead to more wasted time for all concerned.

I do feel this has taken up far too much of my time already, I am a busy person and this is eating into my personal time to excess. In my job my time is billed at £750 per day plus 15% administration costs, this breaks down on a hourly basis to £107.81 per hour. Starting with this letter I intend to ask the court to award costs based on the rate set out. With research and writing this means that this letter has taken two hours or £215.62 which I do not feel is unreasonable given the time I have historically had to invest simply to get your company to carry out the tasks it has been contracted to do.

Further letters, time in court and travel will be billed at the same rate.

I would believe that financially it would make sense for you to reach agreement through negotiation as already it seems the court costs would be much higher than the disputed debt or the way out I am offering you here.

I look forward to your response. Please note the change of address too. 3 ****** Park is now being let although I will continue to be the point of contact as this saga drags on.

Regards,