Ground Rent- this must be a Scam!

[HonkyWonkWoman]

My Dd had had a letter asking for her Ground Rent of £24to be paid within 14days, if not she would be (fined) £70.
She forgot about it for about a week and then sent a Cheque for 2 years £48

She then got a letter demanding £70 plus the GR.

She phones and tells them that she posted a Cheque and the nasty woman said that she had the cheque but it was "out of time" so she wouldn't bank it until she received the £70 "fine" .

And if she didn't receive the £70 plus ground Rent in 14 days she would take it to court and it would cost my Dd another £240

What I'm asking is if it's legal to fine someone £70 for a Cheque arriving a few days late for a £24 per year GR.

Also, the only way available to pay is by cheque or postal order.

Any suggestions what to do!

It sounds very wrong, but what is in her contract?

Ground rent is interesting. It's due even if you haven't been asked for it. Ground rent companies tend to be pretty aggressive so she needs to get on top of paying it.

No idea about the £70. Sorry

She doesn't have a contract with them. It's a Private House left to her by her Df.
Should she ask for a Contract from them?

The property is presumably leasehold. The lease is the contract. It won't necessarily be with the company demanding ground rent (which sounds like Shenfield). They will probably have purchased the freehold from the previous freeholder.

They may be able to enforce their an admin fee if they can persuade the court it is reasonable. I suspect the court may consider that an admin fee of three times the amount owed is not reasonable.

That is exactly what I have told Dd that the the admin fee (if that's what they want to call it) is an unreasonable amount.
They are also bullying her with the threat of, if they take her to Court it will cost her £240 plus the £70 admin plus the actual £24 ground rent.
I've told her to play their bluff and tell them that she will fight it, if they take it to Court. But she's scared!
I mean, what is to stop them, holding onto a Cheque sent to them until it's over the time and then charging the "admin fee".
It's definately a con!

Yes! It is Shenfield, why are they being allowed to get away with it?

I very much doubt they would be able to add on £240 if it went to court. This would be a small claim so they cannot claim legal fees. They can claim court fees but that would be less than £100.

Thank you for your help prh47.
Dd is afraid and is going to pay this time but I can feel it is extortion and am angry in her behalf.
For a start, this Shenfield sounds like a big company!
What company of any size demands that payments can only be made be cheque? If what they want is actually to be paid.
They appear to be making payments as difficult as possible, I think the main money they are after is the £70 charge.

Ground rent is interesting. It's due even if you haven't been asked for it

That's not actually true - it's not due until a demand in the prescribed form has been sent. Did she (well, her DF) receive a demand in the prescribed form before the reminder?

www.lease-advice.org/article/ground-rent-a-demanding-notice/

Ah, it might be that I'm confused... even if they haven't demanded it previously, they can demand all of their arrears. I got a huge bill about ten years ago and was amazed they could start charging me five years previously but not tell me about it...

Thanks squiggler

Oh yes, I see what you mean Slight... Yes, unfortunately they don't lose the right to demand the arrears later. They just have to use the prescribed form to do so.

They can only enforce 6 years of arrears.

this Shenfield sounds like a big company

Far from it. They are tiny. They are just well known for buying up leasehold properties then claiming arrears of ground rent that are unenforceable, claiming excessive admin fees and being rude and aggressive to people. This has always been their approach. Unfortunately it works for them because too many people are intimidated and pay up.

Thanks prh47, it's the point that they will only accept payments by cheque that makes me think that they are more interested in the "excessive admin fee".
You seem to know that this is how they operate and there will be many people who have fallen into their trap.
They are "cowboys" and I am trying to think about what I can do about it, the only communication is through a P.O. Box.
I'm going to contact Watch dog and see if they might be interested in it!
I'm fuming and can't just leave it at that!

Btw. prh47 have you any information about them, that I can pass on to Watchdog?

I think Watchdog may already know about them. But all they need is an address and phone number. Even better if you have the company number.

For future reference, you might be able to purchase the freehold.

Does your DD have any proof of when she posted the cheque? If she was a week late sending it she should have still been within the 14 days.

There is deemed service in law, so if she can prove when it was sent, she can argue that it would have arrived before the deadline.

When we had to deal with this scrupulous and customer focussed organisation that goes out of it's way to help the vulnerable and ensure they do not take advantage of peoples confusion over the intricacies of leasehold rents, we were able to instruct our bill aggregator service (use to be called Moneyway) to issue a cheque to a specific payee on a schedule. That way, should there be any queries over whether a cheque was received or not, there was a 3rd party to provide documentary evidence if required. Which it never was ....