Owning your own home

Need to get my lease extended or at least start that process now.
There are a few online only experts who charge around £3k in fee’s and i’m going to get in touch with my local outfit who did a standard property purchase, there is also Glazer Delmar in Dulwich who have been mentioned a few times but if anyone has any recommendations then let me know and an outline on their fee’s if possible.
Standard lease extension but below 80 years so some marriage value to calculate but apart from that should be straightforward with no outrageous ground rent issues etc.

In our last house I built a wooden frame about 10cm below roof line and put kingspan above and tongue and groove uPVC panelling below. Made a huge difference in summer and winter.

I have some pics somewhere

did you figure out if youre doing sometthing wrong? ours is up from 650 to 900 buildings and contents, on comparethemarket most providers wont even give us a quote..

I bought a flat. It has been fine. We do seem to have pretty good management company though and the other owners are mostly not lunatics.

Obviously I'd have bought a fucking mansion if I could afford it but alas London's Famous London isn't the most reasonable of property markets.

A bailiff put this through the door earlier today. After ignoring a few letters and returning a few other letters. It seems that we will have an issue with the council tax debt accumulated by some guy completely unknown to us in a council in the other corner of London.

We can prove we have lived and owned the property for two years, the previous owner was an elderly lady who went to a care home. So it is either a scam, an error in the address or someone took advantage of the period the property was empty to register the debt to this address.

Can we get rid of these people without a spending £££ on a lawyer? In all honesty I am quite sceptical about writing to them with any our personal details in case they do something dodgy like transferring the debt to us.

Has someone had a similar situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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Believe it or not, it’s illegal to open post that’s addressed to someone else. So delete that post and ignore the letters, or when you get another letter cross out the address, write “no longer at this address” on the letter and pop it back in a post box. The letters will get increasingly angry and threatening and then they will stop as there’s nothing they can do.

This is such an unhelpful response

In what way? The point is that it’s legally, and literally none of their business, so don’t worry about it.

You won’t get bailiffs breaking down your door if you’re asking about that. Anyone that has rented in London gets letters like this. They won’t without legal confirmation that the debtor is still there.

As jameo said, if not addressed to you don't stress it.
If it's bothering you phone newlyn plc, tell em the person they're chasing for money isn't at your address.
I've had multiple debt agencies chasing the previous tennant at my address, phoned them all, letters have ceased.

Just to clarify, this wasn’t posted this was hand delivered by some scrote this Saturday afternoon while I was playing with my 2yr old which is quite menacing

which is quite menacing

They specialise in that, part of the way the business works.

Don't let them in 'to look around' or anything similar as if you do they can break in next time.

I'd contact Lambeth Council and tell them they have the wrong people/address. I wouldn't talk to a company that calls itself a PLC using a PO Box and mobile numbers.

Copy pasta from

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/bailiffs/stopping-bailiffs/stopping-bailiffs-if-you-dont-owe-the-debt/

If you don’t owe the debt

You should act quickly to prove the debt isn’t yours - this can stop the bailiffs visiting.

If it’s someone else’s debt
Call the bailiffs - you can find their number on the notice of enforcement. It’s best to call them, as this is the quickest way to get in touch.

Tell them you’re not the person named on the notice of enforcement. Explain you’II send evidence to prove this. You should still do this even if the debt belongs to someone you live with - for example your partner or a housemate.

Ask them to put your case on hold while you’re sending in your evidence and they look into your case - they must do this if you ask.

If you’re worried about calling the bailiffs get help from your nearest Citizens Advice.

Evidence you should send

Send a letter to the bailiffs, you can find their address on the notice of enforcement. Say you don’t owe the debt and include evidence that shows you’re not the person named on the notice of enforcement. You could send any of these things:

a benefit letter from the last 3 months
your council tax bill from the last 3 months
your bank or building society statement from the last 3 months
It’s best to send copies of your documents not the originals.

You should also send a copy of your letter to the creditor. Doing this could help you get your problem sorted more quickly, this is because the creditor is the person that has asked the bailiffs to collect the debt.

You can find the creditor’s name on the notice of enforcement - use this to search online for their address.

Send your letter and evidence by recorded delivery if you can. Keep a copy of your letter and any reply you get in case you need it later.

I've had that too, but I wasn't playing with your 2yr old.
Phone the office not the mobile (if you're going to contact them).
Don't worry about it, they can't enter unless you invite them in (or they find an open door/window).

Who were the previous letters addressed to?

Would you use your personal details when contacting Lambeth council or just sign something like: ‘the legal owners and sole occupants of (add address)’ ? I honestly have no desire to give my contact details or any more ammo to any of these people

That's the bailiffs number, not the company number.
The council will be no help, they've passed the debt on now.

Same guy, just opened one with Lambeth councils seal as it looked suspicious and todays as it didn’t have a stamp and it was delivered while I was in

The previous owner of our place let everyone register this address for things and we had to deal with bailiffs all the time. I emailed them with proof of ownership and proof we lived here and they fucked off.

Brilliant, many thanks!

Believe it or not, it’s illegal to open post that’s addressed to someone else.

No it isn't, if a reasonable excuse exists.

When we first moved in there were 21 people registered at this address on the electoral role. It had been empty for over a year. Someone had also registered a company here and HMRC were after them. I answered the door to a bailiff and he was shocked I wasn't Mr Wahab, the previous owner, who he knew very well. Mr Wahab was insistent on picking up any post that came but after the bailiff incident I told him to fuck off and dug out the mortgage contract that had an address for him on it and I just gave that out to all the bailiffs after that.

You are going to have to identify yourself, and prove that you are who you say you are, to force them to stop chasing you for the debt.

No it isn't, if a reasonable excuse exists.

That’s the point. The default is that it’s illegal to open other people’s mail.

Sure, why not.

When we first moved in there were 21 people registered at this address on the electoral role. It had been empty for over a year.

This is one argument for a national database of people, perhaps linked to an ID card.