An old Manchester based client of Bradys’ returned in April this year, having been underwhelmed by other solicitors they’d used. Having taken a rather laid-back approach to service charge payments throughout the pandemic, they decided to return to specialist solicitors in Bradys to recover the outstanding arrears which totaled over £3.5 million across multiple developments.
Case background
Although the total amount was substantial and left a significant hole in their maintenance budgets, the majority of the individual sums owed were relatively small amounts. This left the client with a bit of a predicament, as they weren’t in a position to send out letters before action (LBA) as they would have done following their standard credit control procedure, but they needed to find a way to recover the arrears to fund necessary maintenance works. To help them find a resolution they instructed Bradys to develop a tailored approach to suit their requirements.
Brady approach
In normal circumstances we would advise our clients to wait until the amount increased and then send out LBAs to leaseholders who allowed the debt to continue to rise. However, due to the relaxed approach taken by the client throughout the pandemic and therefore the sheer number of debtors, we developed a solution to suit the client’s requirements. Ultimately, the Brady experts created a tailored letter for each of the developments our client managed, which could be sent to the leaseholders whose debts weren’t large enough to warrant an LBA. Within the letter it informed the leaseholders of the actions to be taken if they weren’t to pay their arrears, which included an LBA, and then more severe actions should payment still not be made.
Due to the strategic wording of the letters distributed, they provoked a significant amount of payments within a matter of days. The level of debt reduced significantly in the first few months of Bradys being involved and that is only after our letters to manage low-level debtors. We have since been instructed to further assist our client with leaseholders who have more significant arrears.
Client feedback
When asked about their experience working with Bradys, our clients’ Credit Controller said:
“We found working with Bradys very refreshing. Rather than simply being told to wait and send out letters before action, with little to no consideration of the impact the debts were having upon our blocks. Bradys were more than willing to work with us and tailor their processes to enable us to be much more proactive with our debtors. Working with them has also helped us to understand what procedures we should have in place to avoid finding ourselves in a similar position again.”
