going to court

hi, 
im looking for advice on going to court ,our association is thinking of taking the park owner to court with regards to electricity charges if it's decided to go this way who pays for the cost and if the association were to loose the case who pays the court cost's ..does anyone know if resident's as a group are entitled to legal aid 
As this is only in discusion at the minute i would just like to gain some information as our chairman is posative we wouldn't have to pay anything to go this way .

Firstly the easy bit.

If you lose the case, you will certainly have to pay your solicitor's and Court costs. If the judge thought you were seriously wasting everyone's time, he could also award costs to the park owner, which would mean that you might have to pay those, or a proportion of those as well.

I have never heard of a Resident's Association being granted Legal Aid, but I am not a solicitor and you would need to take advice from one, or the Citizens Advice Bureau.

I am checking today if a dispute involving electricity charges will in future come under the jurisdiction of the Residential Property Tribunal Service instead of the Courts and I will come back on that one as soon as I have a reply.

In the meantime, the resale of electricity charges is governed by legislation and the following link to Ofgem may be of some help to you:-

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/Pages/Resaleofgasandelectricity.aspx

You will also find a guidance factsheet which you will be able to download and share with your association. Once you have read this, if you still think you are being overcharged, then I personally, would have a word with Ofgem first. It may be that they would write to the Park Owner a warning letter.

Regards

Ed

Good  morning  Ed,    Do  the   Residential   Property  Tribunal  Service   have  the  same  powers  as  the  law  courts...does  residential   cover  all  properties  including  bricks  and  mortor...thankyou  evergreen

There are certain things that for example a park owner will have to go to the Residential Property Tribunal (RPT) first. For example, if a park owner considers that one of the homes on the park are detrimental to the others, he/she must go to the RPT first. If the RPT decide that the property is detrimental, the park owner must then go to the Courts for the judge to serve an eviction order.

If you go to the RPT and don't like their decision, I'm afraid it stops there. A judge will always take into account the RPT decision.

If you read both our articles you will see that the RPT started off life with bricks and mortar and has only just taken on the responsibilities of the park home industry.

Ed

Hello, I don't think assoiations can apply for legal aid, only individuals.  RPT cost £150 for every application submitted (1 per problem per  form).

Details are vailable here:  http://www.rpts.gov.uk/about_us/rpt.htm unfortunately thier website is not working tonight!!  Best of luck.