Services

Ground Rent Arrears Recovery

Established, effective and well-resourced arrears recovery services… 

With significant changes in the ground rent market in recent years, including the ongoing programme of legislative reform led by the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act, the need for efficient, commercial collection of overdue ground rents and associated charges has become increasingly important for freeholders and investors.

At JB Leitch, we act for many of the largest ground rent management companies in the UK, specialising in customised ground rent collection services on both criteria (where the ground rent is in excess of £350) and non-criteria ground rent debts.

We have established systems for evaluating the legal avenues open for timely and compliant recovery of even the smallest sums and provide bespoke and frequent reports to provide detailed analysis for different portfolios and investors. Ground rents can be collected in isolation, or we can run cost-effective volume linked service charge collections liaising with multiple property management companies on the landlord’s behalf ensuring information is shared and updated simultaneously.

Our reporting capabilities are second to none allowing us to provide detailed and bespoke analysis for different portfolios, investors and lenders.

Our end-to-end process for recovering non-criteria ground rent (NCGR) has successfully provided a no risk service in reducing debt arrears for a number of years.

In adding further value, where we are the nominated solicitor for the landlord’s development, we offer this service free of charge and JB Leitch will provide a free 10-day pre-action letter (“PAL”) for all NCGR instructions.

Our approach:

Our typical ground rent collection process involves:

  • File / Case set up and searches
  • Analysis and interpretation of all leases, arrears and archival information
  • Ongoing client communications & reporting
  • Letters of claim and payment processing
  • Dealing with lessee disputes
  • Ensuring compliance with SRA and GDPR regulations in data management and archiving
  • Preparation and submission of claim to Court
  • Processing of Court and Judgment forms preparation and submission of judgment to Court
  • Checking balances and payments with client systems
  • Acquisition of lessee mortgage account details Letters of claim sent to lender
  • Detailed breakdown of case costing provided to lender
  • CMS information update for reporting purposes
  • Providing documentation to lender in compliance with their individual requirement
  • Multiple correspondence with lender
  • 146 notice if required

Key Contacts

Karen Bolland
Mark Scarisbrick