Negligent and dishonest
We have instructed Ken Parke to act as a planning consultant in Summer 2020. We signed the contract and the engagement letter where we agreed to pay £1500 plus Vat for the service. We paid the invoice as requested. The contract terms stated that should the case become more complicated due to unforeseen issues, Ken will not exceed the upper amount quoted without the client’s confirmation. Furthermore, the terms of the contract clearly stated that Ken Parke would agree on any additional charges payable for the service with the client giving no less than 1 months’ written notice. The decision on our planning application was made in November 2020. The planning had been refused and we made a decision not to appeal. In March 2021, 4 months after our planning application had been refused, we received a request for additional payment from Ken. In the email, Ken admitted he failed to make us aware of the additional charges, but since he had realised ( 4 months after we received a decision on our planning application) that he had done more work on the case than he had anticipated, we need to absorb the additional cost. Whilst admitting in writing that he had mismanaged the case and failed to meet his own terms and conditions, he said that he still expected us to pay. We have taken independent legal advice, and our solicitors haven’t found any term of the contract where it stated that Ken Parke can charge us retrospectively for works that exceeded the upper amount quoted without our prior agreement. And the contract we had signed clearly had clearly stated that no variations to the contract (i.e. introducing a retrospective charge) shall be valid unless it is in writing and signed by or on behalf of each party. We trusted Ken as a professional to abide by the terms and conditions that we all agreed to. The fact that Ken Parke hasn’t fulfilled his obligations under the contract and continued to provide chargeable service without our agreement, our solicitor's view on this is as follows. “At best Ken Park Planning have been negligent and at worst it could be argued that they have gone out of the way to defraud you or purposely make more money from the situation”. After two weeks of bulling emails from Ken, on 29 March 2021 we received an invoice for an additional £600 + Vat from Ken. Whilst I can not comment on Ken Parke's expertise in obtaining planning as we have only submitted one application with them which had been refused. This could happen with any application and this was outside Ken's control. But I am extremely disappointed at the dishonest and bullying approach, retrospectively charging us for works we haven't authorised and had no idea would result in an additional £600 plus VAT charge, betrayal of trust, and gross misconduct. Based on my experience I would not recommend Ken Parke planning to anyone who is looking for a planning consultant. I now have no choice, but to contact the regulatory body and the watchdog.