County Court (Small Claims track) - Page 6

Tezcatlipoca · 10-02-2007, 01:04

Cheers, all

Very glad it's all over & done with!

It's been just over a year now (!) since my ex-housemates & I moved out of that hell-hole & that <insert extremely rude word here> withheld our deposit.

Just got to wait for him to pay up now, but like I said above, I think (hope) he will as he sounded worried about getting a CCJ (plus if he didn't pay, we'd just presumably be able to go back & get an order to get his salary garnished, or bailiffs sent in, or whatever).

@ me283 - yeah. He bombarded us & the court with so much stuff, so much paperwork, & it was all crap. Heh, and I had to stop myself laughing in the hearing when he tried telling the *Judge* about "the spirit of the law" lol. So surprised at how quick it was - the 1st DJ said 2 hours at least (hence the delay & re-schedule), this one had made her mind up before we got in there, & we were in & out in 10 mins.

me283 · 10-02-2007, 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt D

Cheers, all

Very glad it's all over & done with!

It's been just over a year now (!) since my ex-housemates & I moved out of that hell-hole & that <insert extremely rude word here> withheld our deposit.

Just got to wait for him to pay up now, but like I said above, I think (hope) he will as he sounded worried about getting a CCJ (plus if he didn't pay, we'd just presumably be able to go back & get an order to get his salary garnished, or bailiffs sent in, or whatever).

@ me283 - yeah. He bombarded us & the court with so much stuff, so much paperwork, & it was all crap. Heh, and I had to stop myself laughing in the hearing when he tried telling the *Judge* about "the spirit of the law" lol. So surprised at how quick it was - the 1st DJ said 2 hours at least (hence the delay & re-schedule), this one had made her mind up before we got in there, & we were in & out in 10 mins.

Yep, County Court can be fun!

Re: him not paying, there are many things you can do. Most people opt for a warrant of execution, which means a bailiff knocking on the door. Sadly these days, a lot of debtors know how to "play the game", rendering bailiffs fairly powerless. You could try using a High Court Enforcement Officer, depending on the value though, as they will try a little harder.

Another method, which could be easier in this case, is the garnishee. These days it's called a Third Party Debt Order, and it would be useful to you in many ways. I assume you know the landlord's bank details, so you can effectively get the full debt paid from their bank; but what a lot of people don't realise is that you can garnishee not just the bank, but ANYONE who owes the landlord money. So, if he has new tenants, you just garnishee them instead - so the rent gets paid to you instead of the landlord. And here's another bonus - if you go for his bank account, the bank usually charge him a hefty admin fee too.

Another method would be a Land Registry Charging Order, but these can be costly and time-consuming. Depending on the value of the debt, you could also apply for bankruptcy - again, this can be costly and time-consuming.

One of my favourites at the moment though, is the Oral Examination. Basically, the bailiff will serve an order on the landlord, telling him to attend Court for questioning. He will have to answer q list of detailed questions about assets, income and outgoings, and other stuff, plus any questions that you may wish to add to the list. He will also have to bring evidence in support, such as bank statements, payslips etc. Cheekily, he can actually ask you to pay his expenses for travelling to the Court, but here's the beauty - if he doesn't keep the appointment at the Court, a warrant for his arrest can be issued. When he is arrested, he will be taken to Court for the questioning... unless it's outside Court hours, in which case he gets locked up overnight, or for the weekend. Lovely thought, eh?

I should add, for all of these things there is a fee to pay, However, whatever you pay out gets added to what the Court try to recover from him. Most of the forms are available online, along with guidance. Feel free to to PM me if I can help at all. Good luck!

SMHarman · 12-02-2007, 21:20

If this deposit is over 750 you can just petition for bankrupcy. That normally hurries payment up.

me283 · 12-02-2007, 21:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMHarman

If this deposit is over 750 you can just petition for bankrupcy. That normally hurries payment up.

It means stumping up quite a bit of cash first though. But you are right, it does seem to wake people up!

Tezcatlipoca · 12-02-2007, 23:56

Thanks for the info

me283 · 13-02-2007, 07:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt D

Thanks for the info

You're welcome. Good luck

TheNorm · 15-02-2008, 16:28

I have a success story to share...

My wife an I ordered a new white bathroom suite from Wickes to replace the avacado green we had grown a little tired of. The suite was delivered by Mark Two Distributors, and arrived as scheduled. The packaging gave no indication of the contents (not even a bar code), but as far as we could see everything looked OK. The plumber arrived the next day to fit the suite, but found that the cistern was from a different range and would not fit. So, we contacted Mark Two and a replacement cistern was sent the following week. The plumber came again and fitted the correct cistern. All was well.

The plumber presented us with a bill for the extra day of work (Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£120). No problem, we thought, we can claim the money back from Mark Two as they were responsible for the extra expense. Ha ha, what a joke!

Several calls to the "help" desk and two cheques later (one for Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£25, one for Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£50, both of which we refused) we reached a brick wall. So, we logged on to www.moneyclaim.gov.uk , entered a few simple details, and paid a Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£25 fee.

In a couple of days a manager from the help desk called to offer us a full refund, including the Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£25 fee, provided that we dropped the claim. The cheque for Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£145 arrived this morning and the claim was dropped this afternoon. At last, everyone is happy.

Having gone through this little experience, I would offer the following advice:

- Only put in a claim if you are sure you are in the right and you have already made several attempts to get the money.

- Don't be fobbed off by "help" desk script readers.

- Don't let it get personal. We were tempted to ask for money for "inconvenience" (no pun intended), but decided to keep the claim to the plumber's invoice.

Finally, even though it is a very small victory, it is still a victory. And it feels good!

Bengie · 15-02-2008, 18:06

I see one error in your success story Norm. You say "at last, everyone is happy",
I can't think of one company manager who is probably not.

Anyway congratulations. It shows what can be achieved with the proper threats.

TheNorm · 16-02-2008, 16:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bengie

I see one error in your success story Norm. You say "at last, everyone is happy",
I can't think of one company manager who is probably not.

Anyway congratulations. It shows what can be achieved with the proper threats.

Funny you should say that. When the manager phoned with the "full and final offer", my wife (who took the call) said the manager seemed a bit surprised that we were willing to accept it. We think they were expecting us to ask for some more money on top.

Anyway, thanks.

Arthurgray50@blu · 16-02-2008, 18:17

Well done, l would like to ad a few pointers, what we have in this day and age, is that many large companies, think that the customer is stupid, and that by using threats, they can get away with you, my solution is this, if you get no satisfaction from the so called customer service, write directly to the MD of the company, they don't like that. or the Omsbudman office, they hate that.

A few years ago, there was a programme on BBC, called ' what you didn't know, something on those lines, about bailiffs, and the one thing that came up was, when they knock at your door, UNLESS THEY HAVE A COURT ORDER, they cannot touch property, and you don't let them in the house, or touch property outside your house, but there again, if you have let it gone that far, then it would be a court order. hope that helps.

Arthurgray50@blu · 16-02-2008, 18:17

Well done, l would like to ad a few pointers, what we have in this day and age, is that many large companies, think that the customer is stupid, and that by using threats, they can get away with you, my solution is this, if you get no satisfaction from the so called customer service, write directly to the MD of the company, they don't like that. or the Omsbudman office, they hate that.

A few years ago, there was a programme on BBC, called ' what you didn't know, something on those lines, about bailiffs, and the one thing that came up was, when they knock at your door, UNLESS THEY HAVE A COURT ORDER, they cannot touch property, and you don't let them in the house, or touch property outside your house, but there again, if you have let it gone that far, then it would be a court order. hope that helps.

**Hugh** · 16-02-2008, 19:50

Must have had radishes for his tea - he's repeating......

Arthurgray50@blu · 16-02-2008, 20:20

Its Saturday, l pressed the wrong key (this must be the shortest, comment l've' made) -hic.

SMHarman · 19-02-2008, 02:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

A few years ago, there was a programme on BBC, called ' what you didn't know, something on those lines, about bailiffs, and the one thing that came up was, when they knock at your door, UNLESS THEY HAVE A COURT ORDER, they cannot touch property, and you don't let them in the house, or touch property outside your house, but there again, if you have let it gone that far, then it would be a court order. hope that helps.

Yes, so any creditor sending a notice of doorstep collection is just sending an empty threat. They cannot do that.

TheNorm · 23-02-2008, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

Well done, ...

Thanks, but it gets better!

I cancelled the claim made through the county court via the website, because (i) the claim was opened this way, and (ii) the county court "helpline" had closed at 4pm.

As far as I could see, the only suitable option was "accept full payment and enter judgement", or words to that effect. The website seemed happy, and I thought that was the end of the matter.

A few days later an irate manager from Mark Two phoned to say that they had been "blacklisted" by credit reference agencies because of the county court judgement against them! I explained what had happened, then phoned the county court helpdesk (this is the correct procedure, apparently), then phoned the manager, who eventually calmed down.

Well, there must be a flaw in the system if it lets an individual have such a dramatic affect on a company! With just a few clicks of a mouse!!

Hopefully this really is the end of the matter!