Very very Desperate

[seekingfreedeom]

Hi - I am completely devastated.

I received a call today from a HCEO who advised me that I owe them £1945 for a debt.

I was unaware that there was a debt and have never received the letters from the courts

- the call today was the first I had heard of it!

 

In any case i dispute the debt entirely

- the original debt is for £600 which i allegedly owe to a former business partner.

 

To cut an excruciatingly long story short,

i went into business with two individuals whereby i was MD and the only employee who actually did any work.

They paid £500+VAT legal fees to a lawyer to allow me to work for them.

It was to negotiate out of my non-compete with my previous employer so whilst it was not a company debt it benefited the company.

 

There was never an arrangement made to pay back this debt or even that it was a debt.

in any case an individual paid this money.

I am not sure how an individual can secure a high court writ for £500+VAT.

 

I did not get a chance to put forward my argument and want to take steps to get the judgement set aside

 

Having browsed through the forum i see people have mentioned asking for a stay of execution. I do not owe this money

 

Can someone advise whether or not I need to file both N244 & N255?

 

 

BTW i am on JSA so will be filling in the EX160 - can that be used for a N244 and N245 or just the N244?

 

i need to take action asap

 

btw CCJ was made at Northampton court MArch 13 and then high court in May 13

 

the bailiff called me today and alledges he attended my property on 30th May.

He did not because I was in

[seekingfreedeom]

I may add i still have seen no evidence of this CCJ or this debt aside from this call today. i guess i should start by writing to the court to ask for the documents? is there a cost involved in that?

[citizenB]

You will be able to find out if there is a Judgment against you by searching trustonline - link below.

 

http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself/

 

 

It will cost you £4.00 I think to search for this.

 

 

You will need the court reference from judgement.

 

I am not sure what paperwork you would need to complete to have this set aside.

 

It looks as though the judgment could have been issued a while ago if they are putting bailiffs in to collect ?

 

I will try and find some more help for you, most of the advisors in this section tend to be around later on in the day..

[citizenB]

I may add i still have seen no evidence of this CCJ or this debt aside from this call today. i guess i should start by writing to the court to ask for the documents? is there a cost involved in that?

 

 

There shouldn't be any cost involved for obtaining documents from the court - although some do charge a copying fee.

 

Try trustonline first to see if there has been a judgment.

[seekingfreedeom]

Thanks for your prompt response - ok so i just checked my credit file using equifax and there is a CCJ. looks like it was awarded for £757.00 on13th March - I am not sure of any other details i.e on what grounds etc

[citizenB]

Ok, well I have sent out an S.O.S. on your behalf. If you have not received any paperwork and not been given the opportunity to submit a defence then I imagine you will be able to get it set aside. And then you would need to prepare a defence.

 

Was their no claim number on the record or which court it was issued from ? Did the bailiff not provide any information ?

[ploddertom]

If the HCEO has called did he leave you a Form 55? Alternatively what paperwork has he left you? Is the address he is attending a residential or commercial address? Did he gain entry?

[tomtubby]

I am not too great with High Court enforcement and have sent a message to the "expert"....wonkey donkey.

[steampowered]

Responding to CitizenB's PM - I think the first thing is to try and get a copy of the complete court file, so you can see what the claim was about and why you did not receive the forms (e.g. if they were sent to the wrong address).

 

I assume this is a default judgment. If so you need to file form N244 asking (a) that the default judgment is set aside and (b) a stay of execution until the set aside application has been decided.

 

This must be accompanied by a witness statement which should set out the background, explain that you did not receive any of the forms and had no knowledge of the proceedings, explain when you first became aware of the proceedings and state you acted promptly, and explain why you think you have a reasonable prospect of defending the claim.

 

This should go into court ASAP. Much better if you can get hold of the documents first (you should not make assumptions about court proceedings, you should properly check the documents)... but N244 needs to go in fast no matter what. Call the court if in doubt.

[seekingfreedeom]

I called Northampton CCBC who confirmed that the form definitely went to my home address. However it was not registered mail - they can not prove delivery and I did not receive this letter.

It relates to a "personal loan" for £600 for legal fees which I did receive however my lawyer was supposed to pay them back as a disbursement - in any case I will pay the £600 to make this crap go away, however I am not happy to have a CCJ against me for something I did not have a chance to defend - why did the creditor not write to me, email me, call me? They just went straight to court and i believe deliberately did not send me the papers because they have a personal vendetta and wanted to make sure i gota CCJ.

 

Anyway, The high court writ was provided at Queens Branch Divison, High Court London. Northampton CCBC said I must send the N244 to the high court.

Does that sound right?

Does anyone have a template for an N244 whereby the reason for the order is that documents were not received

[citizenB]

Because each case is significantly different, there is no template as such. you can download the form by hovering over N244 in your post above - it is underlined and has a link at the side. .

 

I will flag your post for some advice completing.

[seekingfreedeom]

Thank you.

 

To summarise, I have decided that I am not going to dispute this debt because I would rather not waste time in a legal battle for the sake of £600. I dont believe I owe it but will accept it because proving otherwise is going to be messy.

Aside from an informal email on January 11th reminding me that i owe £600, i have not received any emails/invoice//letter or request for payment.

Agian, I also have received NO correspondence regarding the CCJ

 

I still want it set aside so that it goes back to £600 and I will borrow money from my parents (shamefully) and pay it in full immediately.

 

Apparently according to Northampton CCBC I need to submit two separate copies of N244 to the high court where the Writ was issued (Queens Branch London) one asking for judgement to be set aside and one asking for the writ to be stayed?

 

Does that sound right? from a day of nosing around I have seen someone mention that the request to stay the writ should be on N245?

 

Can someone who has been through this situation please assist with steps to take. I dont want the bailiffs round this evening - not that I have anything worth taking.

[citizenB]

I have left an S.O.S for others who might be able to advise on this. I am sure they will look in as soon as they can.

[citizenB]

And yes, form N245 is for stay/suspension of a Warrant.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?181398-Form-N245-Suspension-of-Bailiff-Warrant

[ploddertom]

The N245 only suspends a Warrant of Execution issued through the County Court. To apply for a Stay of Execution you need the N244.

[ploddertom]

Whereabouts in the country are you based as although the Writ was applied for at the RCJ in London you can actually apply at any County Court that acts as a District Registry of the High Court. An application for a Stay of Execution I have found is best submitted in person as an urgent application.

[wonkeydonkey]

Hi sorry for the late reply....the most urgent application is the N244 to stay execution of the writ. On here you can ask for the stay pending your further application to set aside............N244 is for the set aside and you will be making it your cas you were denied the opportunity to defend/counterclaim the debt due to not receiving the claim pack and being unaware of the claim until the time the HCEO arrived.

 

A set aside application if successful, will be followed by a new hearing to the debt....if at this stage you wish to admit the debt in full (don't forget there will be additional costs to the claimant) you could offer to pay forthwith (immediately) or seek a variation to a make payments by installments.From what you say and imho you could contest this debt as there has been no mention to an agreement being in place that determined you would be held to repay the 'fees' incurred .

 

If your local court is a district registry of the High Court you can file both applications there, if not then the N244 will need to be sent to the High Court where it was issued, if using exe160 don't forget to send evidence to your entitlement for fee remission. If you need help completing the forms come back here and we can help you with that.

 

WD

[seekingfreedeom]

I am based in London so could attend the high court in person tomorrow.

So I will fill in the form as follows

 

N244 - version 1

1. name

2. tick defendant

3. " stay the writ on the grounds that an application is being made to set the judgement aside because the defendant was never notified"

4. No

5. without a hearing

6. 15mins

7. N/A

8. district

9. N/A

10. attached witness statement

 

N244 - version 2

1. name

2. tick defendant

3. " set asidfe judgement because the defendant was never notified of the hearing and given the chance to respond to or defend the claim"

4. No

5. without a hearing

6. 15mins

7. N/A

8. district

9. N/A

10. attached witness statement

 

witness statement

 

I respectfully request the court to consider the following when hearing my application:

 

* The Claimant obtained judgement by default. I did not receive the papers which were served and therefore I was unable to defend

 

 

Therefore I respectfully ask the court to (set-aside the judgement/suspend possession/suspend eviction etc etc).

 

 

I believe the above to be true and factual.

 

 

 

How does that look? I will fill in the forms and head over to the courthouse tomorrow

[seekingfreedeom]

Thanks Wonky Donky

[ploddertom]

For a Stay of Execution you also need to list some grounds for doing so. I would suggest you change 3 to the following:

1 - you cannot afford the fees demanded

2 - pending determination of a Set Aside application

[seekingfreedeom]

Thanks - so would I word it

"Stay of execution of writ fi fa on the following grounds:

1 - I cannot afford the fees demanded

2 - pending determination of a set aside application

 

So i am filling in all these forms today - I can't get a copy of the JSA award letter until Thursday/Friday as have had to ask them to send out a new one.

Will my application not be processed without all the evidence needed with the EX160

 

What i mean is shall i send the forms in tomorrow in person and then go back on fri with EX160 evidence? Or shall I just go on Friday when i have everything?

 

In terms of the bailiff, if he comes before then, I have no personal property that is worth anything for him to take and won't be giving him access to the house! - has anyone had experience of dealing wit Sherforce? Will they attend daily?

[lookinforinfo]

There is something not quite right here. Before Court action begins the creditor would have had to have written to you, then given you notice of impending Court action. Following on from that the Court would have sent you probably two letters advising you of the hearing. Then there would have been at least one other for the High Court hearing. I could understand if one letter went missing but at least five sounds unlikely.

I will be surprised if paying the £600 to the creditor will make the whole thing disappear. And there is now no chance of getting the CCJ removed from your credit file though it will show as being satisfied.

I know that you said they had confirmed your address but unless your postman doesn't like you or you at the end of delivery round and throws them away to get home early, it does seem strange that so many

letters went astray.

[seekingfreedeom]

Hi Looinforinfo,

 

They did not write to me giving me notice of the impending court action prior to the court action.

The court says they sent me a letter on Feb 17th - I have never seen this letter

The high court confirmed that they did not have to inform me of the high court hearin.

 

So its only one or two letters from the county court which I did not receive.

 

Admittedly I check my mail once a week or so in bundles because I often stay at my partners house but have not seen any letters like this at all.

 

Additionally i live in a block of flats- the mail is generally left in the communal hallway as opposed to being posted into iindividual flats unless it is recorded signed for or a parcel. Would it be better if i advised I often reside at a differnt address (which they also have)

 

i appreciate your objective viewpoint, however are you sure your correct when you say that the CCJ wont be removed even though I was not aware of it?

[seekingfreedeom]

Just to clarify, 1. I can dispute this debt 2. if i don't have the energy to dispute it then I am happy to pay £600 if they can provide proof of the debt.

 

What I am not happy about is that an INDIVIDUAL can create a debt, not invoice for it, not request immediate payment and provide payment details, not write/call or email about it formally. but can skip along to a court and get a CCJ against me and then additonally get a high court writ in secret without me having to be informed.

 

I am not in denial, or trying to screw anyone out of money. I will pay th £600 if they can prove I owe it but why did they not just call me or email me asking for it? Why has this gone to court? I can understand if i had changed my number etc. Surely a creditor needs to make and demonstrate efforts before going to court. apparently they provided no evidence and the judgement was relied on because i had not responde/received the info.

[ploddertom]

When you submit your application the fee needs to be paid at the same time or accompanied by the EX160 complete with proof of eligibility. The application may be accepted without but will not be processed. You can always pay and claim the fee back of course.

 

When you checked about the original CCJ did you ask them to confirm the address including post code that everything was sent to? Did you think to ask if any of the post was returned? You are correct when you say the High Court do not have to notify you about the debt being transferred.

 

Have you thought to contact the Creditor and ask why they did not contact you initially over this?