Default , Northern Ireland Law CCJ - service charge for my apartment - Issued Wrongly?

[NoDebtNorm]

Hi,
Can someone please give me some advice.

I have had a CCJ issued against me and knew nothing about it because the letters were put into next doors mailbox. The first I heard was when I got a letter today telling me that I have had it issued. I never saw it coming and am shocked.

The money was for service charge for my apartment and I have been paying regularly. The judgement was issued on the 24th of August and I paid a quarterly payment on the 18th of August.

They applied to the courts on the 22nd of July and because the documents went into next doors mail I knew nothing about it and missed the deadline to respond BUT in the meantime I had paid the payment. The amount was for £478.00 and I had paid £182.00 so the judgement wasn't even for the correct amount.

I thought the claimant had to acknowledge this amount and notify the courts that the amount had changed and I had paid some money?

Can anyone advise?

(Please note, Northern Ireland Law)
 

Edited August 28, 2021 by dx100uk
Info added/formatting

[dx100uk]

so you got a default judgement letter from the court to the correct mailbox, but everything else even though it had the correct address was put in your neighbours mailbox?

 

how did you find that out?

 

it would not only have been a claimform pack but also numerous letters prior to that would have notified you of the non payment issues from the manging agent/HA and ofcourse solicitors, so you got all those too but the claimform pack was the only one put in the wrong mailbox?

 

dx

 

[NoDebtNorm]

Hi,

 

I had the last letter handed to me personally by the postman today as I was standing in the foyer when the post was delivered, 'What number are you mate?,' 'I'm 29a' 'Here you go, this is for you'...

 

Upon investigation I discovered my mail was getting put into the wrong mailbox, it has happened before with other mail.

The other apartment is unoccupied and is 29 I am 29a. I stuffed my hand in and pulled out a bundle of mail and found several of my letters, of course I put the rest back. There wasn't numerous letters there was 2, one from the claimant and one from the courts, one dated 22nd July and the other 24th August (4 days ago). I've missed the response deadline by 4 days because I never got the letter...

 

I'm not posting this to be interrogated as to my story as it is 'actually' what happened. I'm looking for advice as to if I can get this set aside or can I appeal this because,

 

1. I was unaware what was going on, I do not owe this money, I did not get the letters through no fault of mine, I have only been in the apartment 9 months and have paid 2 quarterly payments.

 

2. I am paying the bill quarterly so I'm completely befuddled as to why this has happened as I pay in arrears.

 

3. The judgement was for £478.00, and was issued on 24th August, I had made a normal payment of £182.00 on 18th August thus the £478.00 was not the balance at the time of the judgement.

 

4. Why did the claimant not take immediate action to inform the court that I had paid £182.00 instead letting the CCJ run on for the £478, surely this is unjust and completely wrong?

 

This is not me trying to dodge a bill or debt.

 

This CCJ has been completely ridiculous and should never of been issued in the first place.

 

Can I do anything to sort this?

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by dx100uk
formatting

[dx100uk]

to set aside a CCJ you need to have a substantial reasons...

 

now if what you have discovered....

i'e the mail had gone in the wrong mailbox, will cut it much i'm not really sure without proof external to your own discovery of this fact.

and

The fact that you've paid some of the claimed sum since it's (unknown) issuance shows good faith upon your behalf, might not add much weight to your set aside application but worthy of note if you do,  if not, the payment itself should be used to reduce the default judgement value.

 

the form to set aside in NI is form 129 i believe and costs £195 to submit, you will have to apply to the CCJ's issuing court to get them to send you it and pay the fee them. 

 

now, the reason why i asked about previous letters (sorry for annoying you), before the issuance of the court claim, is that the manging agent/HA and ofcourse their solicitors, shouldn't be running straight to a court room without at least warning you you were in arrears and they were going legal,

 

there are certainly pre action protocols in E&W, scotland and NI are slightly different, but i'm sure a judge reading your set aside would take a dim view if they didn't warn you first, this could be another useful angle to add to the others above should you decide to set aside. 

 

The time to pay your CCJ in full is 30 days to prevent it being registered, i see that has yet to expire,  that or a successful set aside are the only ways to remove the CCJ or prevent it being registered for 6yrs. Once the 30 days has expired, if it's not paid in full or no successful set aside comes about it's there for 6yrs (even if latterly paid or not) and could hurt future renting/credit etc.

 

dx

 

[NoDebtNorm]

Hi,

My concerns are that I do not want an untarnished credit record damaged.

 

I just want the CCJ to be removed and I am quite prepared to pay the balance in full, as I always have been.

Who do I pay within the 30 days and how do I ensure the CCJ with not show up or affect my credit score?

 

I'm not really wanting a court appearance or a £195.00 fee to have it set aside because as I said I'm not dodging the bill I genuinely don't know how this happened, I fear that they are a really aggressive company and were over zealous with me for some reason.

 

I can easily afford it but I'm self employed and was being very cautious due to Covid and had held payment slightly longer than I should have but I had told the claimant this and thought they agreed, obviously not.

 

What steps do I take now?

 

If I pay the remainder in full is the CCJ completely forgotten about as if it never happened?

Thank you!

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by dx100uk
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[brassnecked]

So long as paid within the 30 days yes its never Registered, one day after and its there for 6 year's

[dx100uk]

simply phone the claimant or their solicitor they used and pay it off.

[ghuwanye]

On 28/08/2021 at 10:46, dx100uk said:

so you got a default judgement letter from the court to the correct mailbox, but everything else even though it had the correct address was put in your neighbours mailbox?

 

how did you find that out?

 

it would not only have been a claimform pack but also numerous letters prior to that would have notified you of the non payment issues from the manging agent/HA and ofcourse solicitors bailiff, so you got all those too but the claimform pack was the only one put in the wrong mailbox?

 

dx

 

Service charges can go up or down without any limit, but the landlord can only recover costs which are reasonable. You have the right to apply to the tribunal to challenge any service charges that you feel are unreasonable