Nemo Suspended Possession Order

[sillygirl1]

You need to get to the court 'just in case' they 'forget' to cancel the SPO - if you turn up and they don't you can put your case to the judge who may well be on your side rather than theirs.

[im4347]

Hi

Just spoke to Nemo who have agreed on a repayment plan with a SPO and the hearing is still going ahead tomorrow.

 

I asked them to email me the payment agreement today as the agent still will be attending the hearing tomorrow. They are getting the solicitors to email me today confirming the payment plan.

 

What do we need to do to prepare for the hearing tomorrow as we haven't filed the defence form in yet?...

 

Regards,

IM4347

[Ell-enn]

Have you completed a budget sheet (ideally the one we use) ? I can draft a statement for you to take to the court, you will need the email confirmation of the payment arrangement so the judge can see proof.

[im4347]

Hi Ell-en

 

Yes, I've done done the budget sheet, would really appreciate the statement, I will be chasing up the email confirmation.

 

Many thanks

IM

[Ell-enn]

OK, I'll see if I can work on it this afternoon - how much have you offered to pay in addition to your normal monthly payment ?

Is the mortgage joint?

[im4347]

Thanks Ell-en, we have offered to pay £107.68 on top of the contractual monthly payment, and yes the mortgage is joint.

[Ell-enn]

Sorry, another couple of questions :

 

 

Do you have a copy of the letter they sent confirming re-arrangement of the payment plan ?(after you missed payment by one day)

 

 

How much have you reduced the arrears by since the initial set up of the payment plan ?

 

 

Have you still kept making payments during the time you have been trying to negotiate with them ?

[im4347]

Hi Ell

 

I have received the following as an email confirmation from the solicitors regarding the payment plan and SPO, I wasn't too sure about the wording.....

 

'Further to your telephone conversation with my client, they have confirmed that they will be seeking a Possession Order and Money Judgment suspended on the payments of £735.00 (CMI + £107.68) at the hearing scheduled on 02.06.16.'

 

replying to your questions in next post

 

Do you have a copy of the letter they sent confirming re-arrangement of the payment plan ?(after you missed payment by one day)

- Yes I have the letter confirming the arrangement, it was when i called into make the payment that i was informed that they will still commence the proceedings and sent the LBA the very next day, 6th April.

 

 

How much have you reduced the arrears by since the initial set up of the payment plan ?

- we have reduced £2448.08 since the plan was set up

 

Have you still kept making payments during the time you have been trying to negotiate with them ?

- No we haven't, we had to use the money for an emergency repair on the house.

[Ell-enn]

What date are payments due and when did you last make a payment ?

[im4347]

Payments are due 30th of each month and the last payment was made April 5th for March, as agreed in the payment plan.

[Ell-enn]

So does that mean you have missed the April payment ? I suspect that is why they issued the court proceedings as it looks like you have missed one whole month's payment and not paid anything in May either thus increasing the arrears rather than reducing them.

 

 

Affixed is the statement - you need to read it through carefully - remove the XXXs at the top of the statement and insert the information needed (the info is on the court papers) - print it and sign it. When you print it out make sure it all stays on one page - your printer should be set for A4 paper not Letter size.

 

 

Write the claim number and your name at the top of the letter from them and also the budget sheet.

 

 

You should now have:

Statement - signed

Copy of letter from them

Budget Sheet

 

 

This forms the set for court. You now need to make another two copies of the set - staple each set of 3 pages together securely.

 

 

Get to the court early and ask the usher if they can put one set into the file for the judge. If they say it's too late then you will have to hand it to the judge in the hearing; Wait till the judge has finished his introduction and then say "Sir, (or madam) may I give you my statement" and hand it over. You will need to give one to the lender's agent at the same time.

 

 

Also, ask at the court if there are any duty legal reps in attendance - if so approach them and ask for their assistance in the hearing. Do not talk to the agent for the other side if they ask to see your statement just say you'd rather wait for the judge.

 

IM4347 Statement for court.doc

[im4347]

Hi Ell

 

Thank you so much for this.

 

Just to clarify that we were not in any arrangement arrears when they commenced the proceedings, the payments were all upto date and the LBA was sent out to us.

 

Was the email correspondence from the solicitors earlier today ok, and should i take copies of this with me too?

 

'Further to your telephone conversation with my client, they have confirmed that they will be seeking a Possession Order and Money Judgment suspended on the payments of £735.00 (CMI + £107.68) at the hearing scheduled on 02.06.16.'

 

Hi Ell

 

quick question please, is it ok to add this to the statement (blue);

 

"We have offered £107.68 per month towards the arrears in addition to the normal monthly payment to which they have agreed to. Please see affixed budget sheet and an email to confirm this arrangement dated 1/6/2016.

 

 

Many thanks

IM

[Ell-enn]

The email doesn't say anything about them agreeing to your proposal, what it does say is that they want payments secured by a suspended repossession order - I don't think that particularly helps your case. The letter you previously received stating they accepted the proposal is much better for you and shows they have gone back on their word. However, it's entirely up to you whether you chance the wording or not.

 

Also, we have already said in the statement that they accepted your proposal.

[im4347]

Thanks Ell-en for clarifying that, I will remove the email.

 

Really appreciate all your help. We will update you tomorrow.

 

Many thanks

 

IM

[Ell-enn]

Good luck, make sure you get to the court early and also ask if there are any duty legal reps who can assist you.

 

Looking forward to your update.

[im4347]

Thanks Ell, yes i rang the court today to find out if duty legal reps will be available in the morning, fingers crossed there should be.

 

Regards,

IM

[Andyorch]

Best of luck im43..Im sure all will be fine.

 

Andy

[im4347]

Thanks Andy, fingers crossed.

[im4347]

Hi

 

Not long got back from court, we found a CAB officer at the court who was brilliant and was very impressed with Ell-en's statement.

 

She went through the case and saw all the documents and was very shocked as to why we were even in court! She agreed that having the payment plan being up to date, Nemo had no grounds to do legal proceedings when they started the process. She was also shocked and disagreed with their costs.

 

The Judge was very 'lazy'. The CAB officer mentioned to the judge that she believes that this case should not even be in court due to Nemo agreeing an arrangement and then going back on it after taking the payment and then starting proceedings.

The judge looked very puzzled and said; "he won't be discussing that today", and granted the SPO to Nemo, the CAB officer said she disagreed with the costs and the Judge adjourned the hearing regarding costs with the following order:

 

"Defendent is objective to claimant adding costs plus the defendant file and serve a statement setting out a basis of their objection to pay costs by 4pm 16th June 2016.

 

Claimant shall file and serve a written statement in response by 4pm 30th June 2016.

 

The issue of costs shall be dealt with at a hearing after 7th July estimated time 30mins.

 

If an agreement is reached between the parties before the hearing then the hearing is not needed."

 

The CAB officer after the hearing advised us to make sure that we mention all the facts that took place prior to the Claim issue date and that it never should have been in court and hence why the costs shouldn't be there.

 

She mentioned to use all the following documents as they were all issued whilst the plan was not in arrears,

 

1) the arrangement agreement letter

2) The LBA after payments were up to date

3) The instructions letter from solicitors

 

We would really appreciate your help in working on the statement please.

 

After todays's hearing and response from 2 CAB officers at the court is there anyway that this SPO can be reversed due to the circumstances it was achieved under?

 

We feel the judge just sat there and took instructions from Nemo and made no decision really himself.

 

regards,

IM

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

That's a shame, how disappointing for you. I think you did well though, you seem to have been unlucky with the judge.

 

Ell-enn and others should be along later with advice for you.

 

HB

[im4347]

Hi

Our statement needs to be handed in by 4pm on Thursday 16th June regarding our objection to the costs. I would really appreciate any help and advice regarding this as stated in my last post after the hearing 2nd June 2016.

 

Many thanks,

IM

[stu007]

Hi

 

Have flagged this up for you please be patient

[Ell-enn]

Have you made a start on the statement ?

[im4347]

Hi Ell-enn

 

We have made a start on the statement as follows:

 

We do not agree to pay the costs of applying to court that have been incurred by the Claimant for the following reasons:

1) We have always fully engaged with the Claimant and have been consistently making payments towards the arrears for some considerable time without issue and reducing the arrears by almost £2,500. However, on 1st April 2016 we were one day late with the payment and contacted the Claimant to explain. The Claimant re-arranged the payment date to 5th April 2016 and also confirmed this in a letter dated 1st April 2016 (please see attached), but when we rang to make the payment on 5th April 2016 we were informed that the Claimant management had over-ruled the payment arrangement intended to issue re-possession proceedings.

2) Despite making the payment on 5th April 2016 as arranged and despite the arrangement being up to date and not in any further arrears the Claimant still continued to issue the Letter Before Action.

3) The Claimant continued to instruct Solicitors 29th April 2016 again during the payments being up to date and not in any further arrears.

4) If for some unseen circumstance or event where our payments have been delayed, we have always informed the Claimant and rearranged a date and made a card payment on the date arranged to make that payment up.

5) The Claimant still pursued with the proceedings on 4th May despite us trying to negotiate and stop the proceedings.

6) We came to an arrangement with the Claimant prior to the Court hearing 2nd June 2016 and requested to save on costs and avoid the court attendance. The Claimant disagreed saying that it was cheaper for the agent to attend than to cancel the hearing.

[Andyorch]

Hi im43...Ellenn as asked I look in with regards to your objection statement to costs.

 

Dont forget to refer to any paperwork and mark as an exhibit.

 

And in you conclusion you need to to ask the court to consider the overall attitude/behaviour of the claimants Solicitor in applying such costs with the full knowledge that you was complying with their clients requests.

 

Defendants should argue that claimants should be restricted to costs on a standard basis. The difference can be substantial. The standard basis is defined to include a reasonable amount in respect of all costs reasonably incurred.

 

An additional requirement was introduced to the CPR in 1998 that costs must be proportionate to the matters in issue.

 

Proportionality is not simply an exercise in comparing the bill with the sum at stake. In considering the issue of proportionality, the court will have regard to CPR rule 1.1 where proportionality refers to: (a) the amount of money involved; (b) the importance of the case; © the complexity of the issues; and (d) the financial position of each party and also that the overriding objective should be observed (not to apply further undue debt to your financial position)

 

Proportionality is an extremely important principle in hearings for the assessment of costs. Counsel must be able to justify the proportionality of the bill. Since the decision in Home Office v Lownds {[2002] EWCA Civ 365}, the starting point will be whether the bill looks disproportionate. If it is, then the receiving party will only receive payment for work that is necessary and reasonable in amount.

 

Use what you can from the above and finalise your statement asking the court to use its discretion in consideration of all the above points on consideration of such costs.

 

Regards

 

Andy