What are my Legal Rights to recovering money.

hummy

Hi,

Just over 18 months ago out of sympathy for two relatives of mine i lent then some money to get theselves in order and start a business being the kind, gentle person that i am. The amount was £20K. The agreement was to pay an amount monthly as repayment and i lent it to them interest free. 18 months down the line i've only been paid back £2500 and i keep getting excuse after excuse after excuse and frankly i'm getting annoyed now and would like to force some action for them to return my money.

The two individuals although Cash Poor are asset rich. They have assets in this country jointly owned by themselves as well as other people (their other brothers) and each one has a freehold property to their name. Over an above that they also have over £400K assets in another country. (So as you can see with all these assets in mind i thought they had the capacity to pay me back quickly enough).

Now i'm just getting fed up of their excuses and would just like to recoiver my money back.

I have records of lending them the money as i paid them in cheque and both signed a letter to say that they recevied the money.
From a legal point of view what can i do to force them to pay me back my moeny either through their assett sale or as a charge on one of their properties. Also, would the legal system take into account their overseas assetts. In all honesty, i would prefr my cash back rather than a charge on property.

Could some one tell me what i can do legally to recover my monies.

Thanks
Hummy

Sillychuckie

You might sour the family bond, but that is your decision.
To legally get the money back using more official means, you should:

- Write a letter to the party owing you money requesting they repay the full balance, since they have consistently failed to meet the terms which the money was lent on (monthly repayment terms, of which I assume you have proof and a signed contract).
- Assuming they dont repay, write another letter.
- As above, a month later, write another final demand letter.

If they still have not repaid, go through the small claims courts using www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

You will need to pay a fee (relatively small) and they'll get an official letter from the court asking them to repay the debt. This, in most cases will be enough.
If they don't, you can go through the motions of having a judgement etc. Read more on the website.

SC.

hummy

i'm not too worried about the family bonds in all honesty.... They are sort that i won't actually regret not bumping into.

Thanks for your comments. I assumed pretty much the same sort of thing as you suggested. Will definetly have a dig through these forums and see what i can find.

THanks

Quentin

Sending all those letters is unnecessary to use the small claim court.

You just need send one letter, headed "Letter Before Action", requesting the payment of the money owed within 7 days of the date of the letter otherwise you will take action to recover the money.

This is so the defendants cannot claim that any court action you take has come as a surprise, and demonstrates to the court that you didn't just go to taking court action without trying to get the money yourself.

The fee for issuing the summons is £340 if you use MCOL. If they defend the summons and a hearing is necessary, then there are more fees. £200 payable at the allocation stage, and £300 if a hearing is necessary. Although the fees are non refundable from the court, if you win then they get added to your original claim and have to be paid to you by the Defendants.

Read up the claimants guide:

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/onlineservices/mcol/userguide/claimant/information.htm