Help! Letter threatening court action

tonyfaestoney

Hi
I have received a letter today from solicitors demanding I pay full balance £1020 in 7 days or court action will be taken with no further notice.

This debt is against a property management company and for the factor we pay on flats. We now have a new property management company as they were so incompetent. They forgot to charge anyone on development for 1st year and sent a bill for 2 years £800 demanding payment straight away.

I advised I could not pay this amount in 1 and could I pay monthly by dd, they said yes, no, maybe and I could never get a straight answer.

I know other people in town who have had same property management and they too got rid of them as they were rubbish. I do know 2 people who still have not paid outstanding fees and were not pursued for them. I admit I thought this might be the case for me also.

I did try several times to set up dd's but was always told to pay with credit card? That would just move debt & at a much higher rate of interest.

Anyway, can anyone advise what I should do, I do not want CCJ. If I get court papers through can I pay straight away thus avoiding court & legal fees, CCJ (using cc)?

Any advise would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Tony. :eek:

Xbigman

First issue. Do you owe the money? I'd say yes. If the management company has paid out for the maintainance of the property then it is only right that you pay them. You might want to check with the new management company that everything was handed over in a satisfactory condition but assuming it was then you need to make an arrangement to pay.
Write (recorded delivery) to the solicitors offering to pay a reasonable sum that you can afford. Wait a week and if you have heard nothing phone them to follow up. You should be able to come to an arrangement. If you can't then don't worry about going to court too much. You can make the same offer to the court as to the solicitors. They will not make you pay what you cannot afford. As to court costs; if you can prove you made reasonable offers to pay you can object to any costs the solicitors try to add on the grounds they are unreasonable and unnescesary. This quite often works but is not guaranteed.

One last word. Do you have a mortgage? If you do the solicitors could ask the mortgage company to pay the arrears and add it to your mortgage. Although this option may now be closed to them as they are the ex management company. Just be aware this option might come up.
Regards



X

tonyfaestoney

Yes I do owe the money and am not disputing that. I am now on damage limitation to avoid CCJ.

I have tried several times previously to pay outstanding balance in instalments but was refused and told to use credit card. This company was also at fault for 'forgetting' to charge us for 1st year then hitting us with 2 year invoice to be paid in '7 days'. In that 2 years they did not once write to anyone and I never even knew who the property management company responsible was. Dare say it was noted on deeds or something.

I would like to pay balance over a year and will ask if possible but don't want it to go to court as that is a CCJ on record. Am I right in thinking just before or once it has gone to court I could pay balance and avoid a CCJ altogether?

Thanks for advice Xbigman.

Xbigman

To avoid a CCJ on your record you would need to pay in full immediately. Which you say isn't an option. If I was you I would try very hard to get an agreement with the solicitors. They should be willing to give you time. If they don't, and a CCJ is not desirable, your only other easy option is to borrow the money. I don't advise that often but your credit history is worth protecting and this is the way out.
Regards



X

tonyfaestoney

Xbigman wrote:

To avoid a CCJ on your record you would need to pay in full immediately. Which you say isn't an option. If I was you I would try very hard to get an agreement with the solicitors. They should be willing to give you time. If they don't, and a CCJ is not desirable, your only other easy option is to borrow the money. I don't advise that often but your credit history is worth protecting and this is the way out.
Regards



X

Yes I have sent a letter with an offer to pay amount over a year to solicitors. I included correspondence that corroborates my story on the companies incompetence, and also their reluctance to allow me to pay monthly. If they had allowed this it would have been paid off long ago.
My question is at what point would I have to pay off balance to avoid CCJ? I live in Scotland and don't think we have CCJ's but have an equivalent. Can I pay it when court papers come through and avoid a judgement?

Xbigman

You should pay it now if you want to avoid court costs and a CCJ on your record. You can pay it once you get the court paperwork through but before the hearing. This will stop the CCJ on your record but the solicitors will want a fee for having to prepare the paperwork.
Regards



X