Mother in law, baliffs and threatening letters?

darkestangel30

In september 2008 my partners mother's girlfriend took a loan out in her name, to help us out when we were stuck. We had just moved house, just had a new baby and had got into a bit of a mess with money. She paid our rent for the month, our car tax, council tax and gave us what was left over. The full amount came to £1000.00. We never signed anything.

We were paying her back for a few months, then disaster struck and my partner lost his job. We were flat broke. For 2 months we lived on almost nothing. We starved ourselves to feed the 2 children. He explained all of this to his mum and her girlfriend and they said it was ok, and to pay them back when we could afford it.

We had to move again because he found work in another area, so in November last year we relocated. Expensive but we had no choice. His mother had not contacted us for some time by then. So, we moved and settled and struggled along the best we could.

Now, he doesn't live with me at the moment, we now have 3 children, and his mothers girlfriend is now sending letters to my house for the money. She has started legal proceedings and yesterday I got a letter from the court telling me that baliffs will be visiting on the 9th of december. Prior to this we have had the usual legal things, posted to both myself and my partner (addressed to this house where he does not live). Before all of that she sent two hand written letters informing me that I needn't bother trying to move because she "will find" me, and not to do anything violent because she will have me arrested etc etc. I'm not a violent person and I have a squeeky clean criminal record. She also informed me that i am working full time (I havent worked since 2007! and I had given birth 2 weeks before she wrote the letter!!)

Now the amount she's demanding is about 1200, of course legal costs have been added. My question is, the baliff letter is not in my name, its in my partners, who does not live here. What should I do when the baliffs come? I dont want to let them in, I dont fancy spending christmas with just about nothing, for my kids sake, and its not my debt. I dont want to tell them where hes living either because the way i see it, if his mothers girlfriend was nice about it, we could come to an agreement about repaying the money, but i think her bullish tactics are just out of order. They haven't bothered with the children, they dont like me at all even though ive never done anything to them.

Do i keep the doors and windows locked and ignore the baliffs, or do i tell them i dont know who they're on about? Some one please help cos I've never had a baliff at the door before, this is a first for me.

DarkConvict

Firstly do not let any bailiffs in the property under any circumstances, talk via a letterbox or window. Inform them you have a right to not open the door to them, or grant access to the property. Bailiffs have less rights than a paperboy so i read, and unless you are taken to court a CCJ granted and then the CCJ not followed, would a court bailiff come with orders to take property.

Just want to clear this up then, someone else ("my partners mother's girlfriend") took out a loan for £1000 and gave it to you, no contract signed or anything.

She is now sending all the demands of payment from the loans company/DCA to your partner,
or
has she already paid off the loan and is now perusing your partner for the £1000 + £200 legal costs.

The "my partners mother's girlfriend" is responsible for the initial loan, it was her choice to take it out and to give the money away, she is legally responsible for paying the loan off and if she refuses she will be taken to court by the loans company.
As to her lending/giving you the money if there was no paperwork it would be difficult for her to win any case against you since no paperwork has detailed the money was loaned not gifted to your partner, and there were no deadlines for repayment.

Ames

Has it been to court? If it has, did you defend it?

fatbelly

From what the op says, this matter has gone through the court process and there is a ccj in the partner's name, now being enforced by a warrant of execution (court bailiff).

The op can do nothing directly on the ccj because it appears not to be in her name, but her partner can/should apply for set-aside of the ccj on the grounds that there was no legally constructed loan agreement between claimant and defendant. If there had been, then the claimant would have been guilty of lending money without a licence and be facing a hefty fine and/or imprisonment. (I'm assuming she isn't a licensed money lender)

Now, the bailiff will be an employee of the court. My experience is that these people are not so aggressive as private bailiffs and usually know the law. It's not true to say that they have less rights than the paperboy (after all, the paperboy can't levy against your goods!) but they can only levy against goods owned by the defendant, and he doesn't live there. They cannot force entry but if they gain entry peaceably and can find goods owned by the defendant then they can force entry on a subsequent visit.

So you can either not answer the door, or conduct a polite conversation through the letterbox, when the bailiff comes around. Either way, I would make sure that there's not a car parked on the drive, just to save difficulties!

There's some info on loan sharks here you'll note:

'If a lender isn't licensed by the OFT then they have no legal right to recover the debt'

basmic

Contact the company, and ask them what they need to prove it is you who resides at that current address and not the person addressed on the letter.

If the bailiffs do turn up, show them a copy of a utility or council tax bill.

DarkConvict

fatbelly wrote: »

It's not true to say that they have less rights than the paperboy (after all, the paperboy can't levy against your goods!)

I hadn't considered it had already progressed via a court, so was applying it to private bailiffs.
But court bailiffs are as you state do have more powers, and are generally reasonable people with good knowledge of the law and how to apply it correctly.

darkestangel30

hi and thanks for the replies )

the baliffs came earlier. i bit the bullet and answered the door. they were very nice when i said the person they were looking for did not live here, aqnd hopefully they wont come back again.

The person who took out the loan does not have a licence to lend money, does that mean that she doesnt have a legal right to chase my partner for the money? she did the claim for it online, ive still got the paperwork, so she hasnt set foot inside a solicitors office, or a court, but costs have been added to the total amount she says is due to her. Its not a loan company sending the letters, if it was Id be able to write to them or email them and tell them he's not here, but shes done a private claim thingy online, all quite legal to do apparently, demanding the total sum, As if with 3 kids to feed there's going to be £1000.00 just lying around in loose change.

My partners talking about going bankrupt now, to put an end to it, so she can't keep doing this. When he was 17 his mother and her girlfriend paid for a car for him, and insured it. For about 6 years theyve been telling him he should pay them the money back because he didnt keep the car! He sold it and bought another one. They threatened to take him to court many times over it, he told them both to go for it, and they haven't. But this thing is driving me mad, its ridiculous. The woman's made us out to be unreasonable and accussed us of withholding contact with the kids, when she hasnt even asked to see them since 2008!!

Is there perhaps a way of getting this thing stopped without my partner going bankrupt?

kaya

bailiffs are like a dog with with no teeth when you know how to play them, they cannot seize good that do not belong to the person named on the warrant PROVIDED that you can prove they do not belong to the named person(that would be theft and against the law), the onus is on you to prove that the goods are not the property of the named person and not on the bailiff

fill out as appropriate and go to a solicitor to get it witnessed when you sign it(costs only £5), we did not list each item individually but simplified it by putting ALL GOODS AT THE ADRESS LISTED, it does not have to be copied word for word but must state that all the goods are owned by (not the person on the warrant) , and the signiture must be witnessed by a solicitor, court representitive etc

STATUTORY DECLARATION




To: (the bailiffs) (their address)





I (your name)



of (your address)


Do solemnly and sincerely declare that:



the items listed (list them)
are not the property of (your friends name) and (reason why they were there) and have always been my sole property


And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835 and Section 5 of The Perjury Act 1911.



Signature:




Declared at



On the day of two thousand and



Before me




A Commissioner for Oaths, or Notary Public/Justice of the Peace/Solicitor having the powers conferred on a Commissioner for Oaths



PM me if you need any additional info on this

DebtKiller

darkestangel30 wrote: »

My partners talking about going bankrupt now, to put an end to it, so she can't keep doing this. When he was 17 his mother and her girlfriend paid for a car for him, and insured it. For about 6 years theyve been telling him he should pay them the money back because he didnt keep the car! He sold it and bought another one. They threatened to take him to court many times over it, he told them both to go for it, and they haven't. But this thing is driving me mad, its ridiculous. The woman's made us out to be unreasonable and accussed us of withholding contact with the kids, when she hasnt even asked to see them since 2008!!

Is there perhaps a way of getting this thing stopped without my partner going bankrupt?

I don't want to appear harsh, but it seems to me that your partner needs his bumps read.

As I read it, his mother's girlfriend has taken out credit to help the two of you out at a critical time. She then allowed your partner to suspend repayments during a particularly rough patch when your partner lost his job. After that you relocated so your partner could start a new job, and I'm presuming there was no attempt to contact her to organise a resumption of the repayments.

Essentially, your partner has gone AWOL whilst owing her the remainder of the debt. If this was a credit card or a loan, would you expect them to just forget about the owed money? Okay, perhaps taking legal proceedings is a little OTT, but can you blame her, considering it's now been a year?

Perhaps my opinion is marred by being in the money-lending position myself in the past (I also took out credit to help a family member, then ended up on a DMP for my trouble when I couldn't meet all the repayments due to not being repaid myself), but I think it's important to see things from the other side of this. You/your partner owe this woman the money, and rather than looking into bankruptcy as a method of getting out of paying this debt, perhaps paying it back would be the right choice.

darkestangel30

I really do appreciate your view. However, it's not a case of going AWOL. They knew where we were, they could have come to visit at any time and it wouldn't have been a problem. His mother has 2 grandchildren and 1 step grandchild that she hasn't attempted to see, there have been no letters sent regarding them, no cards for christmas or birthdays etc, it's all about the money for her and her girlfriend. I was willing to arrange installments at the beginning of this year, but the threats started and she then informed me that I was withholding contact! I've never done that.

If my partner wrote to the court offering installments is it possible that this would accepted? Or is his mothers girlfriend still within her rights to continue demanding the full outstanding amount in one go?

euronorris

Is there a possibility that your partner hasn't been completely honest with you or them?

I am wondering if the accusations against you are because he's said something to them to that effect maybe? You know, if they were putting pressure on him for the money, he may have said anything to get them to give it a rest.

If I'm wrong, I apologise, but I think there is more to this story then you are currently aware of. Keep your eyes open for this.

I have no idea about the courts. I can't see how someone could take you to court with no written proof of anything being owed.

Perhaps you can try and rebuild bridges by writing a letter directly to her and his mother. Offer repayments that you can afford and stick to and see what they say.

At the very least, it would be looked upon favourably that you tried, if it ever got to court.