Late Bill Payment, Advice Needed Please!!

eddie1lancs

Last July my wife and I got married in Cyprus and because of this we needed an affidavit and a name change from a solicitor, which cost us around £300. We were billed for it, as I can remember writing the cheque and posting it, however last week we received a letter saying we had not paid the bill and immediate payment was required. This is 15 months after the original invoice, and I do not have bank statements from this long ago, however, even if the cheque has gone astray, and the money wasn't taken from our account, isn't there a maximum length of time, where if a bill goes unpaid then you are not required to pay it? I think it is a long shot, but thought someone on here would have the answer before I contact my bank for old statements etc. As it was our wedding we had that many bills coming out of our account at the time, it would have been easy to not notice one leaving our account, only thing now is our wedding budget is gone, and with two young kids it is hard to muster up £300 from nowhere, advice would be greatly appreciated, Eddy.

looby75

I think that the time frame you are thinking of is 6 years, so they solicitor is well within their rights to pursue any payment they think is over due.

As for not having statements, you should be able to get any statements from your bank as far back as 6 years ago. Some banks charge a small fee for this but it varies from bank to bank. Your best bet is to contact your bank and request statements from around the time of your wedding.

HTH

hjb123

I doubt that last July is long enough for you to be able to say its too long since for them to bill you.

I think you will have to get copy statements from your bank or see if they are able to tell you over the phone or in branch?

Do you not have the cheque book stub still? How long do you keep your bank statements for? I always keep mine for a couple of years

ailuro2

I'd go straight to the bank and ask them to check your statements for the cheque- if they gave you the services then you do need to pay for them- if the cheque hasn't come off,can you phone the people in Cyprus and ask for some time to pay it,since it came out of the blue?

Of course, it may be that the cheque has come off and their record keeping is shoddy?

eddie1lancs

Thanks for all your replies, I will have to go in and see the bank, it's just the time and hassle of it I could do without, I might suggest to our solicitor that we pay back £50 a month, as if the bill hasn't been paid, for whatever reason, they are to blame as well for leaving it so long before letting us know. Thanks again for your responses, Eddy.