High Court Form 55 - Andrew Wilson & Co

shamonee

Please Help Urgently.

When I was out of work 2 years ago, I did a one building job with a friend under a company name which we decided to call ourselves. We completed the job perfectly and yet the customer decided to not pay a penny and try and sue us to get all his money back for the materials. I ignored these requests because we had no money and we had not been paid from this job which took us a month. We were told whilst on the job by their own neighbor that they had refused to pay a builder more than once before.

I now live abroad, I have just hear from my dad that he has one of these high court letters demanding 4700 pounds with authorization to sieze their goods, and someone in a van has been waiting outside his house! I never registered a company, I haven't lived at my parents house in years. How can this be happening to my elderly parents who are now worried sick! They had absolutely nothing to do with any of this!!! Please help

pauletruth

has anyone seen the paperwork from the county court. if not just check with the court that one has been issued. explain your problems with the court they usually are happy for you to pay it off in bits.

shamonee

thanks, but my point is this; Can these people legally come after my parents for something totally unrelated to them? I never had a registered company, I did one job with a friend, I have not lived at my parents address for about 10 years, I did not live at my parents address at the time, I had my own house at the time! What has this got to do with them.

How can they be issued with a letter like this. As this is a debt collector, they probably have access to experian etc and I still have a bank account to their address because I live abroad and its the only address I can use. So they have found their address from this, but that doesnt mean they can hold my parents liable for something I did whilst living somewhere else. Are they still responsible for me as an adult living and working elsewhere? I cannot believe what is happening

Tixy

Shamonee

Is the letter addressed to you or to one of your parents?

If its addressed to you and you don't live there then I would just get Dad to contact them (whatever contact appears on the letter) and state that you do not live there, that there are none of your possessions in the property, that you live abroad and that you haven't lived there for years.

Tixy

Were you aware there was a CCJ for this debt? Have parents had post in the past addressed to you about the CCJ? would they have informed you or opened it if they had?
Its likely that the CCJ was obtained at your last known address - which is presumably likely to be whatever address you used on the invoice you sent out to your client. Presumably you never entered a defence against a CCJ?

First you could find out when the CCJ was granted and at what address - you can search the registery trust online website for CCJs in a name at a particular address - its £8 per address searched though. If the CCJ is in your name you should be able to find it.

You said in your original post 'a company name you decided to call yourselves' can you confirm you did not put the word limited on the paperwork - i.e it was clear that this was just a trading name not a registered company? eg using X&Y Builders, not X&Y Builders Limited?
At the time did you register with HMRC that you were intending to start a business?

Edit this link might be worth a read http://www.bdl.org.uk/images/31_dealing_with_debts_in_the_high_court.pdf

If you want to argue against the CCJ then you would need to put in a set aside application to the court as to why you believe that you did not owe the money (there is a fee for this). If you want to stop the high court bailiffs you would need to apply for a stay of execution (there is a fee for this).

If you never plan to live back in the UK then maybe you might decide not to try to get is set aside although obviously there is a risk in this. E.g .you could be made bankrupt in your absence. You might need to seek some advice from one of the debt charities - probably business debtline as this was a business debt originally.

shamonee

Hi, thanks for the reply. The letter is addressed to 'X' Buildong! We called ourselves X BuilIng company (I am not sure if we followed with an Ltd) so it is addressed to neither myself or my fathers name.
We never registered with the HMRC because we never knew whether the business would even get off the ground (it never) so there is not even any such company. So how they can claim this companies premises are my parents house is beyond me.

I do not care about my own credit rating as I will never be returning to the UK. I live a happy but very cheap life in E. Europe.

I never knew about any CCJ at all, I havent lived in UK for about 18 months. You are correct. I gave an invoice to them with my address on it (not my parents).
So its best if my father contacts them and says who the heck is X Buildong?! If they give him my name, he can explain I havent lived there for 10 years , give them my old address and tell them that I now live abroad. What do you think?

Many thanks for the advice and the link which I will read now

mrsb83_2

No point in getting cute about a spelling mistake. It's clearly for you.

Your dad should let them know that you don't live there and have moved abroad. They are simply trying to find you, and writing to your parent's address is not unreasonable. They should stop once it's established you don't live there.

Check with a debt charity the implications for you personally of ignoring the CCJ despite the fact you no longer live in the UK,

shamonee

I obviously realise its for me. I could understand if they simply contacted my parents address looking for me, but they sent a man round who parked outside my parents house after posting a letter which states they are authorised to seize 5000 pounds worth of their belongings. That's intimidation of people who have done nothing wrong.

As for me, I never knew of the existence of the problem until today

vax2002

If he comes back, tell your parents to call the police and ask them to attend to prevent a disturbance of the peace and remove a trespasser.

DVardysShadow

You seem to assume that this has all gone through official legal channels. I don't want to alarm you, but given that this character has a history of not paying and he didn't pay you, it seems entirely possible that he has not taken the matter to court - because he would be countersued. So that leaves the possibility that the high court letter is a fake and the man in a van is a freelancer.

The first thing you must do is establish whether this was ever taken to court and whether a judgement was issued against you. If there is no judgement, this is harassment. If there was a judgement then you need to explain here the outline of why you did not defend it so that you can get the correct advice on the way forward.

nottoolate

they are these people?

http://www.northernsheriffs.com/

so may be high court enforcement officers. read here http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=31_dealing_with_debts_in_the_high_court