Judgetmenet order/Debts

1506moir

Help pse what should I do pay up or fight it out:

Just had judgement debt/order place against me and my wife for none payment of ground rent for a flat we own. We bought the property in Dec 09. The property has been rented out and we have never lived there. I have never received any notification of the debt or any other correspondence from Estate Managements Ltd who hold the free hold, so they have just told me; all letters were sent to the property and not our home address. We have paid and never been late with the service charge, which I presumed covered both. They managed to track us down by going via our mortgage company, who sent us the information. I have spoken to J B Leitch & Co, solicitors the ones who are after our blood and they are not interested in helping us, as this is clearly a misunderstanding. Have also spoken to Estate management but they have said the debt now lies with J B Leitch. All help greatly appreciated; don’t want my credit history affected by this.

nottoolate

if its their fault that you never knew you should be paying it then you might be able to get it set aside.

i think you might struggle though as arguably you should have known this would be due?

1506moir

I see what your saying and to tell the truth I did know that it was due but took it that the 900 pounds I paid in Jan of each year covered that part as well.

What does "set a side" mean and how do I go about doing that, quite happy to make a fight of it, not saying I've loads of cash but I hate getting done over for no reason.

nottoolate

read the info here

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court

Tixy

How have you found out about the CCJ?
What is the date of the CCJ? - one thing you might want to consider - if you get a CCJ and pay within a month of the judgement then it doesn't go on your credit files. If you get a judgement set aside then it will be removed from your credit file. But if you try to get it set aside and fail then you won't have paid within the month and will be stuck with it on your file.

So assuming you are within the month you need to have a good read of the factsheet linked to above to see if you are likely to have a case about it being set aside pretty swiftly.

Did estate management ever send anything to your home address? did they know your home address? were you getting invoices for the service charge to your home address? were they definitely aware that you didn't live at the property? and would you have any written proof of that?

1506moir

Hi,

I found out about the CCJ from my building society, the solicitors wrote to them asking to make the payment and pass it onto me. The CCJ is dated the 04th Dec 11. I never had anything from the estate management company. But at the same time I never told them my address, which I would have done if I had known. One more thing I have just been in touch with Northampton CC and tried to resolve the matter but because I am serving in Afghanistan at the moment with the Army then to put it bluntly I'm up the creek without a paddle and nothing can be done, so I have to pay up. Its going to be a nice Xmas in our house this year. I sometimes wonder why I and others bother, when no one really cares for or will even take our predicament into consideration.

Tixy

Do you mean 4 November 2011?
Can you afford to pay the debt in full now?

How did you know you had to pay £900 in Jan each year? did you get an invoice for that, and did it show what was included in that? was the invoice from estate management or someone else? if you didn't get an invoice how did you know what to pay?

1506moir

Yes sorry 04th Nov 11. Each Jan I get an invoice for the ground rent, which I just took as been for the service charge as well, but that comes from a different compay. Yes I can afford to pay it, but as I said it will be a tight Xmas.

tallyhoh

I am very surprised that the solicitor you used when buying the flat did not advise you of the charges. Dont know if you may have a claim against them?

Tixy

Obviously its sounds like the money is owed, just that you didn't realise it - would you agree?
So I guess your key issue is for your credit file not to be affected - if thats the case and you can afford to pay in full then the CCJ won't be recorded on your credit file or on the registery trust list of CCJs.

If you couldn't afford to pay in full then you could possibly apply to try to have a judgement set aside (although if they didn't have your correct address I am not sure it would work and if the invoices you were paying didn't mention ground rent then again I think it unlikely it would be successful). If you did get the CCJ set aside then you'd still need to arrange to pay the debt or they could simply apply for another CCJ.