Former housemate taking me to small claims court - help!

Slowmotion

Hey guys, was wondering if any of you could help with the situation I've found myself in.

So a housemate I lived with in a student house last year (October 2012 - June 2013) contacted me and 3 other tenants a month ago to tell us we hadn't paid 6 months' worth of gas or electricity bills. The bill is for jan 2013 - June 2013. She was the only person named on the bill. She claims she only just found out, despite asking me before we moved out to help her find the gas and electricity meters so we could get our final bill.

It took her a couple of days for her to show us the bill and give us her account details. The bill per person was £110. I told her that it really wasn't a great time as I was living paycheck to paycheck and had a wonga loan to pay off (for over £200), as well as paying someone to move my stuff in a couple of weeks as I was moving from uni back home. But I said as soon as I could that I would pay her.

Just over a week later (2 weeks from when she told us about the bill) I get a message from her boyfriend saying to pay her immediately or he'll take me to court. The next day he shows up at my place of work and follows me to the staff room and confronts me. She's with him so I talk to her and tell her I won't have any money for a bit as I'm moving and will have to find a new job. I offer to start paying her in instalments when i've found a new job in a couple of weeks and she said that's fine.

2 weeks later (today), she messages me to tell me that she's taking me to a small claims court. I don't have enough to pay her as of yet. I have some money that should be coming my way once I get a unique taxpayer reference from HMRC, I filled out the forms on the 18th of June, I've been told it takes 6 weeks? I've told her this but she doesn't seem to care. Would it be enough to pay her £10 or £20 to show that I'm paying her? This isn't enough for her, she wants the full amount now but I'm hoping if it gets to court and I've got proof of paying her weekly it should be enough to avoid a ruling against me and therefore having to pay fees etc.

Had she asked me at any other point of the year I would have given her the money within a week, but she told me at a really bad point of the year for me.

Thanks for reading, and any help is greatly appreciated!

terryw

It is certainly a good idea to pay something as a sign of good faith but if it does go to court and you lose the case (which looks likely) then if the full amount of the judgement is not paid within a month this will be registered against you.

Realistically, if you start paying then court action is unlikely as a letter before action will have to be sent first and then you have time to answer the court papers - by then the debt will be almost paid off hopefully.

dancingfairy

o.k so it sounds like you admit that you do owe the money? You can either wait for her to take it to court or you can try and start making payments to her for what you can afford.
Now obviously talk is cheap. Whether she will actually take you to court is another matter entirely. It will cost her £45 ish (per person if she starts suing you all) so is she likely to bother? Will she win? As far as I can tell at the moment she has a bill in her name but no proof that you should have paid towards it (for all the courts/we know you could have had different bills in your name). It is by no means certain she will win. IF she does win then you have 28 days I think it is to settle before you end up with a ccj (if you pay it off in 28days it's wiped/doesn't go on your file). IF you still can't pay then you can apply to the court to pay in installments.
Now frankly you admit you owe the money so a bit of common sense and meeting in the middle would probably be helpful here.
Her getting her boyfriend to turn up at your work is really not on. Hopefully he will stop this otherwise you can go to the police and tell the m you are being harrassed or get a solicitor to issue a letter telling them to back off. It is not the way to behave.
I hope you and the ex housemate can come to a sensible agreement.
df

Hillbilly1

You need very robust paperwork stating what is owed. The total bill seems very high per person for 6 months.

If you make any payments the amount, method and time and date need to be recorded by an independant witness and records given to both parties.

It seems like you are the only traceable one, as I presume they aren't turning up at 3 places of work chasing people?

It's a good lesson in putting names on bills. If it's your name you are liable, despite verbal agreements.

Monkeyballs

Hi,

It's a tough one but at the risk of sounding like I'm unsupportive remember that you don't know what her financial position is so while she is on your case she likely has the energy company on hers...

A combined £550 for 6 months of fuel between 5 people (£110 x 5) does sound a llittle high but it was Winter/Spring months and only you guys know how "energy efficient" you were being

The bit with the boyfriend, it's not his place to be chasing you which makes me think he's supporting her? Maybe she's a bit more blase and he wants her to be stronger./not be a walk over... All guess work obviously but that's what I'm getting by reading between the lines. Don't forget, you're getting to move so they could be thinking this is necessary to get the money before you vanish!

Have you tried asking your folks to transfer the money? It's an easy mistake to make so I'm sure they'll understand the oversight...

MB

harveybobbles

What was on the tennancy? did it mention who was responsible for paying bills?

I'd be tempted to wait to see if she bothers with court. At the end of the day, the bill is in her name and she is responsible to pay it (unless there is something in the tennancy agreement to say otherwise..)

Even if you did pay her so much per week now. You would need something in writing from both parties to say how much you were paying her and what it was for (and both keep a copy). Otherwise she could claim that you havent been paying her.

EDIT: Her BF turnin g up at YOUR work is harrassment. Does your place of work have CCTV in the staff room in which he followed you? ask for a copy now before it gets deleted.

matttye

Is there any form of written agreement that says you had to pay a certain % of the bill? The bill is in her name.

If she can't prove you owe in court, I'd be inclined to tell her to do one after the way she and her boyfriend have acted.

[Deleted User]

she sounds like a bully especially bringing her bf into your place of work,for that reason alone i`d tell her to go and jump for her money,believe me people like this are all talk and i doubt she will take you to court
my advice dont offer a penny wait and see what happens

Powered_By_Pies

Counterclaim if it gets to court for her boyfriend harrassing you at your place of work and also for trespassing - I assume he doesn't work there too, so how did he get in and who - if anyone - gave him permission to enter a staff-only area of the building?

He sounds like a nasty piece of work so be nasty back.

satchmo1

Hang on now, the OP knows she was a tenant and using the fuel, so don't start advising her to try and wriggle out of it.


The OP clearly wants to do the right thing, but is in a tight spot at the moment. The advice to as family for help is useful, as is the advice to make weekly payments starting now.


Maybe OP can contact the person to say she'll set up a standing order for £10 a week (if that's affordable)? It'll save the person the court fees which are a high percentage of the amount OP owes.

Monkeyballs

Have to agree with Satchmo.

While it's good to advise the Op of how to watch her back what would responses be to the person asking for the money back? Imagine if she was to post something like;

Hi,

I really need help and advice on what to do as I'm being hounded for £550 by NPower for an unpaid bill for fuel used back at the start of last year when I was living with four friends in student digs. It's a massive bill but they all had their heaters on, it was like they'd never heard of jumpers!!!

Now the bill is in my name but we all agreed to split the bills but one of my friends is fobbing me off saying she can't pay and I'm getting really stressed! Everyone else has paid but her

I just want the whole thing to end but don't like having to ask as it's embarrassing but my boyfriend is trying to help. He has tried contacting her but she's not replying so we went to see her at work and she tried to avoid us but my BF spotted her and tried to speak to her but she tried to hide! He's a lot more pushy than me, probably because he loves me and he's seen the stress I'm under...

We've threatened court action but she doesn't seem bothered and it's like she's laughing at us behind our backs! I have debts of my own and money is really tight, will this have an impact on my credit rating?

I just want it all to end but she just wants to run away, I know she is moving in a couple of weeks and if I don't get the money back soon then I suspect I'll never hear from her again!

Can anyone please help me and tell me what I can do?

Thanks,

I'm just trying to show (potentially) the other side of the argument, if it was your daughter trying to get money off a friend I bet your responses would be even stronger!

Slowmo, it's not that I don't sympathise but if it was me I'd put myself in their shoes and give my folks a buzz to ask if they could sub you the money and explain what it's for (and get a receipt).

MB