Decree added against wrong person

ilikeunicorns

Okay, so, I live in Scotland so obviously Scottish laws etc will apply. I'll try and keep it as brief as possible.

I lived in a flat with my flatmate, halfway through the tenancy my flatmate left (without permission from the landlord) and stopped paying rent. It was a joint tenancy. I couldn't afford to pay the full amount of rent myself so by the end of the tenancy arrears had built up. This ended up being taken to the small claims court. The judge determined that my flatmate was liable for the full amount of arrears (as she didn't turn up to court) and I didn't have to pay anything.

A few weeks afterwards I recieved a letter from Registry Trust advising that I had a decree placed on my Credit File for the above case. I phoned the courts who admitted it had been an error but I needed the persurer (landlord) to send a letter to the registry trust confimring it had been placed on me in error and enclose a cheque for £4.00 to have it removed.

I have contacted the landlord and he has not gotten back to me, which leads me to belive he is not prepared to write the letter etc so now I am stuck. I need the decree removed ASAP as I work in the Financial Services Industry and this breaches my contract of employment as well as hoping to get a mortgage in a year or two.

Sorry for the long post, any advice is hugely appreciated!

matttye

I don't understand why the landlord would need to get involved - the judge is the one who made the order, so surely sending a copy of the court transcript and/or judgment to the Registry Trust would suffice to get it removed?

I'd get back onto the court and ask what the landlord has to do with this. The judge made an order and the order has been recorded in error. The court should be able to rectify this surely.

Gentoo365

You need to get legal advice on this. I agree that it does not seem right that someone who takes you to court should not be the one to decide whether the mistake should be corrected.

He has no incentive whatsoever to write that letter and no reason to be charged to correct an error that was not his fault and does not impact him.

As you say, it is in is interest to keep this on your file until he gets the money from the arrears.

Does Scotland have a Citizens Advice Bureau type thing you can contact? as basically you need to find out who you complain to.

Thrugelmir

ilikeunicorns wrote: »

The judge determined that my flatmate was liable for the full amount of arrears (as she didn't turn up to court) and I didn't have to pay anything.

Interesting decision. Was this the entire transcript of the judges summing up.

ilikeunicorns

Thanks for all the advice so far.

What actually happened was the judge was going to place it on me, until I said that on the court summons I initially recieved it stated that "non - attendance was admittion of liability" when I pointed out that my flatmate hadn't turned up and that it said that on the summons the judge decided to issue it against the other person.

matttye

Seems strange that the judge would pin it all on one person - whether you attended or not - when you were both responsible for the entire amount of the rent.*

* I'm making the assumption you were both jointly and severally liable for the rent, as is the case with most joint financial agreements.

Are you sure that this is actually what happened and you haven't misunderstood the proceedings?

Thrugelmir

ilikeunicorns wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice so far.

What actually happened was the judge was going to place it on me, until I said that on the court summons I initially recieved it stated that "non - attendance was admittion of liability" when I pointed out that my flatmate hadn't turned up and that it said that on the summons the judge decided to issue it against the other person.

Then you need to ensure that your ex flat mate attended. :eek:

ilikeunicorns

Yes, I am 100% that that was the outcome "decree against ****** other flatmate and dismissal against ilikeunicorns" and whether that is unusual or not is not the issue here the issue is how do I get a decree that should not have been issued against me removed.

matttye

ilikeunicorns wrote: »

Yes, I am 100% that that was the outcome "decree against ****** other flatmate and dismissal against ilikeunicorns" and whether that is unusual or not is not the issue here the issue is how do I get a decree that should not have been issued against me removed.

I refer you to post #2 - there should be no need to involve the landlord at all.

Needing the claimant's consent to correct a judgment recorded in error is absolutely nonsensical.

Thrugelmir

Well the Landlord isn't going to be cooperative. As I assume is still owed money.

rizla_king

ilikeunicorns wrote: »

I phoned the courts who admitted it had been an error but I needed the persurer (landlord) to send a letter to the registry trust confimring it had been placed on me in error and enclose a cheque for £4.00 to have it removed.

That is just rubbish.

The registry trust just reports the information given to it by the court so if it needs to be corrected then its confirmation of the error from the court that they need. ##ck all to do with the landlord.