small claims court

ktj

I need to use the small claims court to recover money from a garage. I have no idea how to go about this. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Any help or advice greatfully received.

olly300

Go to https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

They have links to leaflets etc.

What you need to first do before you start your claim is send a "Letter Before Action" to the garage. The letter should:
1. Have the title "Letter Before Action"
2. State what you want
3. State that if you don't get what you want within 28 days you will take the garage to court and they will be liable for costs and interest on the money owed.
4. Sent by a method i.e. fax, recorded delivery that proves that the garage has received your letter and keep copies. (With businesses I would sent one copy by fax and one copy by normal post, stating at the end of each letter "This letter has been also been sent to you by fax/post". )

If you don't send a letter before action with a sufficient timeframe to allow the garage to give you the money your case can be dismissed.

After 28 days if you haven't received your money then go straight to money claimonline and start proceedings. You need to ensure your statement fits into 500 characters.

Other information from people like the CAB states that you need to send the defendent a copy of your claim before submitting it. This is not true. As long as you have sent them a "letter before action" they have been given sufficient notice that you are going to start proceedings.

People on two boards will defintely have experience of using the small claims procedure. The boards are:
1. the house selling and renting board -due to trying to get deposits back from landlords.
2. bank charges reclaim board - due to trying to get their bank charges back.

If you have specific questions on procedure you could ask questions on those boards making it clear that you are dealing with a different case. Make sure you put at the beginning or end of your post that you don't want the post moved to another board.

ktj

A big thanks to Ollie for excellent clear advice on how to proceed. :beer: