How to send a Letter Before Action properly?

Ricardo1980

Understood.
"(b) first class post, document exchange or other service which provides for delivery on the next business day, in accordance with Practice Direction 6A;"

Please, bear with me, I'm new in this country, just a few months speaking this language, and first time in my life a landlord steals my money and I have to go to court (in another country and another language).
If for any of you going to court can be stressful, imagine in my case.

Astraeus

Ricardo1980 wrote: »

Understood.
"(b) first class post, document exchange or other service which provides for delivery on the next business day, in accordance with Practice Direction 6A;"

Please, bear with me, I'm new in this country, just a few months speaking this language, and first time in my life a landlord steals my money and I have to go to court (in another country and another language).
If for any of you going to court can be stressful, imagine in my case.

Court forms and procedure rules, such as the one to which I linked you, are available in multiple languages. Do not post it recorded delivery. It will cost you more and it is not validly served.

Ricardo1980

Astraeus wrote: »

Court forms and procedure rules, such as the one to which I linked you, are available in multiple languages. Do not post it recorded delivery. It will cost you more and it is not validly served.

Thanks, I was completely sure I saw "recorded delivery" in citizens advice or shelter, but after checking that again, I don't find it. In fact, even they don't say to use first class mail with proof, they say just send the letter before action. It seems to me they could improve that.
I will follow your advice, because, well, that's what court documents say.
Thanks again.

steampowered

Hello, as you have been given a lot of conflicting advice, you may find it helpful to read the actual court rules which deal with letters before action: https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct

There are no technical rules governing the postage of a letter before action. You shouldn't get too worried about this. Just send the letter and don't get too worried about how you send it.

The more important thing is to make sure your letter includes the required contents - see paragraph 6(a) of the rules I linked above. Although this is intended to be general guidance rather than something technical.

You should simply take sensible, proportionate steps to make sure that the recipient gets the letter. Simply sending the letter by post and asking for proof of postage would be sensible. Alternatively, you could also send the letter recorded delivery or email a copy of the letter to the recipient. This will help you if the recipient later tries to claim he did not receive the letter.

steampowered

Astraeus wrote: »

Court forms and procedure rules, such as the one to which I linked you, are available in multiple languages. Do not post it recorded delivery. It will cost you more and it is not validly served.

Hello, the rules around service of documents in Civil Procedure Rule 6 do not apply to letters before action. A letter before action is not a document produced during the course of court proceedings and it does not need to be formally "served" in the way that a court document (such as a claim form or a defence) needs to be.

The other point is that, even if it were a document which needed to be formally served, the rules permit service by "(b) first class post, document exchange or other service which provides for delivery on the next business day, in accordance with Practice Direction 6A" (see https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part06#I).

Practice Direction 6A goes on to say that "Service by post, DX or other service which provides for delivery on the next business day is effected by – (1) placing the document in a post box; (2) leaving the document with or delivering the document to the relevant service provider; or (3) having the document collected by the relevant service provider."

Recorded post meets all of these criteria and is a perfectly valid means of serving documents. Although it is not strictly necessary to use recorded post, regular 1st class post is fine too.

Ricardo1980

This morning I sent the LBA. In the post office I asked for "first class mail" and then I was asked "signed or unsigned"? I was unsure so I said unsigned.
I also got the proof of posting.

neilmcl

Ricardo1980 wrote: »

This morning I sent the LBA. In the post office I asked for "first class mail" and then I was asked "signed or unsigned"? I was unsure so I said unsigned.
I also got the proof of posting.

In which case you've goyt proof of postage but not proof of delivery.

Ricardo1980

But, is not that what I need incourt in case he says he never received anything?

naedanger

Ricardo1980 wrote: »

But, is not that what I need incourt in case he says he never received anything?

Proof of posting is sufficient. You will be required to show you sent the letter to the correct address. The court is likely to assume in the absence of any evidence to the contrary that, on the balance of probability, the letter was either received or refused by the recipient.

The recipient may well deny receiving the letter (and indeed it is possible, though unlikely, that it gets lost before the recipient receives it). However that will not count against you.

steampowered

Well done on getting to this stage and sending the LBA.

Proof of posting is plenty.

If you don't get an acceptable response within 14 days and you believe you have a case, the next step will be to issue a small claim through the online 'moneyclaimonline' service.

You'll be pleased to know that if you enter all the relevant details on there the court will serve the claim for you, so you won't have to worry about dealing with all this service stuff.