Small claims court

The_Mould

henry24 wrote: »

Macman could you explain what you mean

Alright Henry,

LBA means Letter Before Action.

So you should send your ex-friend a Letter Before Action setting out brief details of your claim against him.

In the LBA, inform your ex-friend that he has 14 days to acknowledge service of your letter, and give him another 14 days to respond to it, in writing only.

Tell him in your letter that if he does not repay what he owes you within the next 4 weeks, that you will institute proceedings against him for the money he owes you and you will also seek your cost for the court fee.

Send your LBA by special or recorded delivery.

Kind regards

The Mould

henry24

Thank you The Mould I've never had to do anything like this before so when you explain it like that it really helps

Dynametix

How much you owe and on what you need advice?

Dr_Crypto

If he doesn’t have any money then there isn’t much point. I got a CCJ against someone who didn’t pay me for a job but it was more bother than it was worth to enforce it.

DCFC79

Dynametix wrote: »

How much you owe and on what you need advice?

Sure it's already been mentioned, have a look Dynametix.

macman

Don't use a signed-for delivery, because people who owe money will often refuse to accept them.Proof of postage is all you need, it's not necessary to prove receipt.

OnTheRun

macman wrote: »

Don't use a signed-for delivery, because people who owe money will often refuse to accept them.Proof of postage is all you need, it's not necessary to prove receipt.

Proof of posting =/= proof of delivery

Royal Mail admitted to losing over 700 items of mail per day, last year.

If an item sent recorded delivery is marked as 'refused', (as opposed to no reply, unable to deliver, address unknown, etc) then you will have a record you can rely upon later that at least you tried, and the debtor was actively refusing to accept your post.

henry24

Update mainly for the last two posts, I sent it the person was out so postie left a card for them to collect from post office they haven't bothered and today I've had it come back to me.


What my next move?

sourcrates

henry24 wrote: »

Update mainly for the last two posts, I sent it the person was out so postie left a card for them to collect from post office they haven't bothered and today I've had it come back to me.


What my next move?

Send by normal post, its deemed to have been delivered 3 days after posting, that avoids the above issue, you can also back up the letter by sending by email as well, but you must also send it in writing to comply with civil procedure rules.
Once youve done that, they have 30 days to send back their responce, if they don`t reply, or don`t stick to what has been agreed, you then file your claim online.

As others have said, obtaining judgement is usually the easy part, as people tend to ignore claim forms, or don`t reply in time, or the claim is found against them, its enforcing the judgement that tends to be the problem, so, if you are successful, i suggest you don`t waste any more time, your best course of action would be :

(A) if they have the money, but just won`t pay, escalate to the High court, this costs £66, and instruct a firm of HCEO`s to collect the money from them.

(B) if your not sure they have the money, but they are working, then apply to the court for a "direct earnings attachment" which will deduct money directly from there wages.

Obtaining judgement is just the begining, lots ignore the CCJ, so you then need to further enforce that judgement, and these are the two best options for you.

henry24

Thank you sourcrates, they do have the money just don't want to pay me.