County court Claim Addressed to Virtual Office

imzkhan4

Hello,

I have raised a money claim online (County Court claim) against a building’s company for the return of my deposit after failing to carry out or begin works as per the contract agreement. However I raised the claim and addressed it to the company’s registered address (in Companies House) which I later found is a virtual office i.e. the business is not physically located here but it used for mailing purposes managed by a third party). 

It is looking increasingly likely that bailiffs will be deployed but how will they reclaim assets if there is no one at the site? Can I provide the residential address of the Director with whom I made the contract agreement with. I have his residential address which I obtained as part of my due diligence. 

Ectophile

The bailiffs (or HCEOs if the claim is big enough) can go to any site operated by the company.  But they can't seize goods belonging to directors of the company; only the company's own assets.

Unfortunately, many companies have no assets worth seizing.  The office is rented, the vans are leased.  The equipment is either old and tatty, or hired in as required.

steampowered

There is no point sending bailiffs to the registered office, as the company won't have any assets there.

There is also no point sending bailiffs to the director's residential address, unless there are company assets at that address.

You need to try and find out where the company has assets. Send the bailiffs there.

imzkhan4

Thanks both for the replies. I thought that would be the case. 

After finding out that I sent the claim to a virtual address, I actually sent another claim but addressed it personally to the director and to his residential address. My only concern is that the county courts might say that my agreement was with the business and I also paid the money to the company account (which has been changed and flagged as a scam case with the Bank and Action Fraud and Trading Standards)

At this rate, I probably won’t see my money and my only hope is Trading Standards to hold this business accountable. I also managed to reach out to others who have been scammed exactly like me and we are all working together to provide information to Trading Standards. 

Sandtree

imzkhan4 said:

My only concern is that the county courts might say that my agreement was with the business and I also paid the money to the company account

That isnt a concern its a fact, you entered into a contract with a legal entity (the company) and your rights are only against that company. There are protections in place that can change things if the directors try to deprive the company of assets to avoid paying claims but the reality is most small businesses do not have material assets and whilst emotively you may want to sue the first sense check is always on the defendants ability to pay otherwise you throw good money after bad.

There are normally processes for getting physical addresses from mail forwarding services but as others have warned there may be no assets to go after. Have you looked at their annual returns online?

Bvincen4_2

I have an ongoing claim with a garage which has been rejected by the motor ombudsman. It was my intention to use the county court and was advised to send the garage a letter before small claims outlining my case. Today I received a response from the garage which appears to come from a legal representative. The letter is strong and basically states that if I choose to proceed then they will seek to recover their costs if I lose. The wording does its best to scare me and it has. The legal costs for a claim around £1,000 with a chance of these cost may not be worth it or is this a usual behaviour? Can they do this? Is it typical for a judge to award legal costs? Is there someone who I can see for free legal advise? 

liggerz87

Your best making your own post