Small claims court - appeal question

thenap80

My wife has received a document from small claims court. It relates to service charge we owe on a property we let out (its in her name though). The document went to the let flat as the solicitor acting on behalf of managing agent do not have our address which is not in UK.

We were unable to pay for a few years as we were hit heavily with a 22k bill from the managing agent to cover a maintenance programme in 2018'

I feel the agent has contacted solicitors prematurely and not made effort to see what our situation is. We never denied owing but now there are added socitor fees and court costs added as well as interest on what is owed.

I have asked for the added costs to be waived and we can pay in full in coming weeks. But they won't budge. Can I appeal on the basis that I feel we should not have to pay the solicitor fees and court costs - it was the managing agent who decided to act by calling a solicitor before trying to make conversion with me. 

And the court cost added (about 450£ I think), does that entitle us to appeal at a Court (possibly via video link) or does appealing cause even more money incurred?

MattMattMattUK

thenap80 said:

My wife has received a document from small claims court. It relates to service charge we owe on a property we let out (its in her name though). The document went to the let flat as the solicitor acting on behalf of managing agent do not have our address which is not in UK.

We were unable to pay for a few years as we were hit heavily with a 22k bill from the managing agent to cover a maintenance programme in 2018'

I feel the agent has contacted solicitors prematurely and not made effort to see what our situation is. We never denied owing but now there are added socitor fees and court costs added as well as interest on what is owed.

I have asked for the added costs to be waived and we can pay in full in coming weeks. But they won't budge. Can I appeal on the basis that I feel we should not have to pay the solicitor fees and court costs - it was the managing agent who decided to act by calling a solicitor before trying to make conversion with me. 

I am not sure you have any grounds for appeal, you failed to notify the relevant parties of your forwarding address, you failed to put in place provision to pay any amounts due, you did not pay for several years and they have had to take legal action against you to obtain payment. Their course of action will be set out on your lease agreement, the interest will be set in the same agreement as will your obligations to pay and to inform them of a forwarding address.

thenap80 said:

And the court cost added (about 450£ I think), does that entitle us to appeal at a Court (possibly via video link) or does appealing cause even more money incurred?

It depends what you mean by appeal, have you already lost the court case? If you have then you will have then you will have to pay the appeal fee to allow you to appeal. If you have not yet lost the court case then you can attempt to negotiate with the landlord/managing agent in advance of the case, you can fight the cast on it's merits in the court (note, on it's legal merits, "I don't feel I should have to pay this" will not wash with the court), you can then negotiate a settlement plan if you lose, but be aware that unless you pay in full within a month a CCJ will show on your credit record. 

bris

They did what they had to do, you didn't reply to the claim.

They would have sent all correspondence to the flat which should have been passed on to you, the flat is the claim in question so it's right it was sent there.

It's hard to believe that your agents had no way of contacting you, thats going to be hard to explain to the small claims court.

You can appeal to have the claim set aside claiming you were never informed but may be a hard sell as it all went to the correct address. The claim was granted by default so unless they agree to set aside then thats how it will stay, they have no reason to waive any charges.

thenap80

Thanks for taking time to respond. My thinking was that the managing agent should have sent an email or made a phone call prior to getting a solicitor involved. The threat of court action was made last year at which in itself attracted a 200£ admin fee which was added to our owed costs. I liaised then with the Director of the resident association and discussed that we would pay double the service charge each year. So we did they last year and I told the solicitor that was planned. The only response I got from them was an "out of office" email. But they have now, just recently commenced the claims court route. They would I have hoped spoken to me prior to this given I had told them about the agreement I had with the Director, albeit only in a phone call. He is now denying there was any agreement.

mobileron

As a Landlord you are legally required to leave a address with your tenant.

thenap80

Lines closed today so couldn't ring!
I need to enrol to respond to a smail claims. The court papers were sent to wrong address in UK which I let out. The moneyclaim website won't let me register with nom UK address though. My HMRC gateway address is correct still. 

Stuck!

MattMattMattUK

thenap80 said:

Lines closed today so couldn't ring!
I need to enrol to respond to a smail claims. The court papers were sent to wrong address in UK which I let out. The moneyclaim website won't let me register with nom UK address though. My HMRC gateway address is correct still. 

Stuck!

You might need to wait until Monday and speak to them. What is your legal UK address, where do you use for bank accounts, electoral roll etc. or is your only UK presence the property which you rent out as a non-resident?

thenap80

We have a UK addtess for post that can be by parents' but I don't want to use that as if this goes to court, I won't be able to attend and they should know why!!

MattMattMattUK

thenap80 said:

We have a UK addtess for post that can be by parents' but I don't want to use that as if this goes to court, I won't be able to attend and they should know why!!

How much is the claim for? It would be rare for a MCOL claim to require you to attend in person anyway, even more so if it is on the small claims track.

thenap80

Over 5000£ unfortunately. Want to appeal just asaw small portion of it. ie the legal reps costs and court fees that were added. I feel more could have been done to mediate first!

MattMattMattUK

thenap80 said:

Over 5000£ unfortunately. Want to appeal just asaw small portion of it. ie the legal reps costs and court fees that were added. I feel more could have been done to mediate first!

When you say appeal, have you already lost the case and are now trying to appeal? Do you think you owe the money, are you disputing the case or just trying to lower the amount?