Small claims - any tips on serving papers on someone living in France?

Screaming_Flamingo

Hi all

We booked a holiday in France and paid a deposit. T&Cs have a clause stating that its governed by English law. The owner of gite cancelled on us and is refusing to repay the deposit or communicate. So off to the small claims court we go. 

But... how do we actually go about serving court papers on someone residing in France? The owner is English, but doesn't seem to have a UK address. Has anyone had to do this before? 

Thanks! 

SF

Sandtree

You have to use the paper forms for an overseas defendant rather than the online service.

The issuance is less of an issue, the enforcement gets more complicated in international law

Screaming_Flamingo

Thanks - I have not had to do this before. So do we organise serving the papers on them, or do we just fill in their details on the small claims form, send it in, and the court arranges it?

macman

As pointed out above, it's fairly pointless if they actually live in France, as enforcing any judgement will require you to commission bailiffs in France, or the equivalent. It's really not feasible for the amount you are talking about, which I'm guessing is less than £1k? Either the contract is just a copy and paste, or (if you are lucky), they own a property in France but actually reside in the UK, in which case you can go the usual small claims route here, once you've traced an address for service of your claim.

user1977

macman said:

Fairly pointless if they actually live in France, as enforcing any judgement will require you to commission obtain judgement and then bailiffs in France, or the equivalent. Just a copy and paste, or (if you are lucky), they own a property in France but actually reside in the UK, in wich case you can go the usual small claims route here., once you've traced an address for service of your claim.

Not entirely sure about France but enforcing a foreign judgment usually just means registering it locally rather than having to start the court process from scratch. The enforcement would however be whatever the French regime is, so I hope the OP's legal French is up to scratch!

Screaming_Flamingo

My legal french is muy bien.

In terms of enforcement, we will burn that bridge when we get to it. I would hope they will prefer to pay rather than have a County Court Judgement registered against them for failing to return a deposit to a guest. I cannot imagine that will be good for business. 

But, if we put enforcement to one side, serving the claim is down to me to organise? 

KeithP

www.ukecc.net

Screaming_Flamingo

Thanks Keith - I didn't know UKECC existed. Will take a look. 

Sandtree

Screaming_Flamingo said:

Thanks Keith - I didn't know UKECC existed. Will take a look. 

Given the website is technically breaching regulations I'd be cautious of what it really is... I could have a site up in 5 minutes claiming to be formally sanctioned etc.

KeithP

Sandtree said:

Screaming_Flamingo said:

Thanks Keith - I didn't know UKECC existed. Will take a look. 

Given the website is technically breaching regulations I'd be cautious of what it really is... I could have a site up in 5 minutes claiming to be formally sanctioned etc.

But that site has been there for more than five minutes.

It is mentioned in this thread - 
READ ME FIRST PLEASE . . . Useful links, Resources and FAQs -
which in turn is linked from the first post in sticky thread -
Consumer Rights Sticky - Please Read Before Posting

The relevant post was written in 2011. It's been there for almost ten years. 

Sandtree

KeithP said:

Sandtree said:

Screaming_Flamingo said:

Thanks Keith - I didn't know UKECC existed. Will take a look. 

Given the website is technically breaching regulations I'd be cautious of what it really is... I could have a site up in 5 minutes claiming to be formally sanctioned etc.

But that site has been there for more than five minutes.

It is mentioned in this thread - 
READ ME FIRST PLEASE . . . Useful links, Resources and FAQs -
which in turn is linked from the first post in sticky thread -
Consumer Rights Sticky - Please Read Before Posting

The relevant post was written in 2011. It's been there for almost ten years. 

And? Its possible to scam websites to be up for decades. Plus its still in breach of data protection laws by not having a compliant privacy policy whilst collecting/processing personal data.

I'm not saying its a scam, hence the "be careful" rather than a "don't use", but its unusual for legitimate site to have non-compliant privacy policy - theirs doesn't for example identify who they legally are and whilst it says "click here for full privacy statement" its not actually a link.