County Court Claim-QDR solicitors/Met Parking

Coupon-mad

They cannot get access to your first tenancy agreement (at all) except by reading this thread.  So delete what you just quoted from it.

Yeah, the judge was wrong about the CCJ thing and myself and the claimant corrected him for it. That part is sorted.

Tells me that this was a rookie Judge...you dodged a bullet by remembering from a post here that you risk NOTHING by taking the case to a hearing.  Well done for refusing to settle.

Guess what that would have done to your other PCNs? It would have given the  PPC fuel to demand all of them to ve paid. Just as damaging as if you list in court at a hearing. Same as if you blink and settle now.

So don't. There's no risk in carrying on.

Hope for a better Judge next time and hope to win it based on your primacy of contract (it is not 'unfettered' though so drop that word when speaking about it). If is just an 'honest expectation' of your 'right to peaceful enjoyment of the property' (an implied right in every lease) which was in fact let to you with a promise of parking in site.

The parking regime was meant to stop trespassers, not penalise residents. Using a visitor's permit was only a courtesy and never a relevant obligation.  No letters came with that permit setting out a contractual agreement, we assume? Nothing said 'by accepting this permit you are agreeing to the risk of £100 per day parking charges for using the parking facility already made available to you free of charge' did it?

Who told you that you can't file a WS and evidence by email?  The court or the claimant's rep?  You obviously can and they both received it!

Anyway wait for more Directions and follow them to the letter for the final hearing. May as well carry on. Settling opens up the can of worms of the other PCNs. Every Judge is different.

Umkomaas

@berserker, seeing that you're asking for help on a new PCN, given the amount of help the forum has already provided on this thread for a MET Parking PCN, do you think you might owe us an update please? We just can't continue offering help and advice that just seems to disappear into a black hole. 

Unless we have feedback on that advice, how does any of us know whether the advice worked, or whether was way off line. Over to you ....

berseker

@Umkomaas I owe you more than just an update. You guys have been amazing and so so helpful and genuinely would have struggled without this community. 

They issued me a court date towards the end of last year that I could not attend, I actually received an email this morning saying I have to fill out an n224 form to rearrange a new court date, i am going to do that and wait for my new court date. Of course, once I go through with that I will be back here with an update on what happened/the verdict. 

Coupon-mad

But @berseker - that costs money...an N244 application isn't free.  Has the old court hearing date been and gone and didn't take place?

berseker

I did not receive the letter of when the new court date was, must have gotten lost in transit. I then received a letter stating that I missed the court date and I had to pay a settlement fee, so I'm assuming it did take place just I wasn't there. I then contacted the courts about this to say that I did not know about the court date and got a response this morning stating I have to fill out the N244 application to sort out a new court date. I will obviously explain the situation and see what they say.

Coupon-mad

The application will cost you £108 (I think) to ask for the order to be set aside.  This is not simple and might be refused.

Basically, you lost the case in your absence, and are about to get a CCJ.  This is very serious - more serious than you seem to realise.  You may already have a CCJ - when was this hearing you missed? How much were you ordered to pay?

I am not at all sure how you will evidence that you didn't receive the Hearing Order and that the CCJ should be set aside.  Please show us the email and tell us the date of the hearing you missed and what happened to the court hearing letter?  

berseker

I sought legal advice and was told that I can ask the courts to set aside the judgment and re-hear the case. 

I believe it was back in October. The fee was in the region of £500. I think the initial fee was around £700. I'm just about to go to sleep as I have an early start tomorrow but I will send over a copy of the letter that I received tomorrow.

As far as I am aware, as of yet, I haven't got a CCJ as it would show on my credit report. I will get the N244 application filled out and sent tomorrow.

Coupon-mad

I sought legal advice and was told that I can ask the courts to set aside the judgment and re-hear the case. 

Yes, just as we are telling you...there was no need for legal advice.  I hope it was free?  The NEWBIES thread tells you about setting aside a CCJ.

Sadly, you do have a CCJ I'm afraid, if you lost at a Hearing in your absence in October.

See the section in the NEWBIES thread about setting aside a CCJ.  You have to act promptly as soon as you found out that you'd lost at the hearing you never knew about.

Did your legal advisor tell you this requirement (to act promptly) if you are asking for a CCJ set aside at the court's discretion under CPR 13.3?

In fact if sounds like you should pay £275 for a hearing of your application because I'm worried the court will refuse if you are not there to say in person that the hearing letter never arrived in the Summer..

berseker

It was free indeed. I was away at the time of the trial (not knowing about it of course) when I got back I had a letter from QDR 'statement of costs' that had been filed for the upcoming court date. The letter was dated the 24th and on the letter, it states the court date being the 25th (the next day). The letter was written a day before the court date so I would have not received it until after the court date anyway. When I got back I emailed the court to explain this (so I have an e-mail time stamp documented) and they just responded yesterday basically saying I need to fill out an N224 form, which I have now done and sent off. I have asked for judgement to be set aside and to rehear the case. 

Coupon-mad

I hope you read our CCJ Set Aside section and attached a WS and evidence that you were away?  And you emailed it all to the local court?