Small claims

Peachiest

We have a shared sewage treatment works between 5 houses. It says in our deeds we are all liable for 1/5 of the cost of maintenance, repair or replacement. As it is on our land we have had to sort out the problem. To cut a long story short it was more cost effective to have it replaced rather than repair it. Four of us agreed and the other house would not answer any letters, and as it was polluting we had to go ahead and get it done. Once it was competed everyone paid their share except one house. We had sent loads of letters with quotes, explanations etc to no avail. We have asked him for his share, and yesterday he gave us a cheque for £2000 and said he does not have the money to pay the other £3500. As he has paid this, is he admitting liability? We have threatened him with court and he said go ahead. Any advice please. 

[Deleted User]

Threatening someone with court doesn't help if he doesn't have the money to pay. Can you not agree a payment plan over a year or something?

sourcrates

So what if they do admit liability, what then ??

Makes absolutely no difference whatsoever if you admit to a debt or not, outside of a courtroom.

The only thing it would affect would be the time limit for taking action against him, which incidentally is 6 years, but they have to admit liability in writing, or by making a payment, but it makes little difference to him paying the balance.

You now have 6 years in which to take legal action against him, but, as pointed out above, if they don`t have the money, then its a totally pointless exercise, and obtaining a CCJ is just the first step, if they still refuse, or can`t pay, then you must escalate the matter at further cost to yourself, and after all that, you still may not get paid.

Threatening someone with legal action, when they don`t have the funds to pay you, won`t magically make them find a hidden stash, also a court won`t make someone pay something they cannot afford, it only works if the debtor has the money to pay, but won`t, in which case, after judgement is obtained, you must engage bailiffs to pay them a visit, and even then if they keep the door locked, they cannot force entry for this kind of debt.

Think very carefully before you go down this path.

doodling

Hi,

I can see two possible ways forwards:

Option 1:

Whilst you need to be aware of the previous comments, the fact that the money is owed in relation to a property suggests that whilst the person who owes the money may not have any cash, they are likely to have some assets (i.e. a house).  In theory it should be possible to sue for the amount due, obtain a judgement for it and then secure that against the property.  It is unlikely you will see your money until the house is sold however (a court almost certainly won't force them to sell) so you might have a long wait.  You might also not see any money if the house is in negative equity when sold - the mortgage company will get their money first, your money will come out of anything left over. 

Option 2:

Do the deeds give any hint as to what could happen if someone doesn't pay their fair share?  If you stopped providing sewage facilities to the homeowner in question, that might prompt a fairly rapid re-evaluation of the importance of sewage treatment!  You need to be certain of your legal grounds for this however as it is a fairly extreme measure and the courts are not that keen on people taking extreme measures.

It is probably worth consulting a solicitor to understand the pros and cons (including costs and timescales) of both of the above options.  The first step in option 1 is a simple CCJ which you can do yourself but you'd probably need professional assistance in securing that against the house and you need to understand the likely overall cost before you start.