Previous solicitors left, new one wanted £200 extra, can I defend myself in CCJ

robatwork

You aren't clear about the amount the 2nd solicitor offered as the gesture. Was it exactly £200?

If you are clear, he offered £x on this date during a meeting at this time and location, and you appear clear as and when it goes to court, you may well be believed. 

If you're not clear and can't give exact details, amount, where you were, what the conversation was exactly etc. then you will likely lose. 

TripleH

I would first of all ask for a full breakdown of your account and what the £200 relates to.

It is not your fault the solicitors changed during your purchase, why should you pay for them getting up to speed on your case?

This sounds like a reconciliation of WIP with a lack of details on the time records.

If you owe it, you owe it, but asthenia case is closed, I would at least want to know how they came up with that figure. Also challenge why it was not billed earlier. There is always a chance the wrong  matter coee was used and these fees don't relate to you.

Do this ASAP as if they can't explain where this came from to you, how will they convince a judge?

anselld

What does your completion statement say?  Normally solicitors will not proceed to completion until the account is settled in full.  Hence the £200 must be accounted for somehow on the statement, eg does it state goodwill reduction? 

So assuming you have the original completion statement and that was settled in full, how does solicitor 3 account for the additional £200 owed?

ileven1225

robatwork said:

You aren't clear about the amount the 2nd solicitor offered as the gesture. Was it exactly £200?

If you are clear, he offered £x on this date during a meeting at this time and location, and you appear clear as and when it goes to court, you may well be believed. 

If you're not clear and can't give exact details, amount, where you were, what the conversation was exactly etc. then you will likely lose. 

Thanks, I did not give details in this post but if needed I could clearly described what happened and hopefully the judge will be favorate on my side.

ileven1225

TripleH said:

I would first of all ask for a full breakdown of your account and what the £200 relates to.

It is not your fault the solicitors changed during your purchase, why should you pay for them getting up to speed on your case?

This sounds like a reconciliation of WIP with a lack of details on the time records.

If you owe it, you owe it, but asthenia case is closed, I would at least want to know how they came up with that figure. Also challenge why it was not billed earlier. There is always a chance the wrong  matter coee was used and these fees don't relate to you.

Do this ASAP as if they can't explain where this came from to you, how will they convince a judge?

They told me the 2nd solicitor was simply making an error on the reduction of total cost, however, I told them it was not an error but a good will gesture. They only did review all previous account recently so that's why they did not bill earlier.

They provided a breakdown, however, I did not have the previous breakdown as the 2nd soclitor did not provide. Actually the 2nd solicitor did provide a breakdown but not as detailed as the 3rd solicitor provided. I can't compare them.

ileven1225

anselld said:

What does your completion statement say?  Normally solicitors will not proceed to completion until the account is settled in full.  Hence the £200 must be accounted for somehow on the statement, eg does it state goodwill reduction? 

So assuming you have the original completion statement and that was settled in full, how does solicitor 3 account for the additional £200 owed?

I had the completion statement which showed the balance I shall pay and I paid in full. Now the 3rd solicitor gave me another completion statement and told me that the 2nd solicitor made mistakes. However, as I told them, it was good will gesture rather than a mistake.

TheJP

ileven1225 said:

robatwork said:

You aren't clear about the amount the 2nd solicitor offered as the gesture. Was it exactly £200?

If you are clear, he offered £x on this date during a meeting at this time and location, and you appear clear as and when it goes to court, you may well be believed. 

If you're not clear and can't give exact details, amount, where you were, what the conversation was exactly etc. then you will likely lose. 

Thanks, I did not give details in this post but if needed I could clearly described what happened and hopefully the judge will be favorate on my side.

Unless you have anything in the way of a paper trail that clearly outlines the goodwill gesture then I don't see you having any chance of winning this. The firm will be able to outline that the completion statement was incorrect, happens a lot from what I've seen on this forum. 

GoogleMeNow

It seems that this "goodwill gesture" is not documented anywhere though.  If you can't provide evidence that it was offered and they claim they didn't know about it, I think you are both at a stalemate.  I would be inclined to ask them why the two completion statements are completely different and to explain to you why  they think you owe them £200, when you had settled in full the amount quoted on the original completion statement.  Was there any extra work they had to do, which they forgot to list on the original statement?  

ileven1225

GoogleMeNow said:

It seems that this "goodwill gesture" is not documented anywhere though.  If you can't provide evidence that it was offered and they claim they didn't know about it, I think you are both at a stalemate.  I would be inclined to ask them why the two completion statements are completely different and to explain to you why  they think you owe them £200, when you had settled in full the amount quoted on the original completion statement.  Was there any extra work they had to do, which they forgot to list on the original statement?  

They did not carry out any additional work. They told me the statement provided by the 2nd solicitor contains an error. Now after 3 months, for some reasons they recalculated the figures and found the error.

GoogleMeNow

ileven1225 said:

GoogleMeNow said:

It seems that this "goodwill gesture" is not documented anywhere though.  If you can't provide evidence that it was offered and they claim they didn't know about it, I think you are both at a stalemate.  I would be inclined to ask them why the two completion statements are completely different and to explain to you why  they think you owe them £200, when you had settled in full the amount quoted on the original completion statement.  Was there any extra work they had to do, which they forgot to list on the original statement?  

They did not carry out any additional work. They told me the statement provided by the 2nd solicitor contains an error. Now after 3 months, for some reasons they recalculated the figures and found the error.

Did they write to you about the error?  What exactly did the letter say?