Small Claims Question

saajan_12

Why have you spent so much on solicitors? Much of that may not be reclaimable.. 


I'd just get the letter before action out, giving 14 days to pay and warning that if not, he will be liable for costs on top. Then follow up with a court claim, wait for the CCJ, and then get that secured on the house. He will then have to pay you off before selling the house. 

EmmaJ_C

We rather naively took advice to go to Solicitors first - he has been served a Letter Before Action on the 2nd June 2023 - he received it and said he wanted to deal with us directly and would pay the debt - we have been completely conned every week believing him when he said he would pay us! We are now fed up and are going to do it ourselves through the legal system - everyone's advice on here is so much appreciated, thank you.  We have never had to do this before - trading for 30 years and never had this happen as the people we work for always pay, I guess it was only a matter of time before we got a rotten one! We sometimes feel like letting it go but why should we - we are good hardworking people - we've paid all our suppliers for the job we did and now need to recoup some money from this guy.  Not something my husband and I are used to doing but we will get there ...

ArbitraryRandom

If it's any consolation, taking the time to try and resolve it/giving him time to pay before taking it to court is generally viewed positively. It's important to have dotted all your i's etc and it sounds like you've done that.

Yes you might not get all your solicitor's fees back, but if it means you actually get the money for the job then it's better than the alternative - and if this happens again you'll know how to approach it  

Khaderbhai

EmmaJ_C said:

Ok, thank you -  very interesting stats.  I wonder why the rate of getting paid is low?  I am hoping this is not the case for us - we have done a bit of background research on him and according to his Title Deeds he owns his £1.2m home with surrounding land, which is where we laid the drive.  We know he lives there with his family, so he clearly has assets!  I am truly hoping for a good outcome here - he has paid us out of a debt of over £15k,  0.01p 3 months ago, and told us he just wanted to check he had the right bank account to pay the rest into!, since then we have received no further funds but texts and emails every week to say he was paying it - to date nothing further. He has emailed out solicitor to say he will accuse my husband and I of harassment for the amount of times we've kindly asked him to pay us - it's all documented and every email kept so judge can see the kind polite nature of our emails to him.

It’s a good question re being paid vs judgement is so low. In short, some know how to get around the system/simply don’t care. They may have multiple CCJs already so another one will not bother them, they may have assets registered elsewhere, change address to avoid enforcement agents etc. I assume the contract/work was agreed with the individual rather than a company? Its worth issuing a claim to test the water, but they could well be one of those that knows how to play the system. 

DullGreyGuy

EmmaJ_C said:

I thought you could go through Small Claims for more, it just costs more... 5%.

There is no such thing as the small claims really... you simply file a claim to the county court, there will be a directions hearing which will assign the case to Small Track, Fast Track or Multi-Track depending on the size and complexity. Generally speaking anything, exc injury, under £10k goes to Small Track, under £25k to Fast Track and the rest to Multi. 

As you go up the spectrum what costs can be allowed as standard goes up... so small is generally not legal costs, fast track are fixed fees based on claim value and multi-track are uncapped but have to be reasonable. No matter what track you go in though if there is an abuse of process or a vexatious claim etc the judge has a high degree of latitude to award costs. 

EmmaJ_C

Thank you for more invaluable advice everyone ...I am so glad I put my question/conundrum out on this forum my husband and I really appreciate it.  Yes the agreement to do his drive was between our company and him personally (not his business) and he lives there so we know he's not living in another house as he rather grands it up with his very large £1million house and his children in the local private school, which I have no problem with, apart from the money side of it! He has lied to our Solicitor about paying us - saying he's paid us - so numerous lies to us and our Solicitor, which can only go in our favour - we have every piece of correspondence from him saying he was delighted with the drive when we completed it in May this year!

ArbitraryRandom

Khaderbhai said:

EmmaJ_C said:

Ok, thank you -  very interesting stats.  I wonder why the rate of getting paid is low?  I am hoping this is not the case for us - we have done a bit of background research on him and according to his Title Deeds he owns his £1.2m home with surrounding land, which is where we laid the drive.  We know he lives there with his family, so he clearly has assets!  I am truly hoping for a good outcome here - he has paid us out of a debt of over £15k,  0.01p 3 months ago, and told us he just wanted to check he had the right bank account to pay the rest into!, since then we have received no further funds but texts and emails every week to say he was paying it - to date nothing further. He has emailed out solicitor to say he will accuse my husband and I of harassment for the amount of times we've kindly asked him to pay us - it's all documented and every email kept so judge can see the kind polite nature of our emails to him.

It’s a good question re being paid vs judgement is so low. 

OP, relating to this, you can see if someone already has other ccj's here: https://www.trustonline.org.uk/ 

And here's the detail on enforcement options: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

From what you've said, assuming the you win, the worst case is probably securing it against his property... and then waiting (potentially a long time) for him to sell. But there's a range of different approaches and it sounds like this individual is established and has assets, so you're in a better position than a lot of people who are considering court action  

DullGreyGuy

EmmaJ_C said:

Ok, thank you -  very interesting stats.  I wonder why the rate of getting paid is low?  

97% of cases are won, 89% by default (ie no response/no response in allowed time); so of acknowledged cases its a 8:3 ratio of winning

The answer to the low pay rate is probably linked to why 89% of cases get no response from the defendant. How many have issued to the wrong address? To incomplete/inaccurate defendant names? Issued against one man bands with no assets or cash that can easily fold?

Years back we got a few claim forms against an unknown person in our letterbox but we were Flat 20 and they were addressed to Flat 21 but there was no flat 21 in the building

Mistral001

Lieing to you and your solicitor is irrelevant. It is whether he can prove that he paid you that is important.  There are all sorts of way he could do this such as bank, or credit card statements etc.  He cannot be made to make those documents available unless a criminal offense is suspected, but failing to offer any evidence of payment other than his word when the matter comes to court will mean that the case will surely only go one way.  

Up to now you have done everything right.  You have sought legal advice, you have engaged with the customer to resolve the matter and you have given him time to pay.  Now it is up to you as to whether you follow through on your threat to take legal action.