Legal advice on recovering debt from neighbour

Lu222

Please if someone can help, can I go to the small claims court to get back money I am owed from a neighbour. I lent the couple momey as they said they were struggling, I withdrew cash from the cashpoint, so I have messages online for the requests via messenger asking me, and these tally with me withdrawing the cash amounts , as they thanked me via messaging each time I gave the money.
But then they kept saying they didnt have it til next week, then the next and in the end all the excuses , I have now got to 4 months since lending it, I have photo shot/ saved all the correspondence between us, I know they do cash in hand work and do not declare it, as something was mentioned by one of them in a past conversation, and they also claim UC, I do not work as have a disabality, so I want to know with the evidence of correspondence with the messages saved one after another which is me repeatedly asking for the money and the amount, and them admitting they owe it by saying they will pay it back but havent, could I get legal aid to take them to a small claims court and do I have enough evidence with my bank withdrawals on the same dates of them requesting it on messaging and then thanking me for the amounts. What can I do? 

Tabieth

I’m not an expert (and someone more knowledgable than me will probably post) but I’d have thought the key is. Do you have any writ5en evidence it was a loan? They could easily claim it was a gift - do you have any evidence to say otherwise?

grumpy_codger

Tabieth said:

...They could easily claim it was a gift - do you have any evidence to say otherwise?

The OP seems to "have messages online for the requests via messenger asking me, and these tally with me withdrawing the cash amounts"

Lu222

Hi thank you, in the messages they have said could I lend the money, nothing states a gift, so theyve said we will pay you back, each message every week they day we will have it for you by friday etc, then friday comes nothing. Then i message saying about it again, they come up with excuses then say it will be next week, so it states all through messages they owe it to me. They both drink alot at home and both smoke etc. So they can afford all that . 

Lu222

Sorry was meant to reply to Tabieth, cannot see reply on there. So will post again the reply. 
"Hi thank you, in the messages they have said could I lend the money, nothing states a gift, so theyve said we will pay you back, each message every week they day we will have it for you by friday etc, then friday comes nothing. Then i message saying about it again, they come up with excuses then say it will be next week, so it states all through messages they owe it to me. They both drink alot at home and both smoke etc. So they can afford all that . "

FreeBear

Lu222 said: could I get legal aid to take them to a small claims court

No. You wouldn't get legal aid to take them to court (nor would they get it to defend against a claim).

The process for submitting a claim is fairly simple, and you just have to stump up the fee (although, it can be waived if you are claiming certain benefits). Whilst you can't claim back legal costs, you would get court fees added.

Dustyevsky

I would start here:

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

No one here can see the messages sent, so none of us can advise about the likely outcome if you go through the above process. We also don't know how much money is involved.

Although you didn't see it that way, by lending money to someone, you changed your relationship with them. Now, if you pursue them for the cash through a court, the relationship will change again, and not in a good way. You have to decide if it's worth the potential outcomes of that change. We don't know the neighbour, so we can't advise on that either.

eddddy

If you go to court, the court will look at whether an agreement (or contract) has been broken.

So, as a starting point, what was the agreement you made with your neighbour - specifically about paying back the loan?

Has the neighbour broken whatever repayment terms were agreed? Do you have any evidence of the repayment terms agreed?



For example, if the agreement was that the neighbour should repay the loan when they can afford to, they might simply say they can't afford to at the moment. So the court is likely to say that the agreement (or contract) hasn't been broken.

fatbelly

Another thing to consider is that even supposing your claim is successful, and you got a ccj against them, could you enforce it?

They are not employed so you could not do attachment of earnings.

They do not own property (I assume) so no Charging Order

You do not know their bank account? So no 3pdo

That leaves you with bailiffs and contrary to media propaganda they are easy to deal with if you know what to do, and they might. If this sum is less than £600 you could not use High Court 

teaselMay

It sounds quite likely that you may have to chalk this up to experience and use it as a lesson to never lend to them again. How much money was it?

Grumpy_chap

Lu222 said:

Please if someone can help, can I go to the small claims court to get back money I am owed from a neighbour. I lent the couple momey as they said they were struggling, I withdrew cash from the cashpoint, so I have messages online for the requests via messenger asking me, and these tally with me withdrawing the cash amounts , as they thanked me via messaging each time I gave the money.
But then they kept saying they didnt have it til next week, then the next and in the end all the excuses , I have now got to 4 months since lending it, I have photo shot/ saved all the correspondence between us, I know they do cash in hand work and do not declare it, as something was mentioned by one of them in a past conversation, and they also claim UC, I do not work as have a disabality, so I want to know with the evidence of correspondence with the messages saved one after another which is me repeatedly asking for the money and the amount, and them admitting they owe it by saying they will pay it back but havent, could I get legal aid to take them to a small claims court and do I have enough evidence with my bank withdrawals on the same dates of them requesting it on messaging and then thanking me for the amounts. What can I do? 

You won't get this money back.
Don't give them any more.