County Court Judgement & Warrant

kazie

Hi, could someone give me a bit of advice please?

I received in January a county court claim form regarding a debt that I owed to a tradesman, who did some work on my house, to cut a long story short I couldn't afford the work and told him that but he told me that he would cut his price to £700 and would accept payments of £40.00 per month.

When the work was completed he then told me I owed him £800, but never actually gave me a bill, I disputed the amount but I did send £100 of payments by cheque which he cashed but I never received receipts for.

I had not heard anything else from him for over a year and as I said above received a county court claim in January for £700 plus interest and costs totalling £1056.00 - my surname is actually spelt incorrectly on the forms also. I responded to the claim with form N1 admitting part of the claim but disputing the amount. I heard nothing at all from the courts until Monday night when I received a judgement in default, I spoke to the court on Tuesday and they said that they had never received my response and they have advised me to fill in form N244 to apply to set aside the judgement but the fee is £175.00 to do this and I cannot afford this - does anyone have any advice?

I then arrived home yesterday and a letter from John Marston & Co was at my house saying that a warrant had been issued and they were putting a levy on my property and also had added over £300 in charges onto the claim, therefore the claim is now over £1350.

I am at a loss as to what to do??

m.colak

kazie wrote: »

Hi, could someone give me a bit of advice please?

I received in January a county court claim form regarding a debt that I owed to a tradesman, who did some work on my house, to cut a long story short I couldn't afford the work and told him that but he told me that he would cut his price to £700 and would accept payments of £40.00 per month.

When the work was completed he then told me I owed him £800, but never actually gave me a bill, I disputed the amount but I did send £100 of payments by cheque which he cashed but I never received receipts for.

I had not heard anything else from him for over a year and as I said above received a county court claim in January for £700 plus interest and costs totalling £1056.00 - my surname is actually spelt incorrectly on the forms also. I responded to the claim with form N1 admitting part of the claim but disputing the amount. I heard nothing at all from the courts until Monday night when I received a judgement in default, I spoke to the court on Tuesday and they said that they had never received my response and they have advised me to fill in form N244 to apply to set aside the judgement but the fee is £175.00 to do this and I cannot afford this - does anyone have any advice?

I then arrived home yesterday and a letter from John Marston & Co was at my house saying that a warrant had been issued and they were putting a levy on my property and also had added over £300 in charges onto the claim, therefore the claim is now over £1350.

I am at a loss as to what to do??

Ok its at the stage now that the only thing you can do is get the warrant set aside. Its going to cost but you will be able to recoup (i think) if the case is found in your favour. This means that the case will be heard in the local court and you can get the builder to show where you signed to say that the contract was complete (a signature). If the builder can't prove that he completed the work and an agreement was made on the initial quote then basically its his word against yours. You can show the court that you have made payments but have received no receipts or bills of service and therefore you were unaware of how much you had to pay. Hoperfully the judge at this point will find in your favour with no documentory proof of the builder it should get throw out without you having to pay anymore money.

kazie

Thanks for that much appreciated.

I do however still owe £600 to the builder and I want to get that paid and sorted but cannot afford to pay in one lump sum. My biggest worry is the baliff knocking on the door, I spoke to the court earlier and their advice was to not let them in at any time but get the fee sent to them.

I wondered if rather than pay out the £175.00 for the judgement to be set aside would I be better off asking for the judgement already given to be varied so that I can pay it by installments as that would only cost me £35.00 and gets it sorted out?

The other point I wondered if anyone could help with - as the judgement and the warrant do not have the correct spelling of my name, are they legal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks

hw123

Hi ,
you need to get an N245 form from your local county court to vary the jugement this cost £35,
by levy on the property do you mean a charging order? if so you would of recieved a letter from the land resgistry, advising you of an intrim charging order, be aware that this may just be a scare tactic, and there not actually going for a charge on the property,
you may be better getting legal advice, there is an organisation called community legal advice 0845 345 4345, this organisation will be able to provide you with the best advice on what you need to do next,

hope this helps

Good luck

hw123

Unfortunately even though the spelling on the judgement and warrent is not spelt correctly it is still legal.

kazie

Sorry I think I made a mistake saying levy, the actual wording is as follows:-

I have received a High Court Writ against you in respect of the above matter, made up as follows (debt, costs, Execution costs, Interest and officers fees totalling £1360.84)

In addition interest will continue to accrue at 8% per annum on the full amount of the judgement debt and costs until payment in full. A walking possession fee of 25p per day may also be charged where we go into possession of any goods.

In the event that you cannot pay my officer in full, in cash immediately, then he is required by law to formally seize sufficient of your goods to satisfy this debt.

Please be warned that we are required to enforce a Writ without delay and unless the debt is paid quickly, arrangements will be made to comple the Execution

If no contact is made with my office I shall return shortly with removal contractors.

The way the wording is scares the heck out of me - can they remove goods if I don't let them in?

hw123

as long as you dont let the baillifs into your property then they can not come and levy the goods, when you get your N245 tick both boxes where it says suspend the warrent and vary the judgement, They should not be allowed to word letters in such away, this is all just scare tactics, they intend to scare you so you will make a payment.

RAS

You have some good advice but you need some 121 help.

Would recommend that you contact

Community Legal Advice - Website: Community Legal Advice Telephone: 0845 345 4 345

Given your circumstances you should be eligible for their help to get the forms filled in etc.

kazie

Thanks for your help, I have spoken to Community Legal and they have advised me that it is possible even if I do pay the £175 fee to have the judgement set aside that the judge may rule that it is still payable.

They advised that I would be better off going down the route of applying for the warrant to be suspended and to pay the judgement by installments (form N245), this will only cost £35 but it will also make sure that the Baliffs stop coming to my property.

They made me feel a lot less anxious about everything and explained my rights so thanks everyone for your help

ticklepenny_2

Get the CCJ redetermined for free using this letter within 14 days of original judgement. Also if you have benefits or little money left at the end of the month ask the court for an EX160 - it allows people to waive or reduce the court costs.

Date:


The Court Manager



CLAIM NUMBER:



To the Court Manager:

REDETERMINATION UNDER RULE 14.13 CPR
I apply for this matter to be reconsidered (redetermined under Rule 14.13 of the Civil Procedure Rules) Under rule 14.13 there is no court fee to make this application.
I am unable to pay the full Judgment forthwith/instalment as ordered on (insert date of order) and submit that this has been set an unrealistic amount.
I request the Court reconsiders the Judgment. To assist I enclose an up to date financial statement and list of other unsecured debts, which have been provided to me by the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS). For the Courts information the CCCS are an independent registered charity that assist people with consumer debt problems.
As you can see my budget shows I have £…. surplus/ £…. deficit after essential living costs and also have (insert number of creditors in total). Given my circumstances and considering my finances as a whole I am able to offer £…. .monthly instalment and request the court set the Judgment at this amount.
Under rule 14.13 of the CPR it is clear that because the Judgement was granted without a hearing I am entitled to have this redetermined and if necessary transferred to my local county court. My application is also compliant with the time limit as it falls within the 14 days from the original order.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,


Name

kazie

Thanks ever so much for that, to be honest I haven't heard of this before, and I am within the time limits, does this stop me having to send the N245 or do I still do this as well?