Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

[mjoeym]

Hi all,

I purchased my property in July 2015, since then I've been chasing the sellers solicitors for around 2 years now with regards to a retention that was to be held on the property I purchased. They never bothered to respond so I finally put in a small claims against them in November 2017
At the time of putting in the claim I had a section of the interest I wish to claim as well which I dated back to 2015 so almost about 2 years worth of interest which is on the claim form. I calculated the interest from October 2015 as I felt 3 months was generous enough to pay out the retention as the clause wasn't met.

However, as the company hasn't replied and I now want to request judgement by default. However, it doesn't allow for this interest to be added on in the final settlement figure. When I called MoneyClaim online they said you can't add interest dating back to 2015 but only since the date of issue. Is this true? What is the point of asking you a date when you put in the claim if that is the case?
Also the link here makes no mention of this
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-...k-out-interest

Can someone please help? If I get the money owed I'd be happy but these guys have been sitting on the money owed to me for 2 years and haven't bothered to respond so I feel they should be pay the interest. Please do let me know if I incorrect in expecting this

Many thanks for your help and reading this far

[EXC]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Thread moved as requested and tagging [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION]

[ostell]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

After seeing so many parking charge claims I thought the interest was charged from when the money was due, although the rider is added that it will also be increased by the daily amount until the date of judgment.

But then court staff are not legally trained.

[Amethyst]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

The interest ( statutory interest @ 8% pa ? ) up to the date of issue would be added into the claim amount and the interest since the date of issue ( continuing at £0.45 per day ...) added when you file the judgment.

So your claim is for £5000 plus 8% over 2 years - so £5800 would be the claim amount THEN the £1.09 per day accrues from issue to judgment ( or payment )

sooooooo I'm guessing you put the £5000 as the claim figure

( sorry for my terrible example there btw )

How far over the deadline are the defendants ? I always say exercise caution when filing for a default judgment too soon - particularly if it is a failure to acknowledge the claim - it is worth (in my view ) writing to the defendants and giving them say 7 days to acknowledge/defend ( recorded post ) - just in case anything has gone astray at the service part of the claim and to lessen the chances of having to deal with an application to set aside ( and any costs that could arise from such )

( I know nothing about retention though I'm afraid )

[mjoeym]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Thanks all for your responses, I used the formula mentioned on the money claim site and I have this section added to the claim particulars

The claimant claims interest under section 69of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of
8% a year from 01/10/2015 to 16/11/2017 on
£3,000.00 and also interest at the same
rate up to the date of judgment or earlier
payment at a daily rate of £0.66.

My claim is for £3000 so it should be around 3500 as the final figure after interest added.

However, sorry to be incredibly thick But I don't get where we get £1.09 from? Also not sure how you work out the daily rate in your case £0.45 a day. This confused me as well so I just stuck with the calculations used on the moneyclaim website

Thanks again for all the help

[ostell]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Amethyst lost the decimal point, interest on 5,000 @ 8% for 2 years would be £80 not £800. £40 per year diveded by 365 gives 66p per day.

[Amethyst]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

I usually say check my maths.... thought I might have managed it this time ... but apparently nope .... Goodness only knows how the kids got their Maths GCSEs ...


Anywayyyy did my point about not jumping on a default judgment make sense ? ( at least)

[des8]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Solution for what is 8% of 5000

5000/x=100/8
(5000/x)*x=(100/8)*x - we multiply both sides of the equation by x
5000=12.5*x - we divide both sides of the equation by (12.5) to get x
5000/12.5=x
400=x
x=400

now we have:
8% of 5000=400 x 2years = 800


400 divided by 365 days = 1.095

[Amethyst]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

[FONT="] Solution for what is 8% of 5000[/FONT]

[FONT="]5000/x=100/8[/FONT]
(5000/x)*x=(100/8)*x - we multiply both sides of the equation by x
5000=12.5*x - we divide both sides of the equation by (12.5) to get x
5000/12.5=x
400=x
x=400

now we have:
8% of 5000=400 x 2years = 800


400 divided by 365 days = 1.095

Whooop ! I'm not as thick as I thought Think I just confused matters using £5k as an example lol. Thank you [MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION]

So your claim is for £5000 plus 8% over 2 years - so £5800 would be the claim amount THEN the £1.09 per day accrues from issue to judgment ( or payment )

[mjoeym]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Thanks all, I guess that ties in with the example in the moneyclaim website which comes up to 22p per £1000 so in my case 66p for £3000 or in amethyst's example £1.10 (or £1.09) for £5000

I get the point about not rushing judgement by default and perhaps that is good timing as I'm on holiday anyway so can't do anything till I'm back so will be next year now (Jan that is
But I still can't work out where do I request this interest, the judgement screen only says £3000 + £105 fees which I paid for submitting the claim. Although there is a section for interest it very clearly says interest due from the time the claim was submitted so only a months interest at the most. Very confusing website

[mjoeym]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Hello all,
There appears to be some development, I've been on holiday for almost three weeks now. came back home yesterday only to find that the solicitors have filed their defence on the last day 12th December and the letter must have reached me the day I left
The court gave me a deadline to respond of the 29th December which I haven't obviously but is it possible to respond now?

The sellers solicitors have mentioned that the case should be with the seller (not them) but as I understand the retention is held by the solicitors is that not true? I only know because when we sold our property we had a similar retention clause and the money was held by our solicitor. Only in our case our solicitor called us about 2 weeks later saying that the money can be released back to us. So it should be the sellers solicitors who are liable is it not?

The seller is AWOL and I don't believe he is in the country anymore, so where do I go from here?

[Amethyst]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

Give the court a call, before the case is stayed, to tell them you will reply by x date.

If the claim is relating to the actual retention then indeed, the claim would be against the seller, the solicitors were acting on his behalf/instruction. You will need to either amend the defendant or withdraw the claim, but might be an idea to look at what your claim is actually for before you incur further costs.

What is the retention clause ? You were the purchaser of the property so if the retention was due to a service charge liability or some such then it would have only affected the seller. So when you sold your property and their was a retention clause your solicitors held the money for a time to settle the account and once sorted the remaining funds were released to you. If it was a similar clause for the seller of the property you purchased, surely that would only affect the seller. ( As I said previously I really do know nothing about retention but think you need some eyes over what your claim is before proceeding )

Did you take any advice formally before bringing the claim ?

[Diana M]

Re: Small claims court case against seller's solicitor

the solicitors have filed their defence on the last day 12th December and the letter must have reached me the day I left
The court gave me a deadline to respond of the 29th December which I haven't obviously but is it possible to respond now?

The sellers solicitors have mentioned that the case should be with the seller (not them)

If the Defence was filed on 12th December I'm baffled to hear that the court told you to respond by 29th December since there should be 28 days for you to inform the court if you intend to continue with the proceedings before it becomes stayed automatically.

Did you have a solicitor (or conveyancer) acting for you during the purchase? Did the seller's solicitor give any 'undertaking' in regards to the retention? The firm may have held the seller's money in their client account but it probably would be ring-fenced so that they could only release it to you on their client's instructions.

The evidence you need might be in your own solicitor's file if you used a lawyer.

What was the £3k retention for and has whatever inspired the retention been settled/resolved?

Di