N244 after paying HCEO possible?

[realdeal2018]

Is it possible to start N244 proceedings after payment had been made in full to a HCEO? I had a claim going through against me and i moved before I got a court date. On last communication with the court i gave them the new address. Today I had a HCEO put his foot in my front door and demanded payment. Claimed had visited before and to have sent a letter (Bullsh** as if i had of got notification an N244 application would have been straight in) I only paid because he claimed it was at removal stage. Have I made a big mistake letting him in or can i get it back to a court hearing?

[Amethyst]

Probably going to need a little more background on the case. What was the status of the case at the time you gave the court notice of your change of address? Had you acknowledged the claim ? Defended ?

[realdeal2018]

Yes claim had been defended. Last communication with the court was a clerical error by myself on my defence, and they sent it back requiring it to be signed again. It was at this point I notified them of my previous address. According to my papers I have from HCEO they obtained judgement by default.

[realdeal2018]

The claim in itself was invalid. Pre action protocol was not followed correctly. The LBA demanded 15k (complete and utter crap) and the claim was for 7.5k) It also followed a previous court claim for which i've now paid 2 sets of court fees. All these was noted in my defence.

[Amethyst]

If you had defended, and filed that defence with the court within the relevant time period ( 33 days from issue most likely ) then there shouldn't be a default judgment. Your defence may have been struck out if you hadn't returned the Directions Questionnaire.

You want to get a copy of the judgment order from the court and ask them how a default judgment was obtained after you had defended, and how you weren't informed after having given them your address details. That's first thing to find out then can look at the rest and what to do.

[ploddertom]

Amethyst has come up with sound advice for you. The good thing at present is if you have now paid in full then you can sit back and collect your information without fear of the knock on the door. You need to send a SAR to the enforcement co asking for everything they have on you. This should include all the fees and charges you have paid to them.

[realdeal2018]

Thanks. I’m no expert but is time not of the essence to h
get my N244 application in to have the best chance of success? Where do I stand with regards to the HCEO fees I had to pay?

[ploddertom]

If you already know what grounds you have for Set Aside then you can go ahead and submit it but I would say don't be too hasty because that is how mistakes creep in. For instance not every one submits the Pre Action Protocol in full and a lot of the time it will be overlooked unless it is critical to your defence. If you can prove you did not owe in the first place or the claim was substantially more than what you reckon you owed then you may have a chance providing you can provide proof of same. If the Court have made an error then you may have an even better chance. What you don't want to do is write a novel about it. Keep it short and to the points you have.

As for the fees - if you are granted Set Aside then you are due every penny back you paid including fees. It is as if the claim is just starting again from the beginning and no Writ exists. Don't forget that as you were able to pay in full you could obviously have settled the claim before it ever got this far and that could be one of your grounds to apply.

[realdeal2018]

Thanks. Application to set aside went in today. Fingers crossed. I’ll update you on the outcome.

[realdeal2018]

I received notification from the court today the judge has listed it for a hearing, space but I have not got a date yet. Is this a good thing or do all N244 applications get heard? I paid nearly £2000 in charges to the HCEO, if I’m successful will I really be entitled to return of my money and if so will it be easy it will it be a fight?

will the judge want to do the trial that should have taken place or is this just a hearing to decide if the case should go back to the start?

[ploddertom]

If your defence had no merit then the chances are your application would have been turned down. As they are looking to list it then I would guess you will have the chance to argue your case, rather than put it back again for another day - depends on how complicated it all his. It may pay you to send a copy of your application to Amethyst so she can get a feel for it and may be able to help in certain areas that may be lacking. Do not list it on here.

If you are successful then once the Order has been drawn up and sent out they may drag their heels over repayment but sometimes threatening to employ another HCEO sharpens their mind.