CCJ Set Aside Advice. Defence & Acknowledged sent in time

[Lboole]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice regarding setting aside a CCJ Fromm Lowell.

2 years ago I received the court documents. I acknowledged and submitted my defence in the time scales required. I then heard nothing back from the courts or Lowell. I assumed Lowell dropped the case due to my strong defence.

I am looking to get a mortgage, but whilst dealing with a mortgage broker she told me I have a CCJ on my file.

Ive had a look and this is the case I submitted the relevant responses too.

I need to to get this set aside, and was looking for the best way to do this?

I did read on some legal websites that the judge must set this aside due to me submitting my acknowledgment and defence. Is their any truth in this?

I have just simply not received any documentation to give me a court date or I would of attended to defend myself.

Should i I pay the set aside fee or approach Lowell before hand?

Thank you in advance for any responses. It is greatly appreciated!

[chareosS]

my first question is: do you have any proof that you acknowledged this claim such as an e mail from the court or any correspondence ? also when a claim is defended the court normally sends out a letter confirming receipt of your defence and telling you that a copy is being served on the claimant ?

do you have any proof of this ? this will help with any application to set aside if you can prove what you are saying

[Lboole]

Thank you for the reply.

I will need to go back through old emails to confirm this. This was all done online but to my knowledge nothing was received through post from the courts to say this was served to the claimant.

When I do find the proof of this what would be the next steps to take?

[chareosS]

i would say to contact the court and request a copy of the judgement and explain to them a defence was filed and you have never received from the court anything regarding a court order ? check with the court where the court order was sent ?

there seems to be something not quite right because if lowell had a court order in their favour they WOULD have contacted you before now for payment? which makes me think that the court order was maybe sent to the wrong address or something? it doesnt quite add up at the moment.

do you have a copy of the claim form still ? was that sent to the right address ? did you move around the time of the claim ?

[Lboole]

I have to admit the fact I have received nothing from them to try and chase the payment confused me further. They also tried chasing me for another debt whilst this claim was in process but after I submitted my defence for this claim I received a letter saying they are no longer chasing me for the other debt and the case is closed.

I do have the original claim form laying around somewhere. I’ve just checked my emails and all I have in there is the time I registered for MCOL on the government website and a defence draft I sent myself to use on the same day.

The claim form was sent to the right address, that is how I submitted my acknowledgment and defence to it. Just nothing after that was received.

I’m struggling to remember my gov gateway login to bring up the claim because of the time passed and thinking the claim was stopped.

If I rang the court tomorrow would they be able to confirm they received my responses via the website?

[Lboole]

Sorry and no I didn’t move at the time of the claim

[chareosS]

i am not sure if the court will still have the details ? but it still doesnt explain why you did not receive the court order awarding in favour of lowell ?

[Lboole]

I followed everything within the deadlines given to fight the CCJ. Nothing arrived by post or email. Lowell haven’t chased me for this debt in two years. The document could of been lost in the post, delivered elsewhere but if I had of got the letter I’d of attended to defend myself.

If I can get the proof of the acknowledgment and defence and look to set aside should I approach Lowell first or just go straight to official court proceedings to set aside paying the fee?

This is destroying my chances of getting a mortgage and it needs to go.

[chareosS]

i certainly wouldnt contact lowell you will get no help there, what to do next really depends upon what has happened maybe the court made a mistake ? then you would not need to make an application ? maybe the CCJ shouldnt actually be on your credit file ?

questions need answering before the next step really

[Lboole]

I will contact the court tomorrow and see if I can get any answers and clarification as to why the CCJ has been given by default. I will post what I find out. Thanks for your time responding

[Lboole]

Hi, just a further update. I’ve just spoke to the court. The lady said they did receive my acknowledgment and defence. Then a questionair was sent regarding mediation etc which I never received. This was sent standard post, not first class signed for. This was when My defence was struck out apparently and judgment was filed against me, again not receiving the paper work. They said the claimant Lowell had decided to not enforce the debt and they more than likely went through with it all expecting I’d pay. Which I will not. They are sending me documents to set this aside. Any advice would be greatly appreciated to get this problem sorted

[chareosS]

this is quite unusual ? so the court are saying directions questionnaires were sent out, you didnt receive one ? did you receive a copy of lowells questionnaire ? which you should have done.
then your defence was struck out !? on what grounds ? you need a copy of that court order !! something does not sound at all right about this ?

they said lowell has decided not to enforce the debt ?? why when they have default judgement in their favour ? does not make sense at all

maybe others might offer an opinion ?

[Lboole]

No I didn’t receive anything else from the court after my defence was submitted. Lowell also never sent one out to me. It was struck out because I didn’t respond to the questionair which I never received the lady said from the court. I will request all documentation from the courts regarding this.

This was the question I asked. Why would a company go through all of this to then not enforce the debt. The only reply she gave me was because it would cost them more money to recover the debt? And that because they probably thought I’d pay it.

I hope I can get some help on the next steps, what to do because I did read if an acknowledgment and defence was submitted then this makes the default judgement irregular and the judge must set it aside?

[chareosS]

it is all irregular to be honest ? initially i would write to the court

briefly explain that you have just found out about the default judgement you had no idea existed, give them the claim number, tell them you submitted a defence which the court have told you was accepted, tell them since then you have heard NOTHING from either the court nor the claimant.

then tell them what you were told by the court staff, ell them you received no DQ, neither did you receive any reminder to submit your DQ , also you never received a copy of the claimants DQ as you should have done, also you have never received any court order awarding judgement for the claimant at any time.

then request from the court a copy of
i) the court order striking out the defence
ii) a copy of the directions questionnaire filed by the claimant ( lets see if they submitted one ) because if not then why strike out the defence and not the claim ??

sorry but i dont trust the courts !!

[Lboole]

Thank you for that information. I’ll start that process next week. I want to get it set a side and hope that the time scale it’s taken for this to be brought to my knowledge doesn’t effect my chances