Hi there - professional negligence claim

[jonnyd85]

Back again.* Going to pursue the N379 route since the courts are not ordering people to attend for questioning for obvious reasons.* I have the official copy of the register - it has a charge listed (a bank, presumably for a mortgage) and then a couple of folk have RESTRICTIONs listed related to hisearlier bankruptcy.* Do I need to list the restrictions as people with an interest in the property, alongside his spouse?* And is the bank a creditor (section 6) or someone with an interest n the property?

*

[des8]

The Bank has a charge over the property and is a creditor.

The bankruptcy restrictions are in favour of* "the trustee in bankruptcy of..."?
If so they go under* "someone with an interest! (I think..)

[jonnyd85]

The Bank has a charge over the property and is a creditor.

The bankruptcy restrictions are in favour of "the trustee in bankruptcy of..."?
If so they go under "someone with an interest! (I think..)

Aha - brillo.* Yes, the Bank appears in the Charges register* (Section C).* The Proprietorship register includes the debtor and his spouse and 4 restrictions.* One for the bank, one general, and two to do with "no disposition of the registered estate...is to be registered....written notice given to XXXX (the trustee in bankruptcy of DEBTOR) at...."

I'll pop the bank in the creditor section, but with unknown values of debt; and the spouse and trustees in the "others" section.

Thanks des8 - hope you are coping with lockdown, etc.!

[jonnyd85]

Have submitted the form.* Took a while because I had to apply to the land registry for an official copy of the title.

From what I understand, I'll get an interim charge (though not sure if I have to register this myself) and then I'll have to serve papers on everyone*

[jonnyd85]

Gah! des8

County Court returned the N379 back today. The reason being

"The debtor's name states on your application differs to our records. Please note that the party details in section 1 and 2 must match our case management system exactly, and in turn the judgement or order, if the debtors name differs to that on the Land Registry document, you must explain in section 8 of your application why you believe the debtor and the proprietor are one and the same person"

The issue is that when I submitted the claim, I submitted against "Mr Bob Smith"

But the registry includes middle names so in section 2, I used the name from the registry which is "Mr Bob Mike Richard Smith"

I could adjust section 2 to Mr Bob Smith, but do I then have to prove that those are his middle names?

Also do I have to prepare a fresh firm or can I hand adjust what they've returned to me?

[jonnyd85]

This seems a bit mad to me, but the only things linking "Bob Smith" (as opposed to "Bob Mike Richard Smith" to the address are:

- his website, which uses his home address as a correspondence address
- his application to have the judgement set aside, where he used "Bob Smith", not the full name

Neither of which proves he is the proprietor

However, in the Ts & Cs he sent, from his company "Richard Smith Surveys", he has appended "Bob Smith Building Surveyor" at the bottom of each page. That's the closest I can get

[des8]

Check on company house to see how he registered his name.
You might get a tie up that way

[jonnyd85]

des8 - I found a companies house record for a dissolved firm, which registered him at his current address. There's an associated form to appoint him as a director saying

Fornames: Bob Mike Richard
Surname: Smith

Address is the same as the service address for the claim. Enclose that and in Section 8 explain that I didn't include his middle names, but the attached shows that his surname is Smith, and lives at that address?

[des8]

Whether or not that will be sufficient I don't know.
All you can do is to send it in with all your other evidence pointing out where the details match, and confirm it with a statement of truth.

[jonnyd85]

Thanks for that. I noticed that the signature on the Companies House form (with the full name) matches the one on his application to set the judgement aside (where he uses the shorter name). So have written something pointing that out, will shove copies of both in the envelope and hope for the best.

[jonnyd85]

Good news (well, procedurally - better news would be for him to pay up) - the interim charge has been granted. Now I need to service the debtor and four other parties.

I assume a covering letter would be appropriate, particularly to the other parties. Since I want to avoid objections, is it worth me offering anything, like discussion or even that I'm happy for my charge to sit at the back of the queue behind their interests?

[jonnyd85]

Also does anyone know if I have to register this myself at the land registry or has the court done that for me?

[des8]

If the debtor wants to sell but does not have sufficient equity to pay off all the charges he cannot proceed without the holders agreeing to lift their charges....so he will either have to negotiate with you or, if there is a mortgage, surrender the property to the mortgagor for sale.
So no need to offer to take a back seat!
Just serve the charge and hope to get paid sometime!

[jonnyd85]

OK, so i probably needn't worry about objectors too much. Just worried as objectors can claim costs.

Do you happen to know if I need to register the charge at the LR myself? If not, I might go nuts and ask a solicitor!

[des8]

I would suggest you read this article first (https://guildfordchambers.com/charging-order-works/) and then decide whether or not to consult a solicitor.

Be aware however that even solicitors get the Land Registry forms wrong (I have a family member working there who tells me many forms are rejected because of errors)