Dilemma over CCJ and huge solicitors' charges

[Kathy321]

Thankyou everyone. I think I have all I need now to get the ball rolling. Tonight I will sit down and draft a fabulous witness statement!

[Pezza54]

I've just realised you will have problems drafting your defence. You haven't seen the Particulars of Claim so you cannot respond in detail to items in the claim. If you write it now based on the solicitor's letter you could be asked how you managed to write a defence without seeing the PoC

[Kathy321]

Do I get the Particulars of Claim from the CCBC in Northampton or the solicitors?

I don't think I can wait 2 weeks to see if it is in my postbox, as if it is not there then I have just wasted time. I have read that once you find out about a CCJ (2 days ago), the court expects you to put your application in swiftly to have it set aside, ie. in around 7 days or so.

[Pezza54]

If CCBC didn't give you the claim number you will have to phone them again. You could ask if they will email you the claim form (the PoC is probably on the claim form)
It is more important to file your N244 asap. You could just attach your witness statement and evidence and state in the box your defence will follow after you have received the claim form and poc

[Kathy321]

Hi PEZZA54

Northampton CCBC have emailed me some details today. The top part of their email was the claimant, claim number and name of the claimants solicitor. I have cut and pasted the POC below. It just looks like a series of monetary amounts they are demanding. I do not know how this would help me write a defence any more than what we have already discussed in the posts above. All opinions welcome from you and previous people who have posted! Thankyou.

Judgment amount: £23XX.XX
Particulars of claim: D IS THE LEASEHOLD OWNER OF APARTMENT XXXX (address deleted by me). D DID COVENANT WITH C TO CONTRIBUTE AND PAY UPON DEMAND A GROUND RENT AT THE TIMES AND IN THE MANNER PRESCRIBED BY THE LEASE. D FAILED TO PAY THE SUM DUE WHEN DEMANDED. THE SUM HAVING FALLEN DUE AND WHICH REMAINS UNPAID IS £2XX.XX. FURTHER AND IN ADDITION TO THE ABOVE C CLAIMS CONTRACTUAL INTEREST ON EACH DEMAND FROM THE DATE THE SAME FELL DUE AT A RATE OF 4% ABOVE BASE RATE OF BARCLAYS BANK AMOUNTING TO £4.19, TOGETHER WITH INTEREST ACCRUING AT A DAILY RATE OF £0.03 UNTIL JUDGMENT OR PAYMENT IN FULL. C ALSO CLAIMS COSTS OF £18XX.XX INCURRED TO DATE IN THE RECOVERY OF THE PRINCIPAL SUM ON A CONTRACTUAL OR IMPLIED BASIS. C CLAIMS COSTS INCURRED HEREAFTER ON THE SAME BASIS.

[Pezza54]

Now you can tick all 3 boxes, defence, witness statement, evidence on N244

Keep your defence short. Call yourself the defendant admit to owing the missed £100 payment plus accrued interest.
If that is all you owed (now paid), deny the £2XX outstanding amount as not correct
Strongly deny you owe the £`18XX claimed by the claimant for costs. The high amount of costs is unjustified and not proved by the claimant

There is an example of a witness statement under "SHORTCUTS" on the righthand side of this page

Your witness statement, short consecutively numbered paras in chronological order (date first) should cover your ground rent contract, the time and amount of regular payments, the date you failed to pay one month and the reason why, any correspondence you received, when you paid the missed payment
Also your letter to the solicitor, the date you vacated your property, any evidence you were not living there, the date you intend to return

End your witness statement and evidence with a signed statement of truth

[Kathy321]

The £2XX outstanding amount is my ground rent of £100, plus £180 late payment fee (although they call it an 'admin fee') added by the ground rent company before they passed my debt on to the solicitors. So it is not incorrect of the solicitors to quote this amount. I have only paid the £100 ground rent so far though.

A stupid question: In box 9 on form N244, it asks 'Who should be served with this application?' Is this the solicitors, or the original ground rent company? I asked the CCBC what to write in that box, but they told me that they cannot give legal advice. I didn't think that would count as legal advice!

[Pezza54]

The solicitor should be served

[atticus]

The other party, i.e. the claimant, should be named; service will be on his solicitor.

[Kathy321]

Right, I have written my Witness Statement and my Draft Defence on 2 separate pieces of paper. I have focused my Witness Statement on my inability to respond to the claim that was issued by the court on 13/11/24 because I was not at home to receive it. Whether any letters arrived or not due to a misstyped postcode I cannot prove, and I am not there to look. I have got all the evidence that I was not at home (flight confirmation, passport stamp). It also made the Witness Statement too messy with too many arguments about letters (it is hard for me to keep things succinct, as you can all probably tell!)

I have some more questions (I can hear the collective groan....). Numbered, of course! Hee hee

1) I now have a big blank box under question 10 on the N244. What is supposed to go in there? Above it it mentions 'the statement of case' (but I think I have covered that in my Witness Statement) and 'the evidence set out in the box below' (but I have photocopied all my evidence and referred to it in my Witness Statement). Do I just write 'See attached Witness Statement and Draft Defence' in this big box?

2) If the judge decides to set the judgment aside in the first hearing, is it normal procedure to attend court a second time to sort out the costs? The reason I am asking is that I am writing to the solicitors to consent to set aside the judgment tonight. Part of my persuasion to them is that I am happy to attend court on 2 occasions to sort this out. I am hoping that they will not want to send a solicitor up from Coventry to Liverpool for 2 court appearances. That would cost more than the £23XX that I owe them. Or is my logic flawed?

3) Thinking ahead a little: I have read that when it comes to sorting out the costs, the judge will take into account 'the claimant's conduct'. I would like to point out somewhere that the solicitors reaction on receiving my letter on 13/11/24 was not to engage with me. Instead they went straight to the court (the same day!) and had a claim issued against me. Also, when I phoned them on 07/01/25 and found out to my surprise that I had a CCJ, the solicitors told me wrongly that the claim had been issued on 11/11/24, and my letter unfortunately 'got there too late' to stop proceedings. Does this count as bad behaviour on the part of the claimant? I have detailed it in my Witness Statement, but should I write in in my email to the solicitors tonight?

4) I need to write somewhere that I will be asking for the claimant to pay my costs of £303 plus expenses. Does this go at the end of my Draft Defence, or in my email to the solicitors, or both?

5) Would you recommend that I write a Draft Order now, and send it in with form N244? I don't see why not, as it could enable the judge to deal with everything in one go. And what would I say in the draft order?

Thankyou

[Pezza54]

Please read the article "N244 Form (Where to find & how to complete)" at www.lawble.co.uk
The article gives an example of a draft order
A1 that's okay
A2 possible a final hearing for the claim/defence
A3 My advice is not to put it in your email
A4 Neither, you want the court to order the claimant pays your application fee and expenses
A5 See the article above

[Pezza54]

There is also an example of a Draft Order under "Set Aside Application" on the righthand side of this page

[JK2054]

if your letter to solicitors stated that you weren't going to be at an address, and they served to it anyway, the court have to set aside the judgement because they knowinfully served it to the wrong place.

[Kathy321]

Thankyou for these last 3 contributions.

I looked up the solicitors' 'official' email address on the SRA website and wrote to it. Then I phoned today to check if there was any progress, and they said they hadn't got my email. Apparently they 'don't check that email very often' and gave me another one. I have re-sent it to them today, and got an automated reply that they will get back to me in 14 days!! (and I am the one who is going to look bad when the judge asks me why I did not act 'promptly' on discovery of the CCJ). Today is Day 7 since I found out, so not too tardy yet. Anyway, another phone call to the solicitors, and they are apparently going to get back to me tomorrow....

I am going to post my letter, as it may help other users of this site. Go easy on me. (I am actually quite proud of myself, I could not have done this a week ago):

Your ref: XXXX
Dear (solicitors name),

I am writing to ask you to consent to set aside the default judgment XXXX made against me on (date). There is a good reason for my failure to respond to the claim made against me on 13/11/24 as I was out of the country. I have the travel documents and passport stamps to show this.

You received a letter from me on 13/11/24 in which I explained that the original debt of £1XX had been settled, whilst at the same time questioning the size of your £6XX payment demand. I provided alternative means of contact (an email address) and asked you to contact me via email as I was going to be away.

You asked the court to issue a claim against me on the same date you received my letter. You did not make the court aware that I was away from home. As a result, I did not receive the claim form, and did not have the opportunity to respond to the claim made against me.

I have completed form N244 and attached the evidence required to make an application for the default judgment to be set aside under CPR 13.3(1)(b)(i). However, I have been advised to contact you first to ask you to consent to set aside the default judgment before I submit my application to the CCDC in Northampton.

It is my understanding that it would be quicker and easier for us both if you could consent to this.

Please could you reply to me swiftly via email, as the court will not look favourably on me if I delay in submitting my application.

Kind regards,
(my name)

[Pezza54]

That letter is fine.
End it "Yours sincerely"
I think it is CCBC Civil Court Business Centre