Lowell Solicitors - Studio Debt

[Martin_K]

Hi Everyone,

I am hoping i could get some help with the next steps.

My wife had a debt dating back to 2015 with Studio. This debt eventually got passed on to Lowell. She never responded to them and recently received a letter from Lowell Solicitors.

They sent a bit of a pack giving her a few options. She selected the option which said they she did not believe she owed a debt to Lowell, and she asked for a copy of the original credit agreement with Lowell.

They have responded by saying that they haven not claimed to have entered into a contract with my wife directly. The benefit of the Studio account was passed to them under section 136 of the Law Property Act 1925.

They have also said unless she can supply further details to dispute the claim or start to make payments then they will reinitiate the pre-action protocol process which could result in a CCJ.

We go on holiday this weekend and will not be back before the deadline (received the letter nearly 2 weeks after the letter was dated), so would like to make a reponse ASAP.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[davenewbergr]

Their next step is to issue a claim; if they do that it will take the court at least a couple of weeks to process it, then your wife will receive the claim documents, then she has 14 days to acknowledge the claim and a further 14 days to file (with the court) and serve (on the other side) her defence. So you don't have to worry much about the CCJ just yet.
You haven't said how much they are claiming - this is important as if it is less than £10,000 then the claim would be allocated to the small claims track and your wife does not have to worry about having to pay the other side's legal costs. If it's more than £10,000 then she may be vulnerable to a 'costs order' and you should write to Lowell with evidence of your holiday booking (so they know you aren't just dodging them) and say 'Please can we have a 2-week moratorium and then we will respond to you by [a date 2 weeks after you return from holiday].
If you don't have it (it is probably the form that Lowell sent to you) here is the Pre-action Protocol for Debt Claims. I do not think it is in keeping with the protocol for Lowell to simply say the debt was assigned. s.136 Law of Property Act stipulates that the debtor (your wife) must be given express notice of the assignment; they must prove that she has had notice, and they cannot in my view succeed at trial unless they can produce some documentary support for the claim that your wife owes money (to anybody, assignor or assignee). So she is entitled to say 'If you can't prove it in court, why should I pay anything voluntarily?' The evidence a court might accept is not limited to the actual contract, but there must be something to show that at some time in the past your wife agreed to be liable for this money.
However, I note that your post appears to admit that the money is owed, even though you might not want to pay it. In that situation - and bearing in mind I don't know how much is involved - it may be sensible to offer Lowell something less than the full amount. The guy with conduct of the matter has to get some return, he'd like to get the full amount but a decent offer saves the time and cost that would be involved in taking your wife to court.
You may have the opportunity to point out that it's not up to your wife to prove she doesn't owe the money, it's up to them to prove she does. But bear in mind they may well be able to do that.

[Martin_K]

Thanks for that.

I will I’ll get her to write back to say that she will respond within 2 weeks of our return. It is only £175 so not a great deal.

Im sure she will have received notification of the debt passing on to Lowell, but as you say she could always ask for the proof before making an offer.

Thanks again

[davenewbergr]

TBH, if it's only £175, it's not worth the hassle really. When you get back offer £100 and see if they'll go for it.