Hi Legalbeagles. Help needed. Breach of contract Mcol procedure.

[Savj]

I'm about to write a POC on the Mcol site regarding breach of contract on house purchase. Seller still had two garages and garden full of their belongings at 5.30pm. We completed sale at 11.30am. We ended up ( family of 4) staying in hotel overnight and having to pay for our possessions to be put in storage over night, waiting time and redelivery the following morning. They took items listed on itemized contents list and we discovered when we moved in that the electric gate that they told not only us but also our solicitor,theirs and the estate agent that they had been repaired. When in fact the gate sensors had been bypassed to make it work. We've had an expert examine them and he said, whoever has make the so called repair has broken regulations knowingly deactivating the safety feature to get them to work.
How should I set out the POC, keeping in mind I have alot to say and not alot of space to put it in.
Tia.

[des8]

Hi and welcome
you can provide a very brief summary and state that the particulars are to follow.
You then serve the particulars as a separate document within the time limits set out in the rule.(/www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part16/pd_part16 )
If you do decide to use a separate document remember that you also need to file a certificate of service and you can do this by email.

[Savj]

Do you have to send documents or if the defendants is just trying their luck, which they are, can all the documents be sent if it has to go to court. I have followed procedure, sent them a letter outlining my grievance and how I would like it rectifying. I received a 'without prejudice' reply offering to pay for items taken but no mention of anything towards the more expensive extra removal costs and hotel bill. Obviously she took advise and was told not to incriminate herself. I was hoping I would have to send reams and reams of paper out as the defendants are a divorcing couple who live at separate addresses, so I believe I'm right in saying I'd need to send out four copies of all the information I have.
Thanks for advise, I can assure you this isn't something I want to be doing but I can't afford to just write off over £2000. Some people are just unbelievable!

[ostell]

You don't have to send the documents yet, this will be at a later date if it actually gets to court. Who are you claiming against, one or the other? Can they provide an address for documents? As noted above send a fuller PoC after you have submitted the claim on line.

[R0b]

Hello

Writing in one big paragraph makes it difficult to read your problems so I would suggest you split your posts into several paragraphs to make it easy to read.
Can I ask why you needed to stay in a hotel once the transaction was completed? The property becomes yours, albeit the goods not belonging to you do not, but nonetheless there is nothing to suggest the property was uninhabitable.

You said you have had to put your possessions into storage, did you put all of your possessions in there or just some of them? If you put all of them into storage could you have not stored some of those possessions at your new property and thus mitigated any losses to yourself?

Having an expert examine the gate I presume he/she also supplied you with a report on the extent of the issue? If not, I would suggest you get one because you will need to rely on that as your evidence if it did go to court.

Just so you are aware, MCOL is only suitable to claim against a single party, so if you are claiming against two parties then you cannot use MCOL and will need to use the N1 Claim Form instead.

[wales01man]

Why werw your possessions not put in the house if it was garden and garages full with their stuff what stopped you?

[des8]

I can fully understand why the OP ended up in an hotel and goods in storage o'night, having been there myself.
I guess OP has only recited part of the problem
I'm assuming the sellers hadn't moved their belongings out of the house 'till late afternoon, and OP's removal men can't then unload .
This means van into secure parking overnight and hotel for family.
You then return in the morning and find the place strewn with rubbish.
Been there, done that and got the tee shirt!

[Savj]

Why werw your possessions not put in the house if it was garden and garages full with their stuff what stopped you?

The seller had their vehicle parked on the drive, so we couldn't get our vehicles near, both garages and garden full of their belongings. We had 3 vehicles to unload and over 50% of that was to go into the garage, as we were downsizing! Our things had been packed to fit into the removal wagons and not in a fashion for it to be unloaded house first, so we had no idea where beds etc were to be able to sleep in the house. Part of the garage attached to the house was used as a utility so we had washer, drier, freezer, etc to go in there. All our belongings just wouldn't have fitted in the house!

[Savj]

Des8 got it spot on. Total nightmare. They hired a small van and one man and two women proceeded to laugh and joke as they removed items from the house that had neither been packed or secured in transit.
It is a couple I am claiming against, they were both named on the contract even though he had left as they are divorcing.
Should the poc be fill out as bullet points and amount I am seeking for each part of the claim.
Any ideas where I can find a draft poc to look over?
Many thanks.

[jaguarsuk]

Just so you are aware, MCOL is only suitable to claim against a single party, so if you are claiming against two parties then you cannot use MCOL and will need to use the N1 Claim Form instead.

You can now add multiple defendants to MCOL, so you can issue via them.

Should the poc be fill out as bullet points and amount I am seeking for each part of the claim.
Any ideas where I can find a draft poc to look over?
Many thanks.

The PoC on the MCOL site will have to be a very brief synopsis of the issue and the box to send further detailed PoC ticked.

The further PoC will need to set out the parties, the back ground and then what exactly is being claimed. The document will be headed the same way as a Witness Statements and each paragraph (short and concise) numbered.

Someone may have a template to upload for you, unfortunately I don't at this time.

[R0b]

jaguarsuk are you sure MCOL allows multiple defendants? I used the MCOL site a couple of months ago and there was no option to add multiple defendants. The MCOL guide on page 9 also confirms this:

Claims issued via MCOL can only have one claimant – if you need to issue a claim with multiple Claimants (for example, on behalf of a couple), please contact the County Court Money Claim Centre (CCMCC).

I suspect you are talking about the new online money claims service which is currently in trial mode at the moment. I believe this is going to supersede MCOL and become what will be the online court service for issuing not just money claims but also other types of claims or applications. As I understand it is currently restricted to money claims. So you are right in that sense, I've heard it is possible to issue against multiple defendants but not actually tried the new service yet. If going down this route, I also believe that there is a less restrictive word count than the current MCOL system which makes it very difficult to write POC unless the claim is very straightforward

[jaguarsuk]

jaguarsuk are you sure MCOL allows multiple defendants? I used the MCOL site a couple of months ago and there was no option to add multiple defendants. The MCOL guide on page 9 also confirms this:



I suspect you are talking about the new online money claims service which is currently in trial mode at the moment. I believe this is going to supersede MCOL and become what will be the online court service for issuing not just money claims but also other types of claims or applications. As I understand it is currently restricted to money claims. So you are right in that sense, I've heard it is possible to issue against multiple defendants but not actually tried the new service yet. If going down this route, I also believe that there is a less restrictive word count than the current MCOL system which makes it very difficult to write POC unless the claim is very straightforward

No the older system, see below:

mcol.png

You can't go beyond 2, but that's all the OP needs.

[R0b]

I stand corrected!

[des8]

Any ideas where I can find a draft poc to look over?
Many thanks.

If this is your first court action, you might find it useful to read a little!
try this for starters https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/...+web+FINAL.pdf

on page 11 is an example of PoC, but i doubt you'll find a template as each case is different.
when you have drafted your PoC, post it up so it can be checked and tweaked if required

[Savj]

Hi All,
I know this has been a long time coming but I've had alsorts going off. Finally got round to starting my MCOL claim.
Can you please advise as to whether I'm going down the right track with my Pol. I'm really struggling to get across what I need to in such a limited space.
Many thanks for your help.