Count Court Claim Affinity Water

[fryster]

Good Evening,
Have received a claim form from County Court Business Centre for a debt owed to Affinity Water. £1014.60 for water, interest of £183.68 and court fees etc. Total of £1358.28. They are claiming we owe them from 20/06/2016 to 07/10/2019. We only lived in the property from 20/06/2016 to 28/11/2016. We have received calls, texts and letters from UKSL but ignored these. We were on the low income tariff so maximum the bill would have been for the year would have been around £300, so actual amount we didn't pay would have been less than £150. We have had no debt owed to any water company before or since. I don't recall receiving a letter before claim at any point. What should my next step be please? Many Thanks!

[echat11]

From you summary you should definitely be defending the claim.

a) What you need to do is Acknowledge the claim online, that will give you an extra 14 days to work on you defence, so that 28 days in total, (plus 5 days postal).

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ledge-a-claim/

b) Send Shakespeare Martineau LLP a CPR 31.14 Request, they have 14 days to provide documents they are relying to make the claim against you. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-of-documents/

c) Send Affinity Water a SAR, they have 30 days to provide all the details on the account. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

Make sure you get your defence in on time, so 28 days from today, note it in your diary.

[fryster]

Many thanks for the quick reply. I've acknowledged the claim, and need some help with the CPR 31.14 request. Particulars of claim on the claim form:

'The Claimant is a statutory water and sewerage undertaker pursuant to the Water Industry Act 1991 (the Act). The claimant claims the sum of £1014.60 for unpaid water and/or sewerage charges payable under s.142-144 of the Act and the Claimant's Charges Scheme. The unpaid sum of £1014.60 is for water and/or sewerage services provided to the Defendant(s) at 8 Westside Brentmoor Road during the supply period from 20/06/2016 to 07/10/2019. The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 07/10/2019 to 10/01/2022 of £183.68 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.22. AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS (1) The principal sum of £1014.60. (2) Interest under s.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 of £183.68 and (3) Continuing interest on (1) above from 10/01/2022 to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of 0.22.'

[echat11]

See what they send.


Your name
Your address
Your postcode

Date

Claimants name
Claimants address
Claimants postcode

Dear Sirs,

Claim Number: XXXXXX

Request for documents mentioned in a statement of case under CPR 31.14

On xx/xx/xxxx I received a County Court claim from yourselves of which I have acknowledged receipt indicating my intention to defend in full.

To enable me to file my defence and/or counterclaim, I require inspection of documents you are relying on in your statement of case ahead of filing my defence.

In accordance with CPR 31.15(c) I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.

You should note that this claim has not yet been allocated to a specific track and the provisions of CPR 27(2) are of no effect. Had your claim not been issued through CCBC the Claimant would have been obliged to attach copies of the documentation upon which it relies to the Particulars of Claim.

I, as Defendant, am entitled to see the documents on which the Claimant relies and which you must produce at trial. Disclosure at this stage will enable me to fully plead my case and further the Overriding Objective.

You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the document(s) I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter.

If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing and confirm your agreement to an extension of the time allowed for me to file my defence as allowed under CPR 15.5 so I may notify the court.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Your Name

[fryster]

Will do, will update here when I get anything

[fryster]

Ready to post these off now, before I do, is there any point in ringing Affinity directly and trying to come to a resolution or is it beyond that? Many thanks!

[echat11]

Ready to post these off now, before I do, is there any point in ringing Affinity directly and trying to come to a resolution or is it beyond that? Many thanks!

As they've filed a court claim, no. You've got a Defence in that they have billed you incorrectly.

The courts do state that you should still try to resolve the matter without a hearing where ever possible,
so you can communicate with them, but you still have to deal with the court claim.

[fryster]

Not heard anything yet from the solicitors or Affinity Water. Just want to check dates as to when defence needs to be filed by. Claim history from MCOL is

A claim was issued against you on 11/01/2022

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 15/01/2022 at 10:36:54

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 17/01/2022 at 01:08:32

Do I go 28 days from 11/01/2022 + 5 days postal = 13/02/2022 ? When should I start preparing my defence? Many thanks, don't want to mess this up!

[echat11]

28 + 5 days from the 11/01/22.

Start your Defence now (although they still have time to provide SAR info), you can amend the CCA Defence template below remove anything that relates to CCA.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-court-claims/

Post up your Defence then we can go through it.

[fryster]

I'm sure i've probably made a hash of it and apologise in advance!


In the Northampton County Court Business Centre

Claim No: XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXX

Claimant

And

XXXXXXXXX

Defendant

DEFENCE

1.The Defendant received the claim XXXXX from the Northampton County Court on XXXXXXXXX

2.Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3.The Claimants statement of case fails to give adequate information to enable me to properly assess my position with regards the claim.

4.The Claimants Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant owes an unpaid sum for water and/or sewerage charges during the supply period from XXXXX to XXXXXXXX. The Defendant was only resident at this address for the period from 20/06/2016 to 27/11/2016.

5.On the 17/01/2022 The Defendant sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Shakespeare Martineau LLP. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the documents they are relying on in their statement of case ahead of filing my defence.

6.Shakespeare Martineau LLP has not sent any of these documents to the Defendant.

7.On the 17/01/2022 The Defendant sent a Subject access request under Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) to Affinity Water LTD.

8.Affinity Water LTD has not sent any of these documents to the Defendant.

9.Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.

10.The Defendant respectfully requests the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for The Defendant to fully plead his case else the Claim should stand struck out.

11.In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimant, the Defendant will then be in a position to amend his defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

12.It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth

The Defendant believes that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

Signed ________________________________

Dated ________________________________

[echat11]

**Can you redact the personal details in your defence.**

[echat11]

In the Northampton County Court Business Centre

Claim No: XXXXXXXXX

Affinity Water LTD

Claimant

And

XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

Defendant

DEFENCE

1.The Defendant received the claim XXXXXXXXX from the Northampton County Court on XXXXXXXXX (ACTUAL DATE ON COURT CLAIM LETTER)

2.Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3.The Claimants statement of case fails to give adequate information to enable the Defendant to properly assess his position with regards the claim.

4.The Claimant’s Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant owes an unpaid sum for water and/or sewerage charges during the supply period from 20/06/2016 to 07/10/2019. The Defendant was only resident at this address for the period from 20/06/2016 to 27/11/2016 (just over 5 months, not 3 years and 3 months as stated in the claim).

5.On the 17/01/2022 the Defendant sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Shakespeare Martineau LLP. The Defendant requested the Claimant provide copies of the documents they are relying on in their statement of case ahead of filing his defence.

6.Shakespeare Martineau LLP has not sent any of the requested documents to the Defendant.

7.On the 17/01/2022 The Defendant sent a Subject Access Request under Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) to Affinity Water Ltd.

8.Affinity Water Ltd has not sent any of the requested documents to the Defendant.

9.Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a Defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.

10.The Defendant respectfully requests the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for The Defendant to fully plead his case else the Claim should stand struck out.

11.In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimant, the Defendant will then be in a position to amend his Defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

12.It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth

The Defendant believes that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

Signed ________________________________

Dated ________________________________


You need to gather evidence documenting where you were between 28/11/2016 and 07/10/19.

[fryster]

Many thanks for the speedy reply and help. One thing I need to check, I sent the SAR request on 17/01/2022 by recorded delivery but the tracking hasn't shown it signed for. I re-sent the same request about a week later but this time by special delivery. This has been delivered and signed for. What date should I use on my defence form? (I have the post office receipt).

I live in housing association housing and have an online account stating the start and end dates of my tenancy. Would a screenshot of this suffice or should I be getting hold of a copy of my tenancy agreement? I will dig around and see if I have a copy anywhere.

Edit: I haven't got a copy of the tenancy agreement to hand. However the online account allows me to print off a copy of my rent statement for the period 28/11/16 until 07/10/19. This states my name, address and weekly rent charges and payments. Would this suffice?

[echat11]

a) Many thanks for the speedy reply and help. One thing I need to check, I sent the SAR request on 17/01/2022 by recorded delivery but the tracking hasn't shown it signed for. I re-sent the same request about a week later but this time by special delivery. This has been delivered and signed for. What date should I use on my defence form? (I have the post office receipt).

The 17th January is fine, you just need proof you sent it.

b) I live in housing association housing and have an online account stating the start and end dates of my tenancy. Would a screenshot of this suffice or should I be getting hold of a copy of my tenancy agreement? I will dig around and see if I have a copy anywhere.

Gather as much evidence as possible just in case they need convincing.

c) Edit: I haven't got a copy of the tenancy agreement to hand. However the online account allows me to print off a copy of my rent statement for the period 28/11/16 until 07/10/19. This states my name, address and weekly rent charges and payments. Would this suffice?

That's excellent.

I believe you might be due some compensation from Affinity Water (check the electoral roll and credit reference agencies). They have incorrect information with regards to the data they hold on you. But deal with their court claim first.

[fryster]

SAR arrived from Affinity. Nothing much there, initial moving in, some correspondence from when I applied for the low income tariff in 2016 then the next entry is 03/02/21 when they contacted me by email to confirm priority services register eligibility. Same again on 10/03/21 and 10/06/21. Something called an orbit referral on 13/04/21 that was withdrawn.

On 19/07/21 says account closed down based on information from Experian that the customer no longer lives here. If the customer disputes the dates then they will need to provide evidence to prove otherwise.

On 11/11/21 'This account has been passed to UK Search to take legal action against the outstanding balance. Please refer the customer to UK Search to discuss the the account. Please do not amend the balance.'

I will remove the reference to the SAR from my defence. I'm interested in the last point, but as you say I will deal with the court case first.