CCJ I knew nothing about - to hire paralegals or not ?

[tilbob]

Hi there!!

Hoping someone can help me as I'm feeling quite stuck in the mud!!!

I was randomly checking my credit score the other day (normally is v good) and I saw it was super low suddenly, after some investigation I found it had dropped massively from a CCJ against me in august 2022 by a water company.
Turns out my old flatmate who I'd thought had been sorting the water bill, had not been, and the water company had never been paid for the year and a half we rented the property.

We all left the property in september 2021 but when i spoke to the water company (as soon as i found out who the ccj was from) it turned out they had continued to charge us until feb 2022 and then i guess began sending letters later into 2022 to that old address (when we were all long long gone) - so the bill including their legal fees is now around £990. I figured my first step was to get them to adjust the bill to remove any charges between sep-feb so I've sent them all the proof of when i vacated but I'm just not sure what to do next!!

I can find a way to pay the bill as soon as i get the correct figure back (will get the old flatmates to split with me) but I really can't cope with the idea that this CCJ will stick with me for 6 years as I'd like to switch mortgages in a year or so. I spoke to a ccj paralegal company that will (in exchange for ~ £600) get a consent order (?) from the water company and they sounded very confident the judgement would be set aside as I'd never received communication from the water company...

I'm generally quite a self sufficient girl so I like to do things myself where I can but I'm just a bit overwhelmed of the next steps and can't really afford to just casually spend £600 lol

Any advice would be soooo welcome !!!!

THANKS

[jaguarsuk]

Write to the water company to explain you never received the claim form a they sent it to an old address, get them to consent to set aside and then use the Set Aside Application guide.