acknowledgement of service not recieved

[Angela Hogarth]

My husband is a builder with a good reputation and no previous issues. However, late last year he was forced to leave a residential site due to illegal activities there. The house holder has taken us to court but we received no word of this until a 'judgement for claimant' came through the door. I immediately phoned this individual's solicitor who states that he sent it in May. If we had received it we would have absolutely replied! Yesterday we received a hand delivered 'witness statement' and 'schedule of costs for the claimant'. These are full of untruths and we desperately want to defend this claim. His solicitor has sent copies of documents which have been altered by his client but says he does not have a copy of the acknowledgement of service to send me. Where do we stand? The disposal hearing is set for the 5th August! Please help. This con man is claiming £13,000 from us and we have a good case against him as we reported his illegal activities to the police at the time.

[nemesis45]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Hi Welcome to LB.

If you have received a court sealed " Notice of Judgment" for claimant it means the case has been heard and judgement made.

Please post here copies of what you have received after removing your personal details it will greatly assist in getting you the appropriate advice.

nem

[Angela Hogarth]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

There is a form N271 - notice of transfer of proceedings which states' this claim has been transferred to the county court following judgement being entered. On receipt, the file will be referred to a judge to give case management directions. Details of the judge's decision will be sent to you'.
Attached is also a form N17 - judgement for claimant which states ' No acknowledgement of service having been filed it is ordered that the defendant must pay the claimant an amount which the court will decide and costs.
These were sent on 5th June
Last night the hand delivered statement was posted through with a covering letter from the solicitor stating 'we can confirm that these documents have today been filed at the County Court.
Can I apply to have it 'set aside'? I have just been reading about that...

[Kati]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

[MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] should be able to advise on getting a set-aside in place (I think there's a £155 charge for it)

[nemesis45]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

There is a form N271 - notice of transfer of proceedings which states' this claim has been transferred to the county court following judgement being entered. On receipt, the file will be referred to a judge to give case management directions. Details of the judge's decision will be sent to you'.
Attached is also a form N17 - judgement for claimant which states ' No acknowledgement of service having been filed it is ordered that the defendant must pay the claimant an amount which the court will decide and costs.
These were sent on 5th June
Last night the hand delivered statement was posted through with a covering letter from the solicitor stating 'we can confirm that these documents have today been filed at the County Court.
Can I apply to have it 'set aside'? I have just been reading about that...

PM seen. nem
Hi Angela, @Kati is correct application for set aside use form N244 there is a Court Fee of £155.00 a an application for set aside must be made promptly so needs to be done asap.

You must have a defence that has a " reasonable" chance of success to the original claim.

You must show the court " good reason" as to why the claim was not acknowledged e.g. Claim pack was sent to the wrong address.

nem

[Angela Hogarth]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Hi, How on earth do I fill in the form? It's a total minefield to me...

PM seen. nem
Hi Angela, @Kati is correct application for set aside use form N244 there is a Court Fee of £155.00 a an application for set aside must be made promptly so needs to be done asap.

You must have a defence that has a " reasonable" chance of success to the original claim.

You must show the court " good reason" as to why the claim was not acknowledged e.g. Claim pack was sent to the wrong address.

nem

[FlamingParrot]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Hi, How on earth do I fill in the form? It's a total minefield to me...

Yes, it requires a bit of an explanation, especially in view of the fact that you'd also need a draft defence. The court would only consider setting aside a default judgment if you can demonstrate that, had you received the claim, you would have been able to defend it successfully. You will find all the details you need here: http://legalbeagles.info/library/how...-judgment-ccj/

(I think there's a £155 charge for it)

Yes, sadly there is, so you should take a look at the fee remission option in case you qualify: http://www.justice.gov.uk/xredirects/ex160a.

[Angela Hogarth]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Hi, how on earth do I fill in the N244 form? It is a total minefield to me...

[FlamingParrot]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Hi, how on earth do I fill in the N244 form? It is a total minefield to me...

Our posts just crossed, see link on my post above, have a read and then come back with any questions. :thumb:

[Kati]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Hi, how on earth do I fill in the N244 form? It is a total minefield to me...

Have a read of the info on FP's link (http://legalbeagles.info/library/how...-judgment-ccj/) it should give you a bit of help x

EDIT: crossed with FP xx

[Angela Hogarth]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

ok, We have looked at the necessary documents required and my husband doesnt think we have time to get it all ready and sent before the disclosure hearing on Wednesday. We are currently on low income, receiving tax credits but have £90,000n equity in our house. We would only be able to offer minimal payments as our credit rating is so bad that we are unable to reduce/remortgage. Can this claimant come after our house??

[FlamingParrot]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

ok, We have looked at the necessary documents required and my husband doesnt think we have time to get it all ready and sent before the disclosure hearing on Wednesday. We are currently on low income, receiving tax credits but have £90,000n equity in our house. We would only be able to offer minimal payments as our credit rating is so bad that we are unable to reduce/remortgage. Can this claimant come after our house??

If you are unable to get the CCJ set aside, you can make a repayment offer you can afford, backed by an income and expenditure statement. There are many people with CCJs who pay just £1/month because they are disabled/ill/on benefits/on a low income. The claimant can apply for a charging order, sadly for judgments made after October 2012, thanks to the lovely Camoron and his policies, :mad2: they can now apply even if you keep up the repayments agreed with the court. A charging order secures the debt on your property but, unlike a mortgage or a secured loan, does not give them the right to apply for a possession order. It is, in principle, possible to apply for an order for sale after a final CO has been obtained, however, in practice, they are hardly ever granted by the courts and there can be conditions attached to the CO to stop this from happening. If the property is jointly owned and the debt is in a sole name, then they can only record a restriction, however, I think I'm racing well ahead here.

[Angela Hogarth]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

This is the draft defence I have done...Does it look ok? I will need to take it to the courts today as the disposal hearing is scheduled for Wednesday!!

1. It is denied that the defendant entered into a contractual agreement with the claimants Mr ******* and **********. The contract was not signed by the claimants prior to commencement of work.
   
2. It is denied that the defendant owes the claimants £13,546.01 as stated in their particulars of claim.
   
3. It is admitted that work at the premises of Mr **********l ceased when illegal activities became apparent and the claimant attempted to involve the defendant in the same.
   
4. It is denied that the work listed in the quote from ********* was incomplete. Witnesses will reinforce this.
   
5. It is denied that Mr ********* and Mrs ********** were unable to reside at the property due to incomplete work by the defendant. ( The bathrooms were to be installed by Mr ***********but had not been started when the defendant left the site in December 2014 ).
   

[Debt Camel]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

I would drop (1) There clearly was a contract between your husband and Mr X or husband would not have started work. A contract can be oral, it doesn't have to be signed.

(3) I would add that your husband reported this to the police at the time and give the police crime report number (get it from the station if you don't have it)

(4) Was the work really complete? you said your husband left the site before it was. Do you mean that all the work that was paid for was complete but your husband refused to do any more because of the illegal activities? I think you need to go into more details on what was done on an attached sheet. Also state the names of the witnesses. You said " These are full of untruths and we desperately want to defend this claim." - these need to be listed.

(5) If I have understood this correctly, I would change this to say "

1. It is denied that Mr ********* and Mrs ********** were unable to reside at the property due to incomplete work by the defendant. Throughout this period the property was uninhabitable for many reasons including the fact there were no bathrooms. The Claimant proposed to install the bathrooms himself and these had not been started when the defendant left the site in December 2014 ).

[Angela Hogarth]

Re: acknowledgement of service not recieved

Ok, Thanks for your help... I am really beginning to think we haven't got a cat in hell's chance of having this set aside due to the time scale we are faced with. Is it worth phoning the claimants solicitor today and asking them to agree? Or would that be a complete waste of time in your opinion as judgement has been passed so ultimately he has won already?