Court Claim

[Jinxer]

I've just received a County Court claim form from Northampton for an electricity debt from before 2013.
The property is a corner plot with a big steel shed on it, which was rented out for storage. I have new tenants now, who have given me some letters and the Court claim was in with them.
After doing some digging the previous tenants (who have long gone) let the electric company into the building and the electric was completely disconnected and the supply was taken out resulting in no supply to the building whatsoever. I've only just found out about all this yesterday and don't have a clue what to do for the best. They are asking for over £8,000.00 saying it is for electricity supplied when apparently the supply was taken out altogether years ago.
Can anyone help with this?

[Jinxer]

This is the form

[Jinxer]

[Amethyst]

The invoice is for electricity supplied to a building which has no electricity supply ? Have you spoken to the electric company about it to find out where it's come from ?

Can you post the particulars of claim from the claim form pls. ( scratch that you just did )

[Amethyst]

Was the shed a separate supply run as a business ? ( just as it says a commercial debt )

You need to acknowledge the claim with intent to defend in full… This just gives you more time to get things in order to know what your defence will be.

Then you should send CPR 31.14 https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-of-documents/ request to the claimants requesting copies of documents mentioned in the claim which will include the invoices.

Also call Eon and Try to find out where this has come from... Is it a bill for before the electricity supply was removed from the property? Do you know the date the electricity supply was removed from the property?

Did you have any idea about this before receiving the claim?

And is it addressed to you as a business or just personally ? ?

[Jinxer]

Was the shed a separate supply run as a business ? ( just as it says a commercial debt )

You need to acknowledge the claim with intent to defend in full… This just gives you more time to get things in order to know what your defence will be.


Then you should send CPR 31.14 https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-of-documents/ request to the claimants requesting copies of documents mentioned in the claim which will include the invoices.

Also call Eon and Try to find out where this has come from... Is it a bill for before the electricity supply was removed from the property? Do you know the date the electricity supply was removed from the property?

Did you have any idea about this before receiving the claim?

And is it addressed to you as a business or just personally ? ?

The shed and the land it's on is what I own and it did have an electric supply which had no fuses in and I didn't think it was ever used and I had never contacted the electric company to reinstate the supply.

I have acknowledged the claim today intending to defend in full.

I haven't done the CPR 31.14 yet as unsure at the moment who to send it to (solicitors or claimant) and do I leave the red writing in that asks for a copy of the credit agreement and £1.00 postal order.

I've called EON who would say nothing except the debt has been assigned and that the dates in question were 2009 to 2014. 2014 I have been told by one of the neighbours was around the time the electric supply was dug out of the building.

This week is the first I knew of the claim, I have been handed the claim for and some other letters from a couple of weeks ago assigning the debt.

The claim is addressed personally in my name, not a business name

[Amethyst]

Okay - CPR 31.14 goes to the solicitors(shoosmiths) - leave out the stuff about a CCA request as that's not applicable here. Send a SAR to EON and SAR to Azzuro Associates.

I asked of if it was a business as they are claiming late payment on commercial debts interest - which wouldn't be appropriate for a standard residential contract .... aldo they mention previous letters - would you have any of those ?

Any idea what the tenants up to 2014 were using the shed for ? Quite a lot of electricity used, even for 4 years. What was your arrangement for utility bills with the tenants ?

[Jinxer]

Do I just ask for invoices and assignment in the CPR 31.14.
I received no other letters and the letters I have were sent to the shed address, not my home address.
The tenants were supposed to be using it for storing furniture and stuff to send abroad.
The electric and phone supply were the only services to the building and they were both turned off when I purchased the place, so was rented with no services.

[wales01man]

You state the fuses were removed was the incoming supply disconnected? Very easy to put another company fuse in to get power and remove it at will

[Jinxer]

You state the fuses were removed was the incoming supply disconnected? Very easy to put another company fuse in to get power and remove it at will

It was a very old setup and when the property was bought it was stated that the services (Electric and BT telephone line) were untested and basically none of them worked. The main fuses before the meter weren't there so no supply was active at the time, but you're right they could have replaced the fuses themselves. I can't understand how it was left so long and let to build up to 8k before the electric did something about it.

With the CPR 31.14 do I just ask for the invoices and assignment as that is all they mention in the claim? and do I still send a £!.00 postal order.