Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

[char1ie]

Hi all,
I am the claimaint against a builder who did a shoddy job. Over the last two years I have sent letters, then a claim form, then he has received judgement, and most recently charging order on his house. CCJ is for around £8500. He has now consulted solictors and applied to the court to have the judgement put aside because he says he didn't receive any paperwork.
Is he likely to be successful, and if the judgement is put aside will I incur any of his costs?
Thanks,

Charlie

[R0b]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Hi Charlie,

Has the builder submitted a witness statement, which is where he is stating he did not receive the paperwork, did he move?? Do you have any evidence in support that he was living at that address? If you've sent a number of letters to that address and he's not responded and you have evidence and taken all of this together you could argue that the reality is he did receive the documentation but chose not to do anything about it.

[char1ie]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Do you have experience? He has submitted a statement. He hasn't moved house. If you have experience of this type of hearing will the judge expect me to argue that he has been living there or will he have to convince a judge, whether I am there or not?

[R0b]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

It might be helpful to upload his statement so we can see what he/his solicitor has said.

Setting aside a default judgment can only be done on certain grounds, rather than explaining it, you might be better having a read of the link below which explains setting aside default judgments.



What I haven't included in the above link is that a set aside of default judgment comes in two parts. You first have to satisfy the relevant criteria in the above link, but then it must also pass the relief from sanctions test (known as the Denton criteria). This is includes, whether (1) is the breach serious, (2) was there any good reason why the breach occurred and (3) taking all of the circumstances into account, should the defendant be granted relief.

Obviously I don't know what stage you are at but if you are going to resist the application then you would be wise to put in a witness statement as to why you are objecting to the set aside. This would also enable you to refer to your evidence as to why you think (on a balance of probabilities) the defendant did receive the claim form and correspondence but did nothing about it.

If you are going to resist, you would be best off attending in person.

[ostell]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

A good reason for rejecting the set aside is that he knew that there was a judgement against him and and received the charging order so the address that was used to serve papers on him was correct, just ignored.

[char1ie]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Thanks all. So at the moment my plan will be to submit a witness statement that asks the judge to see that the builder has ignored all the paperwork that has arrived at his house, and to attend on the day to ask that the set aside be rejected on the grounds that his claim that no paperwork ever arrived at his house is total bullshit.

His building firm has gone down the pan and he was expelled from Checkatrade for similar incompetent work and bad reviews so I may see if I can submit some of this as evidence to back up my claim that he has a track record of doing poor quality work and not paying his debts.

Should credit score him or look for other CCJs for him?

Thanks all for your advice.


Charlie

[wales01man]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Is he a LTD Company or a Sole trader?

[char1ie]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Sole trader.

[wales01man]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Sole trader.

Good if he loses take further action to get your money

[R0b]

Re: Getting a CCJ set aside. Possible costs?

Thanks all. So at the moment my plan will be to submit a witness statement that asks the judge to see that the builder has ignored all the paperwork that has arrived at his house, and to attend on the day to ask that the set aside be rejected on the grounds that his claim that no paperwork ever arrived at his house is total bullshit.

His building firm has gone down the pan and he was expelled from Checkatrade for similar incompetent work and bad reviews so I may see if I can submit some of this as evidence to back up my claim that he has a track record of doing poor quality work and not paying his debts.

Should credit score him or look for other CCJs for him?

Thanks all for your advice.


Charlie

Your not asking the judge, but you are providing evidence in support of the CCJ to remain so you should be giving a concise factual statement (including your evidence with reference) of what happened. I think certainly the Checkatrade evidence may assist the court to make a decision but at the same time they may dismiss it - worth putting in anyway. If you are able to get a financial history about him which shows whether or not he has outstanding CCJs this could also point on a balance of probabilities that he probably received the paperwork and ignored the claim. Again, any other evidence you might have, emails or proof of postage receipts for letters which show that they were sent to the correct address is all evidence that stacks against him.