N244 Court Hearing

[Sbk]

Hello,
My husband and I have a court hearing on Thursday to set aside a judgement made against us by our property management company for service charge owed. We are just coming out of a long period of poor health, depression and, consequently, debt. Action by the Sheriffs Office has been halted. Any advice please? The amount asked for is incorrect and does not appear to show any payments previously made.

[Amethyst]

Hi SBK, Sorry to hear you are having problems with your service charge. Did you only find out about the judgment when you received a letter from the enforcement agents ? What grounds have you applied for the set-aside on and have you submitted a draft defence to the claim ?

[Diana M]

I have a court hearing on Thursday to set aside a judgement made against us by our property management company for service charge owed.

. . . . The amount asked for is incorrect and does not appear to show any payments previously made.

Has the Managing Agent/Company been issuing Service Charge demands that are compliant with Section 153 Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 with all the prescribed terms? If not then you may have a Defence to this claim once you've managed to get the CCJ set aside.

Have you had any reason to lawfully withhold any of the Service Charges such as major works carried out that should be preceded by a Section 20 Consultation (and perhaps weren't)?

You can read about this here > https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-...rges-england/#

Did you receive the original claim form or was it served incorrectly which is why you didn't respond at the time? The first hurdle will be to get the CCJ set aside with a good reason as to why the court should set it aside.

Service Charge issues should be dealt with by the First Tier Tribunal - Property Chamber (parts of HMCTS) and normally a DJ would refer a claim to them > https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-...perty-chamber/

The Lease Advisory Service has a free legal help line so they may be able to help - you need to book the call by email so make sure you explain that it is urgent due to your imminent court hearing > https://clients.lease-advice.org/appointments.aspx

How much is the CCJ?

Di