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Hello all.
Would appreciate your time to read my situation and provide any thoughts.
Thank you…
I wanted to get a porch and driveway built on my property.
In Feb 2021, I spoke to a friend who recommended a builder (James). I checked this builder out on Checkatrade.com and the reviews were good. James’ company is on Checkatrade.com and is a Ltd company.
A few text messages with James to discuss what I was after and we agreed to do the work, but as James was busy on other jobs, he would send his brother (Kevin) to do the work instead.
Kevin starts work. I make cash payments directly to Kevin for materials. For all cash given, I receive a receipt on a printed document that is headed with James’ full name, home address and mobile phone number. James’ Ltd company name is not on the receipt.
Kevin stops turning up for work. A 2 week job has now taken over 6 weeks. Excuses and lies from Kevin. At this point, I have paid £6k in cash and have a driveway full of rubble and a shell of a porch.
I make it clear that Kevin has one final chance to complete the work. No response.
I make several attempts to contact (phone and text messages) with James about Kevin’s lack of work. There is no response.
After 8 weeks, I write a letter to James explaining the full situation and instruction to stop work as I can no longer trust Kevin to do the job. I also request James to return owed money to me (£5k).
The letter is sent by Royal Mail recorded delivery, with proof of receipt.
I get quotes from several other builders to complete the job. All builders say that the wrong type of building materials have been bought by Kevin and the workmanship is poor quality. I engage with another builder to re-do all of Kevin’s work and complete the job.
In May 2021, I start an Online Civil Money Claim (OCMC) with James. Under the section where I provide details about the Defendant, I put James’ full name, address and under “Business Name”, I put the name of James’ Ltd company.
The OCMC contains in-depth detail of everything that has happened. I have all evidence at hand.
There was no response from James against the OCMC. The judgment is ruled in my favour as the claimant (in default), dated 29 June 2021.
I receive a telephone call from Kevin. He agrees to start paying back the £5k he owes me, but can only pay £500 per month. I agree to this payment schedule.
Kevin pays me for 2 months, but then stops paying afterwards, so I am now owed £4k.
I want to progress my claim (enforcing a judgment) to continue getting my money back. The Registry Trust email me to say that they cannot enforce the judgment as it is not clear on my OCMC claim whether I am pursuing James as an individual or his business. I make it clear that it should be the individual – this is on the basis that on the receipts I have from Kevin, it is James’ name and address as an individual and not as a company.
The Registry Trust request that I complete the form N244 as my OCMC application needs amending to the correct name of the defendant. Any changes to my claim require an application for permission to ‘amend and re-serve’ the claim. There is a fee to submit the N244 form, which I am hesitant to pay.
I contact and pay for an hour of a solicitor’s time. I provide him all the details so far. His advice is to avoid completing the N244 form and to email the Registry Trust and ask them to accept a simple amendment to my OCMC form. I do this, but the response from The Registry Trust is negative – they insist that I have to complete the N244 form.
I complete the N244 form and make it clear that the defendant is James as an individual and to remove the Ltd company name. This is on 21 February 2022.
Months pass and I receive a Notice of Hearing letter from the County Court.
I attend court. The judge asks under what rule am I applying to amend and re-serve the claim. I didn’t know the answer. The judge reads out from a book the rules that might be applicable and eventually comes to the conclusion that my application to ‘amend and re-serve’ is dismissed as it did not comply with certain rules – from memory, this is to do with too much time has passed between my original OCMC form and the date of completing the N244 form.
So I am now left in my current position.
I am unable enforce a judgment as The Registry Trust are not clear who I am pursuing, but at the same time I am unable to make any changes to my original OCMC as the N244 form will fail due to a time limit passing.
Should I start over again by re-sending a new OCMC and making sure I leave out James’ company name, so it is clear that I am pursuing James as an individual?
Should I engage with the solicitor I used before to update him of the situation and get guidance of next steps?
I am also fully aware that if I continue down the legal routes of trying to get my money back, there is no guarantee that I will receive any/all my money back.
Would appreciate your time to read my situation and provide any thoughts.
Thank you…
I wanted to get a porch and driveway built on my property.
In Feb 2021, I spoke to a friend who recommended a builder (James). I checked this builder out on Checkatrade.com and the reviews were good. James’ company is on Checkatrade.com and is a Ltd company.
A few text messages with James to discuss what I was after and we agreed to do the work, but as James was busy on other jobs, he would send his brother (Kevin) to do the work instead.
Kevin starts work. I make cash payments directly to Kevin for materials. For all cash given, I receive a receipt on a printed document that is headed with James’ full name, home address and mobile phone number. James’ Ltd company name is not on the receipt.
Kevin stops turning up for work. A 2 week job has now taken over 6 weeks. Excuses and lies from Kevin. At this point, I have paid £6k in cash and have a driveway full of rubble and a shell of a porch.
I make it clear that Kevin has one final chance to complete the work. No response.
I make several attempts to contact (phone and text messages) with James about Kevin’s lack of work. There is no response.
After 8 weeks, I write a letter to James explaining the full situation and instruction to stop work as I can no longer trust Kevin to do the job. I also request James to return owed money to me (£5k).
The letter is sent by Royal Mail recorded delivery, with proof of receipt.
I get quotes from several other builders to complete the job. All builders say that the wrong type of building materials have been bought by Kevin and the workmanship is poor quality. I engage with another builder to re-do all of Kevin’s work and complete the job.
In May 2021, I start an Online Civil Money Claim (OCMC) with James. Under the section where I provide details about the Defendant, I put James’ full name, address and under “Business Name”, I put the name of James’ Ltd company.
The OCMC contains in-depth detail of everything that has happened. I have all evidence at hand.
There was no response from James against the OCMC. The judgment is ruled in my favour as the claimant (in default), dated 29 June 2021.
I receive a telephone call from Kevin. He agrees to start paying back the £5k he owes me, but can only pay £500 per month. I agree to this payment schedule.
Kevin pays me for 2 months, but then stops paying afterwards, so I am now owed £4k.
I want to progress my claim (enforcing a judgment) to continue getting my money back. The Registry Trust email me to say that they cannot enforce the judgment as it is not clear on my OCMC claim whether I am pursuing James as an individual or his business. I make it clear that it should be the individual – this is on the basis that on the receipts I have from Kevin, it is James’ name and address as an individual and not as a company.
The Registry Trust request that I complete the form N244 as my OCMC application needs amending to the correct name of the defendant. Any changes to my claim require an application for permission to ‘amend and re-serve’ the claim. There is a fee to submit the N244 form, which I am hesitant to pay.
I contact and pay for an hour of a solicitor’s time. I provide him all the details so far. His advice is to avoid completing the N244 form and to email the Registry Trust and ask them to accept a simple amendment to my OCMC form. I do this, but the response from The Registry Trust is negative – they insist that I have to complete the N244 form.
I complete the N244 form and make it clear that the defendant is James as an individual and to remove the Ltd company name. This is on 21 February 2022.
Months pass and I receive a Notice of Hearing letter from the County Court.
I attend court. The judge asks under what rule am I applying to amend and re-serve the claim. I didn’t know the answer. The judge reads out from a book the rules that might be applicable and eventually comes to the conclusion that my application to ‘amend and re-serve’ is dismissed as it did not comply with certain rules – from memory, this is to do with too much time has passed between my original OCMC form and the date of completing the N244 form.
So I am now left in my current position.
I am unable enforce a judgment as The Registry Trust are not clear who I am pursuing, but at the same time I am unable to make any changes to my original OCMC as the N244 form will fail due to a time limit passing.
Should I start over again by re-sending a new OCMC and making sure I leave out James’ company name, so it is clear that I am pursuing James as an individual?
Should I engage with the solicitor I used before to update him of the situation and get guidance of next steps?
I am also fully aware that if I continue down the legal routes of trying to get my money back, there is no guarantee that I will receive any/all my money back.
