Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Hello and thank you for reading my thread.

Today I received an interim charging order from Liverpool Victoria Insurance for the sum of £6,600. This goes back to a personal injury claim, where LV were defending their client against my claim for injury. Long story short, my evidence had been flawed, nothing to do with the claim itself, but in a nutshell my solicitors recommended we withdraw the claim due to credibility issues. I took his advice and shortly after I received a bill from my solicitors for their time etc., which I paid. I was told at the time that I may or may not get a bill from LV, this would depend on how confident they were of getting any money from me, at the time I thought it ironic that my solicitors asked for their money straightaway and the other solicitors may not even ask for a penny.

This happened in December 2014, I had heard nothing from my solicitors and nothing from LV or its legal team, LV were completely aware of my address as my solicitors had given it to them, plus they would have had it in the legal papers before the hearing. I was prepared to pay the fee if and when I received their bill, but as I say for ten months nothing arrived, So today the interim order came through with a hearing set for December. This has completely devastated my credit rating from five stars to one (my mortgage is up for renewal in the next six months and this rating will effect that. I had no correspondence at all and didn't know for certain if they would even ask me for any money. Can a company just do this without warning?

Any help on this would be most useful, BTW I got back in touch with my solicitors and so far they have managed to avoid my calls and emails

Thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

To obtain a charging order, there must be a CCJ in place. Have you checked your credit file or trust online at all ? If not I would do so. Actually is there a claim number on the paperwork from the court ? You could call the court and ask them where this has come from as you have had no communication prior to receiving this hearing order.

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

Hello Amethyst

thank you for looking over my thread

i use checkmyfile every month, my rating last month was 958 five stars, I checked again today after receiving the letter and it was down to 440' one star, so unless a CCJ was obtained and the order within the month, then no CCJ has been lodged. Regardless, surely I should have been issued with some paperwork to advise me of their intention? This action has happened completely without my knowledge and could mean not being able to remortgage my home, or having to pay a high rate as I will be classed as a high risk

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

Yes you should have had something before now.

Was there a costs order against you from the PI claim maybe? what stage were you at when you withdrew ?

Might help if you can scan in/photo the hearing notice and post it up ( minus personal details).

Have you had anything from the land registry ?

I think you might need to give LV a call to find out exactly what is going on.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

mmm I wonder if LV have been communicating with your solicitors who dealt with the PI claim that are blanking you now... could explain why you have heard nothing.

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

I had just penned a reply to your previous quote, but seem to have lost it... We were at the hearing when we withdrew, there was a lot of discussion going on between the two barristers and the judge, all of which was directed at them not me. My chap didn't hang around, it was the 23rd December and he had a long journey back to London.
A got a bill from my solicitors for their costs, I did contest it to start with, only because the barrister told me if we withdrew, I would only be responsible for the third parties costs, in the end we agreed to a lesser amount and I paid it on a credit card. I had asked many times about the other parties invoice and was told that I may not even get pursued for it, that this would depend on how confident they were of getting anything from me. After six months I must admit, I thought that they had just written it off.
I had not had anything from Land Registry, LV, its solicitors, or the solicitors I had used, nothing at all! It would be useful to mention that the order came from my solicitors and not directly from the court, again this surprises me as they had already told LV that they were no longer dealing with this case. Ive asked for details about who to contact, but as yet my solicitors are not forthcoming with any info.
So if it turns out my solicitors had the correspondence and failed to pass it on, do I have any redress?

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

That explains why there's no CCJ showing. A costs order should have been sent out by the court following the hearing - that would have gone to your solicitor. You should ask them for a copy now and a copy of your full file, and you should make a complaint directly to the solicitor.

Then you can make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman who can order very limited redress, You should also make a complaint to the SRA as I think it would be covered under a breach of principle 4 ( act in the best interests of each client ). Sadly there isn't much that can be done to fix this - the costs are due and payable within 14 days of the judgment ordering them and LV are enforcing that judgment.

First thing is to stop this interim charging order becoming a final charging order. This means negotiating with LV - you'll need to get in touch and tell them your solicitor failed to pass any documents on to you following the hearing - are you still in a position to pay i full ? Or attempt to come to an agreement for installment payments. The interim charging order is a temporary measure to basically stop you selling the house while waiting for the hearing to turn it to a final charging order - so if you pay it can just be removed and your credit file should go back to normal. You might need to have a conversation with the CRA's though to check that it is this interim order that is affecting your file.

I'd try talking to them first ask them to withdraw the interim order on the basis of settling the costs. If they won't then you will need to prepare for the hearing.

You will need a witness statement detailing from the point of the hearing and laying out your offer to sort out the costs debt with LV.

Also - going into a claim for PI all the way to a hearing and withdrawing at the hearing is always going to land you with costs. So you should look at that, was your solicitor at fault ? was this a local solicitor you know or a big PI firm ? were you on a CFA / no win no fee arrangement ? Check that you were actually due to pay your solicitors costs, and if not that can be included in your complaint.

If your solicitor did actually inform LV he was no longer instructed then they should have communicated directly with you thereafter - but if he hasn't passed you letters and orders I think its likely he never informed LV.

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

It turns out that the other solicitor had sent the costs through to my solicitors on the 12th January 2015, I have been charged interest at 8% and costs to submit the court papers. I had been in contact with my solicitors right up until June and at no point had they informed me that there was an amount outstanding, therefore I had been blissfully unaware of what was going on.

I emailed mine yesterday to get some answers, incidentally they are a quite a large player in PI (Bollin Legal, now Amanda Cunliffe), I received a response today saying that I had been informed at the hearing what was outstanding, this is an absolute untruth and goes against what I was told by Bollin on the 17th January, which was they hadn't received a bill and that I may never get pursued by them.

The third party has, like you suggested I write in and complain, which I will. However, when I made an offer to settle, the file worker said he would speak with her client and get back to me. Sure enough she did about an hour later, she said that because I was going to complain and possibly use the Ombudsman, and if my complaint is upheld, Bollin Legal may be liable for the entire amount, so if they accept a reduced payment from me, that could impact on what they could claim from Bollin.

Whilst I fully understand why they have done this, I was keen to get this cleared up before it went to court on the 18th December, get this judgement satisfied and try and clear my credit file, it just seems like Im being penalised for my solicitors incompetence as I will be responsible for the additional costs incurred at the hearing on top of £400 of interest

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

I would get your complaint underway with Bollin Legal ( or Amanda Cunliffe - whichever it was at the time ) the SRA and the Legal Ombudsman.

You need to do a witness statement to file and serve prior to the final charging order hearing - this will need to be reasons why the charging order should not be made final.

I would also get back on to to LV and ask if they would accept the reduced payment now and installment payments for the rest while your complaint goes through the ombudsman against Bollin if they ditch the charging order. That way they will get the full amount regardless of whether your complaint succeeds. Not ideal but your priority is your credit file and your mortgage renewal.

[MENTION=551]pt2537[/MENTION]

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

Bollin had a decision against them by the LeO last year

	Bollin Legal Associates Ltd	1	1
Litigation 309329 05/11/2014 To waive unpaid fees,To pay compensation for emotional impact and/or disruption caused,To pay compensation of a specified amount for loss suffered £10,000 - £14,999 Failure to advise

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

Thank you Amethyst you have been marvellous!


I have just finished my letter which I have emailed to Bollin, I have given them 7 days as of 30th to respond, I've threatened them with the Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority if they don't give me a satisfactory response. I have also asked that if I do take this further that I would want all correspondence they have on file, including telephone calls (theyre recorded) and emails.

LV have said they would accept my offer as full and final, but that they wont until the Ombudsman has made their decision, and of course this could be weeks off before that happens. I need someway of getting them to drop the interim, accept my payment as a sort of side payment, and then have me continue with the case and Bollin, but they are just not prepared to do that.. It has really got me upset and so stressed

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

How much off of the full amount did you offer? Is it worth offering the full amount ( if you can of course ) and then try and obtain compensation from Bollin via the LeO if necessary ?

You can, I believe, include that you offered X in your Witness Statement to argue why the court shouldn't grant the final charging order ( so long as you aren't having a without prejudice conversation with LV ).

That is very frustrating I agree, had you not mentioned the problem with Bollin then LV would have accepted the F&F offer. Not fair at all.

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

that looks encouraging at least I know their inability to advise isn't just isolated to me then. On the CRA file, it says that the order will stay on file for six years even if settled, so I really don't know what impact that will have, but six years of bad credit at my age is not a good thing at all...

[Youcouldntmakeitup]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

I could pay the full amount, I offered just over half the money (£3,500). My intention is to show that I acted promptly as soon as I knew about the money, I had emailed Bollin/Cunliffe on the same day and also made contact with the third party, making an offer that was accepted. I'm also hoping that by then the case will be in the hands of the Ombudsman which I would hope goes some way to prove their wrong doing.
Im trying to be positive, I suppose there is no point in being anything else, but again many thanks for your support in this matter.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi everyone - new member in need of advice please Interim Charging Order

that looks encouraging at least I know their inability to advise isn't just isolated to me then. On the CRA file, it says that the order will stay on file for six years even if settled, so I really don't know what impact that will have, but six years of bad credit at my age is not a good thing at all...

Include that as part of the complaint - and the LeO should order it to be removed from the CRA as you were willing and able to pay it at the time but your solicitor ferked up - do you want to send me a screen shot of just that entry on your file just to check what it is?