Am I Statute Barred?

[ghamlet56]

Good evening all.

Looking for a little advice on whether an old 'debt' is statute barred or not.

I used to own a business ran in partnership, which was wound up 6 years ago.

An old creditor has recently sent a reminder letter for an invoice dated Dec 2010 (copy of invoice was enclosed in the letter), asking for a sum to be paid.

The first thing I will be doing is sending a 'prove-it' letter, and putting the onus back on them.

We ceased the services of this supplier in Sep 2010. At the same time, we disregarded and didn't acknowledge the invoice they sent us for the services provided, stating we didn't believe the invoice to be true and asked them to send us proof of the work conducted. They continued their services however for another couple of weeks.


We didn't hear back from them until Sep 2016 (over 6 years later to the calendar day), and neither did we contact them up or acknowledge any amounts owed during 6 years.

The invoice I have a copy of shows a running total up to the point we asked them to suspend services and provide proof. The copy of the invoice they sent this week, dated Dec 2010, details further services, ending at the end of Sep 2010.

Would be Statute Barred?

Also, on another note, when does the 6 year clock start ticking? Is it from invoice date? or from the date the services were provided?

Many thanks in anticipation.

[Kati]

Re: Am I Statute Barred?

tagging [MENTION=48934]Debt Camel[/MENTION] [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] xx

[CLL1]

Re: Am I Statute Barred?

I would say with a high degree of certainty that the debt is statute barred.

[Anthony72]

Re: Am I Statute Barred?

I also suspect it is statute barred

Swansea city council v Glass 1992 would be my reasoning
http://swarb.co.uk/swansea-city-coun...glass-ca-1992/
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6i5.../edit?hl=en_GB

[ghamlet56]

Re: Am I Statute Barred?

Hello everyone sorry for the late response (hectic past few months and forgot about this!) and thank you for your replies.

To update, we this week received county court papers demanding the money, with a copy of an invoice with a Jan 2011 date on. They also enclosed a copy of the original contract (can't check if it's the same as what I had as I no longer have it unfortunately).

I have found an old invoice from the creditors which shows that they invoiced regularly (the date of this invoice was 30 September 2011, with services details up to the 22nd Sep 2011).

I have 14 days from the date of service (3rd Jan) to respond.

I believe it is statute barred from what is said above and also the business was wound up in October 2010!
I am going to have a chat with a solicitor tomorrow, but in my reply I am going to simply state the debt is statute barred, referring to the above case law in anthony72's post.

On a side note, I also noticed that the creditor searched my credit file without my permission in September 2016. Should I mention this at any point?

Finally, the court papers were sent to an old address which I haven't been at for a couple of years. Does the fact that the creditors searched my credit file for my contact details give me any leverage?


Thanks in advance