Tweet
Let me firstly outline what has happened. We had a new driveway laid and new garage, this drive was laid as part of a new shared drive with a new house which had been built next door. after the drive had been laid we notice a lot of surface water and drainage problems at the rear of our new garage. The garage was full of damp, (almost 2 yrs on it is still damp) It turned out that due to the builders neglet a mains water pipe had broken under ground, thus flooding under the garage and driveway. The builder will not admit this is his fault. Our driveway has shown signs of sagging in places. The builder landed us with a bill for the drive and garage. We were not happy with the damp and damage due to the water problem, so sent him payment for the garage only. A week later the cheque was returned to us, the builder saying he wanted paying in full, not part payment. Now this is when things started to get out of hand. We were taken to court and ordered to pay 200 per month until the debt was cleared. We came to a point where we could not afford the repayments, as (My partner who is mentally unstable, and sufferes anxiety and panic attacks frequently, I have to stay at home with him to care for him 24/7 due to his health) we also have 5 children, so money is very tight. We completed the relevant court forms to reduce the amount we were repaying. It went back to court yesterday, where the judge was very understanding and tried to point the builder in the direction of accepting our reasonable offer, or he could put a charge on our house so that if or when we sell he will get his money. We are a large family, and do not have any savings or assests. I have a people carrier which is not worth much, but this is needed to transport the children to and from school and for me to go grocery shopping. We dont have a lavish life style, with my partners illness I can not go far for very long, as he needs care 24 hours a day. Anyway, the builder kept pushing the judge to enforce a bailiff to gain his money. A few years back we came into a little money and with the help from my brother in law purchased a motorhome, for which he is part owner (we do have between us a paper which is dated and signed by both owners confirming this, But my partners name is named on the V5. Now the builder knows we have this, however it is parked and stored elsewhere than our home address (the builder has no knoweldge of this or its location) But he is solely after this motorhome. If he instructs a bailiff to take this, can the bailiff take it if it is part owned and if he has no knowledge of its whereabouts? I am getting to a point where I am terrified as I do not know my rights. The judge even said to the builder during our court appointment that his actions were unreasonable. I have nothing of value at all in my home, only basic essentials, I have a TV but old style large box TV nothing as lavish as an lcd, flat screen. Sofas, old pine dinner table, a pc that the children use for their homework, as my eldist is doing her GCSE coursework, and much of their homework is online based to the school, so that the teachers know if they have infact completed their homework. and as mentioned before a people carrier to transport my children to and from school and nursery. My partner has his work tools stored in his garage, but I understand that a bailiff can not take work equipment, is this right? All in all, I am asking if he would have the right to take the motorhome even though it is part owned with someone else? And not kept at our home address. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my story, but to date, the builder made promises to fix all the problems we have had with the driveway and drainage, but has done nothing.
Loading...
-
Tags: None -
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
Try not to worry too much, the Judge cannot instruct a Bailiff. However your Claimant has several for enforcement all of which can be contested anyway. He may go for a Warrant of Execution which costs £100 and is added to your debt, this instucts the County Court Bailiff to call and seize goods. He contacts you as to when he is coming and despite anything he may say you do not have to allow him access to your home.
If the debt is for more than £600 then he could transfer the Judgment to the High Court for enforcement & instruct a High Court Enforcement Officer. Different person this as you get no prior warning of a visit but again as long as he is denied entry he can do very little. -
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
Thank you for that, so am I right in assuming, if I do not answer my door, he can not do anything? I had read somewhere that a bailiff can bring along police to enter the premises to seize goods, is this right? Also what happens if I do nothing, never answer the door for example? The debt is for five thousand pounds. If the bailiff could not gain entry to our house, what would happen next? Would it go back to court and he have the option of accepting a monthly payment or a charge on our house agian (which he declined previous, I assume he would be pushed to accept one of these? How would I go about contesting, should a bailiff be instructed? I feel we have done everything within the law, and offered him a reasonable affordable amount, even offered for him to put a charge on our home, what else can I do if he will not accept these? Would it help my case to write to the court explaining the case again, with my feelings of the claimants unfairness, as his application for enforcement should go before the judge to either say yes, or no, then when our file is reviewed by the judge he could review my opinion. Also, going back to the motorhome that is shared ownership, could that ever be taken? Sorry for all these questions, but this is the first time I have had to go through such a truma like this!! Thank you for your help.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
What puzzles me is how this builder obtained a CCJ when he was in breach of his contract with you and in breach of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 by failing to exercise reasonable care and skill and has done absolutely nothing to rectify the damage he caused through his failure to exercise reasonable care and skill. Something is very wrong here.Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
I'm with you on this one and can only assume that the OP possibly did not know they could counterclaim.Originally posted by bluebottle View PostComment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
When the original CCJ was obtained did you acknowledge service of it? Did you defend the action? Did you attend the Hearing?Comment
-
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
Thank you for all that, it is certainly food for thought. You mentioned counterclaim, could I counterclaim this far down the line? We dont have much spare money and the thought never crossed my mind to involve a solicitor, is it too late to find a solicitor? I did attend the hearings, but when I put across to he judge that damages have been caused by his neglet, the judge told me, that this is not relevant due to us owing the builder the money, which when I walked away thought was very unfair, as the reason we have not paid him, is due to not only the damage, but the amount of money it is going to cost me to replace items, ie. We had the garage built as I am looking to start a business running from home as I can not leave home easily and have a young family. So my garage was to be used as an office, it was furnished with desks, computers printers ect... and in the line of work I was starting, the computers did have fairly expensive software and hardware in the computers. Consequently, due to the damp, office chairs started to be coated in mould, and my computers (2 of them) blew up upon turning them on, I feel very angry. This builder was aware of the excessive water for a period of weeks before he finally visited the property (all of this is documented in letters to and fro from him and myself) He had promised to to in place a soak away, seal the garage doors which were letting in water, and fix a security light which was not working that he fitted. My partner has carried out a few bits of work, however, the drive is still sinking, as there is a fence down the middle of the drive and you can see the movement in the ground, by the way the fence is sitting and looks like the fence is coming apart in places. We have around 100 photographs of the driveway when wet, where water is left sitting, and pictures of the fence where you can see that there has been movement. The new build which he carried out has a water meter out in the driveway, and upon inspecting it after he had turnned the watermains off, 350 thousand units of water had been used. Now this was purely what had dispursed underground, as water for the build was used from our property, and as the house had no residents at the time, this prooves that this amount of water had leaked. We even have confirmation from Anglian water that there was a leak at the time, as we called them out to check what was going on. We have plenty of evidence, to back up a case, but can not afford to take him to court, as I know people like this always come up smelling of roses!! and I can not afford to loose all that money and still end up having to pay him.
One more question, should he apply for enforcement action, could we call the court to find out what the descsion would be, if the judge agrees to this action.
Thank you once again.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
The CCJ was not issued until 1 year after the original court hearing, this was because it was an oversight on the courts behalf!! also when I went to court this week, the judge came to the hearing but had no file on the case as this had been missplaced!! however the claimant brought a file along with all his copies of his relevant paperwork!! which I also feel is unacceptable!Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
Did you receive any paperwork from this builder prior to the case? It is a legal requirement that copies of ALL evidence the claimant intends to rely on is provided to the defendant. If not, the claimant cannot use it in court or may be prevented from using it in court on the grounds of non-disclosure. From what you have posted, I am surprised you have not counter-claimed against him for Breach of Contract and breaching the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
Is it too late to counterclaim now?Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
If you are on a limited income your local Law Centre or Community Legal Service (CLS) office should be able to answer that question for you. Law Centres and the CLS provide free or very low-cost legal advice/assistance.Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
All I have from the builder is, an invoice, then a payment reminder, then a letter from his solicitor asking for payment, in between i have copies of our letters to him regarding the damage and the returned cheque he sent back to me, as he wanted payment for the garage and driveway, as I was only happy to send payment for what I was happy with at the time. And then he stopped repliying to our letters and it went to court. After I couldnt afford his repayments, I wrote to him personally explaining my partners health, and my finiancial situation, he never responded, so I applied for the relevant forms from the court, to reduce the amount I can repay, he wouldnt accept this in court, hence me awaiting a knock on the door which I can onloy assume will now be from a HCEO! I am trying to do alot of research online, in order for me to now locate a solicitor to help me. I dont know which way to go from here.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
Just to get it clear:
1) You had a garage and a new drive built two years ago. During the build the water pipe has been damaged and still leaking?
2) You requested that builder repairs the damage.
3) You offered to pay for the garage.
4) He refused your offer and demanded the full payment.
5) He went to court and obtained a judgement against you
6) You were unable to keep up with payments
7) He wants to appoint bailiffs
Things I can't understand - during original case did you defend it? If YES, did you mention faulty works? Also, did the court see all communications between you and your builder?
I think that CAB appointment is a must, but don't despair, there are a few things you can try.Comment
-
Re: Bailiff Advice Please
1) You had a garage and a new drive built two years ago. During the build the water pipe has been damaged and still leaking? Not leaking now
2) You requested that builder repairs the damage. Yes, before I was willing to pay (I never had any quotes either, even though they were requested on several accasions)
3) You offered to pay for the garage. Yes, I sent him a cheque for this work, which he returned (I still have the cheque in my file)
4) He refused your offer and demanded the full payment. Yes
5) He went to court and obtained a judgement against you Yes
6) You were unable to keep up with payments Yes, so I wrote to him, got no response, so completed relevant court fourms to reduce the payments to a more magable amount
7) He wants to appoint bailiffs Yes, as he is aware we part own a motorhome with someone else
Yes we tried to deffend it in court, but the judge told us, that it would be another case if the works were faulty, (which we simply can not afford to do at this moment in time, especially if he wins the case.) The judge did not want to know about the faulty work, he was not on our side.
What else can I try?
I have tried calling the local CAB for 2 days and its been engadged constant!!Comment
Comment