Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

[bigjayce]

In 2015 I had communication from OVO energy's solicitor. they were going to take me to court but instead I signed a Tomlin Order for £50 per month which up until febuary of this year I paid without fail, in Feb I was laid off from where I work and the government in their wisdom say I don't need any form of benefit so I have been left with nothing, living off my wife.

This morning 2 Bailiffs turn up saying they are acting on a high court writ, no high court reference is listed and when I have asked for paperwork all I get back was 'you have the paperwork you're lying' I have, by my records paid over £750 of an £100 debt yet they are after £1228?

I have refused to deal with them so they sat out side for over an hour before driving off

What do I do?

[ploddertom]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

OVO must have been to Court and gained a CCJ against you. For it to be elevated to High Court for enforcement it must have been for more than £600 - then they add their fees on. You need to see when the CCJ was awarded and for how much, you also need to find out what address all paperwork has been sent to. CCJ's can be searched for @ https://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself - small fee applicable.

[bigjayce]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Thanks for the reply, I have phoned OVO - they can't speak to me and gave me the company they put it in the hands of - Credit Style - phoned them they won't speak to me and passed me to a solicitors office who basically said they wrote to me and never received a response so they went ahead with court procedings - now I never received anything at all regarding this, if I had I would have sorted it - I have done as you suggested and searched on my address which they said they sent correspondance to - no registered CCJ's - I searched on my last address - no registered CCJ's! they won't speak to me and said I have to deal with Equita who, after this morning I will not deal with !

[ploddertom]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Sounds like the usual run around. I would guess this may be a recent Judgment that might not have got on to the "system" yet. One of the reasons they tell you that you must deal with the HCEO is that if they deal with you then they can be held responsible for all the fees that are charged.

[ploddertom]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

What OVO & the Solicitor have forgotten is that they are ultimately responsible for the actions of their Agents - Equita. You have a right to copies of all paperwork - I'm guessing Equita never left anything. At the very least you should have received a Notice of Enforcement from Equita before this visit took place and that should have been received by yourself some 10 to 14 days ago. Equita do have form for delivering this by hand at the same time they visit - this is unacceptable and can render their NoE as being defective.

Did the address the Solicitor gave you the same as where you now live? Did they give you the CCJ number and how much it was for?

[Amethyst]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Could you give the court a call ? When you agreed the tomlin order the case would have been stayed, and the claimant would have needed to apply to lift the stay and obtain judgment, so the court should have record of it and be able to tell you when the judgment was made, how much for and who the contact is for it.

[bigjayce]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Process so far:
I rang Northampton Bulk office who said that this CCJ was registered in Feb this year for the amount of £1228 - now that was the original amount which between Aug 2015 and Jan 2017 when I was laid off I paid £50 per month - I have all payments on my bank statements to prove this, my records show that the amount still owing was £378, with the fees from this morning its now £1448.58 and according to the enforcement agent as he is now esculating it its added another £550 to the bill.
I was then told to ring Middlesbrough court as they were the ones dealing with it and they confirmed that the paperwork was sent to an address I havent lived at for over 2 1/2 years, I went round to see the people who took the house over after us and they said they had returned the paperwork marked - Not at This Address.

I have just put a complaint into Equita and Middlesbrough Court and am now about to fill in an N244 - hopefully as I have no income at all they can waive the fee?

Thanks for the help so far

[bigjayce]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

oh and sorry

I have had nothing at all from Equita until 7am this morning, no letters, emails nothing

[warwick65]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Could you give the court a call ? When you agreed the tomlin order the case would have been stayed, and the claimant would have needed to apply to lift the stay and obtain judgment, so the court should have record of it and be able to tell you when the judgment was made, how much for and who the contact is for it.

Wouldn't that depend on the terms of the Tomlin

I hear that some include the term of of one missed payment automatically triggers the CCJ

[Amethyst]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Still has to go through the court, and yes it depends on the terms of the Tomlin that was agreed. Ringing the court has found out some more information, which is what was needed.

Process so far:
I rang Northampton Bulk office who said that this CCJ was registered in Feb this year for the amount of £1228 - now that was the original amount which between Aug 2015 and Jan 2017 when I was laid off I paid £50 per month - I have all payments on my bank statements to prove this, my records show that the amount still owing was £378, with the fees from this morning its now £1448.58 and according to the enforcement agent as he is now esculating it its added another £550 to the bill.
I was then told to ring Middlesbrough court as they were the ones dealing with it and they confirmed that the paperwork was sent to an address I havent lived at for over 2 1/2 years, I went round to see the people who took the house over after us and they said they had returned the paperwork marked - Not at This Address.

I have just put a complaint into Equita and Middlesbrough Court and am now about to fill in an N244 - hopefully as I have no income at all they can waive the fee?

Thanks for the help so far

When you had the original claim and signed the Tomlin, that was in August 2015? and you lived at the address where the judgment was registered then ?
Did you inform the claimant that you had moved address?

As you signed a Tomlin order, the terms of which we don't know but presumably it was quite standard - claim stayed while you make payments @ £50 month, if you fail on a payment the claim is reinstated and judgment applied for, anyway, as you signed a Tomlin order allowing for judgment if you failed on the payments it is going to be unlikely you will get the judgment set-aside. You might be better filing an N245 form asking to vary the order ( it is likely it was a forthwith order as it was bringing the terms of the Tomlin into play) - the N245 will also suspend the warrant, and you'll be requesting the court orders affordable payments based on your income and expenditure.

HOWEVER, there is also the issue of the judgment being made and enforcement being attempted for the full amount originally owed, of which you have paid £900 or so since the Tomlin was agreed. When they filed for judgment it should have been for the amount of the claim less payments made so I wonder if a N244 application ( eligible for fee remission?) for varying the order to the original amount less the amount paid and then to vary to installments, and suspending the warrant would be a route to take? Not sure if you can do that without setting aside first.. and I think that depends whether you informed the other party of your change of address.

[bigjayce]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Thanks for the reply, but complicated but - the Tomlin order was raised at my previous address which wasn't the address the paperwork was sent to, everything was done by email, I have just dug it out and looked at it but it was definately raised two addresses ago, it's not signed by the other side either - not sure if that changes anything but it's signed by me. When I rang OVO to let them know I had been laid off they asked me to confirm my address, I gave them my current address and they asked if I had moved, I said yes and gave them the dates I moved.
I've handed an N244 in to Middlesbrough court - does this suspend things ? if so who do I let know and what actions do I take ?

[ploddertom]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

What have you applied for?

[bigjayce]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

The CCJ to be set aside due to it being for an incorrect amount and sent to the wrong address when they had a record of me changing it

[Amethyst]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Thanks for the reply, but complicated but - the Tomlin order was raised at my previous address which wasn't the address the paperwork was sent to, everything was done by email, I have just dug it out and looked at it but it was definately raised two addresses ago, it's not signed by the other side either - not sure if that changes anything but it's signed by me. When I rang OVO to let them know I had been laid off they asked me to confirm my address, I gave them my current address and they asked if I had moved, I said yes and gave them the dates I moved.
I've handed an N244 in to Middlesbrough court - does this suspend things ? if so who do I let know and what actions do I take ?

Did you ask to suspend the warrant in your application?

Sounds like OVO ( or whoever they palmed the debt off to) had no reason to use that old address - so you should be okay - did you complete the Ex160 for fee remission as well?

If you have the Tomlin order it could help to post it up, check what the terms were with regard obtaining judgment.

[ploddertom]

Re: Equita knocking on the door at 7am this morning

Thanks for that.

Earlier on it was said "- the N245 will also suspend the warrant,", unfortunately in this case it will not happen. This is a High Court Writ and the only way to stop this is to apply for a Stay of Execution against the Writ, the grounds being the Writ was issued in error as the original CCJ had failed to take into consideration prior payments - meaning it was below the £600 threshold.

With cases like your own the most important matter to deal with is the HCEO because as they have a High Court Writ it is superior to all other County Court applications. Only by applying for and being granted a Stay will they be withdrawn. In your case the application has to be seen as urgent and I would suggest you make another application in person at the Court, although I haven't checked I would be pretty sure that Middlesbrough does act as a District Registry of the High Court. It will also need another EX160 application to waive the fees. When making the application you tell the counter clerk the application is urgent and hopefully a Judge will hear your case almost immediately.