taking friend to small claims court

[monkeymagic717]

Alot of you seem to be fairly knowledgable in the legal field. i am wishing to take a friend to court over payments he should have made to me for a loan and car by dec 2006. he after a year of not paying anything, has TOLD me hes going to pay me 100 quid a month. he as of today still owes me 1300 pounds. he today signed a receipt saying that he should have paid me by dec 06 and still owes me 1300 pounds. he after last 4 months of claiming he couldnt afford to pay me the money back in total and various other lies and also telling me that if i did take it to a small claims court he would pay me 20 quid a month has now bought i believe a fairly new convertible bmw! what chance do i have if i did take him to a small claims court and also of getting the total amount back or at least getting him to pay large monthly payments.

[Jeff2000]

Hi monkeymagic,


If you have good evidence that you loaned your friend an amount of money, then you should stand a reasonable chance of winning a claim in the County Court.

as far as any payments awarded, this would depend on your friends ability to pay. He/She would need to show the court how much available funds they had left after paying all other monthly bills etc. (Income and expenditure sheet).

Before you start a claim against your friend, I strongly suggest that you firstly send a written preliminary request for the outstanding amount, giving at least 14 days to settle or come to some repayment arrangement. If there is no answer or no agreement by this time, you can then send a letter before action, giving another 14 days to come to some arrangement or you will begin litigation.

Hope this helps a little.


Jeff.

[buzby]

However, did you draw up a contract explaining you were loaning him the money and required repayments of X amount? It can be very difficult if it was an informal arrangement. He could counter that there was no agreement, it was a gift - all sorts of things that would make it difficult to collect.

[Stillborn Crisps]

The signed receipt saying he still owes £1300 may go some way to showing that it wasn't a gift. It is a tricky one though, and it could take 3 months or more to sort through court if he wants to play up.

[Jeff2000]

These are the sort of claims that the small claims court was intended for!

[sequenci]

as well as a moneyclaim you could scare them by sending a statutory demand for bankruptcy.

[monkeymagic717]

If you have good evidence that you loaned your friend an amount of money, then you should stand a reasonable chance of winning a claim in the County Court.

as far as any payments awarded, this would depend on your friends ability to pay. He/She would need to show the court how much available funds they had left after paying all other monthly bills etc. (Income and expenditure sheet).

[quote]

surely him signing the reciept stating that he should have piad by dec is proof enough?

he admitted to me he just got a pay rise through his job and if my calculations are right, he earns over 1100 quid per month after tax. he lives in a brand new home with his wife, which he told me ISNT in his name but just his wifes. surely him paying x amount for that new car is a luxury item which he could do without?

[monkeymagic717]

Originally Posted by buzby

However, did you draw up a contract explaining you were loaning him the money and required repayments of X amount? It can be very difficult if it was an informal arrangement. He could counter that there was no agreement, it was a gift - all sorts of things that would make it difficult to collect.

is the fact that he still owes me that amount and he should have paid it by dec for a car and loan as stated on the reciept not in my favour?

[monkeymagic717]

Originally Posted by sequenci

as well as a moneyclaim you could scare them by sending a statutory demand for bankruptcy.

what would that do?

[marcelle]

monkey

OMG this is EXACTLY what happened to me!!!!!

Unfortunately, my court case has been going on for 8 months now simply because the bailiff has to issue the hearing papers for Order for Oral Examination to her personally.... that is where the hold up has been in my case. My ex-friend is either never around or doesn't answer the door when the bailiff has to issue the papers so after 3 tries, I have to issue another Order and that takes about 1.5 months or so. In the end, I had to speak to the court about days when the defendant will be in their homes and request that the bailiffs go at that time. However, it's still not happened as my bailiffs are always ill and it seems no-one else can do the job. I'm fuming but still adamant.

With the receipt your 'friend' gave you, this should be enough to prove it wasn't a gift and if you are willing to go the court route and strike this person out as your friend (as I did mine although I did think long and hard about it but thought oh well one friend less in place of my money is not a bad thing) then go for it!
As Jeff said, write a prelim letter stating what your requirements are and if you don't get it you will be taking him to small claims court. Then if he doesn't answer within 2 weeks, fill in your N1 form and attach a photocopy of that receipt and anything else you have as evidence then after the court has processed your claim and sent him his pack with your N1 attached, wait for his call to you - that should be interesting! Good Luck

[tomterm8]

Originally Posted by marcelle

monkey

OMG this is EXACTLY what happened to me!!!!!

Unfortunately, my court case has been going on for 8 months now simply because the bailiff has to issue the hearing papers for Order for Oral Examination to her personally.... that is where the hold up has been in my case. My ex-friend is either never around or doesn't answer the door when the bailiff has to issue the papers so after 3 tries, I have to issue another Order and that takes about 1.5 months or so. In the end, I had to speak to the court about days when the defendant will be in their homes and request that the bailiffs go at that time. However, it's still not happened as my bailiffs are always ill and it seems no-one else can do the job. I'm fuming but still adamant.

Get the papers back and hire a private process server. They're RUTHLESS

[tomterm8]

Originally Posted by sequenci

as well as a moneyclaim you could scare them by sending a statutory demand for bankruptcy.

And I thought you were nice:o

Gee... if he owns the home too, you could always follow up with the bankruptcy petition

[sequenci]

Originally Posted by monkeymagic717

what would that do?

probably scare the hell out of them.

[tomterm8]

It is the first step to making your friend bankrupt http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/gu...rcreditors.pdf


here is the form: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/forms/6-1.pdf

Get it served by a commercial process server.



(It is a nasty thing to do, however)

[monkeymagic717]

i did offer him the chance to repay me back in full but he has refused, indeed i have text messages from him telling me to lets take it to court, as whoever has given him advice seems to think he only has to say certain things to pay even less than he does at the minute!

even when i've given him opportunities until a month ago, he just text back abuse. now i've told him that he will be getting a letter to his workplace as he refused to give me his home address, he again sent similar text messages. he either doesnt think it will happen or he will win.

unlucky marcell it drives me mad that people cant commit to stuff. the person in question for me should NEVER have taken the money without repaying it. he seems to think as people owe him money i should wait and why should i? he shouldnt be lending others money without paying me back. he bought a new house few years ago, a fairly new car and seems to think he can do what he wants. i even hinted that i would discuss his other activities such as selling weed if i have to, if he's going to mess me about.

[monkeymagic717]

thanks everyone for your advice so far, much appreciated