Hi Thanks for the message, as the hearing is due to take place tomorrow, I dont want to post the order for all to see, but Im happy to email it to you, cant add an attachment on the email system here tho.

bump!

WOOOOOOOOOOO!! Received a call from Welcomes solicitors today (Young and Pearce) I had a succesful appeal hearing in August, and my retrial was set for next week. Now Welcome have decided that it will not be cost effective to pursue the matter and have drafted a consent order for me to sign which sets aside the judgement, removes it from the rigister, dismisses any future claim and cancels the attachment of earnings order, obviously this means all I have paid to date under that order will be repaid to me. All I have to do is sign and return which I will do tomoro by fax. The only condition is that there be no claim for costs, which I can live with if it means the whole sorry mess is put to bed. I dont believe for one minute that their reasons for not pursuing it are down to cost, I would like to think I have made such a good case over the last year that now its facing retrial, they realise its not going to go their way! So... I now am in the Welcome Won Club, well once the court stamps the order. Thanks guys for all your help on this! Nick

I have a similar problem. We moved into our rented new build 16 months ago. We rang the council who said the property was awaiting banding. So i rang the VOA and they confirmed it was in their "to do" list, by referencing the plot number. They also confirmed the correct postal address. That was 16 months ago. Still no bill and the property is not listed on the VOA website. All other houses on the street are!! Does anyone know if and when the banding is completed that the council can backdate the tax or is it only from the date of banding.

yeah I have just been on the phone trying to arrange one. I take it there is always a right to appeal in these cases? Thanks for all your help so far, I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw the Judges name on the sheet in court.

Just had the hearing, got the same Judge as last time. He has dismissed the application, saying that there is not enough evidence to suggest I would have a successful defense in a claim, and more importantly to him, that it was not made promtly. He made reference to the Data Protection Act and said that he was not in a position, or was his court, to make comment on that!!! What???????? In a word. Gutted.

Hope this opens ok..... I have included costs way back from the beginning when I got the AOE Notice. I presume this is correct as it all relates to the case. Costs Schedule.doc

Ok thats a great help, I will post it as soon as I have it prepared, probably this evening. Thanks again

oh and I got a copy of the cleared cheque from the bank today which was sent with the SAR, it has my name scribbled on the back along with some kind of reference number so I will be submitting that to the court as proof they did receive and process my request, they just chose to ignore their obligations and did not forward anything to me!

Just wondering, obviously Welcome would be expected to submit any info, such as agreement and sale price of the car etc, in advance of the hearing next week. But what about the original papers that were served for the Judgement, and any evidence thay had in order to obtain the judgement? The court did not want me to have this from them. would be nice to see them!

Brilliant legalpickle, I will try and remember tomorrow! I'm dealing with redundancies at work too (as Union Rep) so my head is spinning of late! I thought I would have more time but the quicker the better I guess. Hopefully Welcome will have no info such as original agreements etc. The amounts paid so far is easy to calculate, I will also get a print out from the wages dept at work to verify this. And Postggj - I very much hope to be in that club soon! I really did'nt realise this was happenin on such a large scale!

Got letter back from courts this morning, a hearing is set for 23 January. Here we go!! Apart from the costs, is there anything else I need to do to prepare for this? I think everything is covered... Just not sure what you can include when claiming costs. ?? Thanks

Thanks again. I take your comments on board and will try to be more helpful, but I'm sure you will appreciate that this is all new and slightly daunting too, so apologies if I am making it hard work at times. Just a question about the 8% interest. Is this standard practice?

AMENDMENT TO POINT 11 b above b) Has not provided evidence that I owe the debt they allege that I owe, preventing me from making this application as promptly as the court would like.

Thanks for the help again. ok here is what I have... Evidence in Support Of Application for Case Number xxxxxx 1. When I entered into arrears on the Hire Purchase Agreement due to financial difficulties, I spoke to the finance company - Welcome Finance - to see if they could assist me in my difficult situation. Initially they were very unaccommodating, insisting at times that if payment was not personally made at the Norwich office by close of business that day, they would visit my home to collect the vehicle to which the finance relates. Although I believed this to be outside of the provisions made under the agreement, I felt very intimidated and had to forgo priority payments to meet their demands, which only worsened my financial situation. Later on another answer of Welcome Finance was to provide me with a second loan to run alongside the Hire Purchase Agreement to clear the arrears. I feel that this was negligent, irresponsible and possibly unlawful. 2. In September 2005, the vehicle was repossessed by Welcome Finance. Those who repossessed the vehicle provided me with no paperwork whatsoever. The only way I know it was them was due to their ID. 3. On 15th October 2008 I sent a written Subject Access Request, otherwise known as a Data Protection Disclosure Demand to Welcome Finance, so that I could find out all information relating to me that is on their files. This was confirmed received on 16th October 2008 and the cheque payment for the Subject Access Request cleared my account on 30th October 2008. As of today I have yet to receive the response. 4. No settlement figure was ever agreed between myself & Welcome Finance. Neither was I ever informed of the sale price of the vehicle, or provided with any evidence of the sale price. 5. I received absolutely no communication from Welcome Finance whilst I was residing at the address I originally dealt with them from. I moved from this address 8 months later. I did not give them my new address, as I logically assumed that after 8 months since the repossession, with no communication whatsoever, the matter was closed. 6. Interestingly enough, the year after I moved from the original address I dealt with Welcome Finance from, I received a forwarded letter from Welcome Finance offering me a loan dated March 2006! This was the only correspondence I received from Welcome in over 3 years. I still have this and have brought a copy to the Court today. 7. From calling the Court Office, I have been made aware that the proceedings that resulted in the Attachment of Earnings for which we are in this Court today, were issued in April 2008 and that the claim was allegedly sent to the original address where the agreement was with Welcome Finance. It is worth noting that I did write on the agreement with Welcome Finance the details of my place of work and contact number at work. I have been in the same job for the past 12 years, so it would have been easy for Welcome Finance to reach me. 8. I have also been made aware from the Court Office that some papers were served at another address - an address I have never resided at or had any connection to - in August 2008. I consider this a material breach of the Data Protection Act. 9. It has also been advised to me by the Court Office that when I did not respond to the Statement of Means - which I never received - they sent the Court Bailiff to enforce this. No contact or communication of any sort was made to me by the Court Bailiff. 10. The first piece of communication that I received on this matter was a N60 - Order for Attachment of Earnings - set at an amount that I cannot afford. I was told by the Court Office that the Statement of Means & Bailiff were allegedly sent to my present address, but for some reason, I did not receive the Statement of Means or any communication from the Bailiff. 11. In conclusion, I contend that the Claimant: a) Did not serve the claim form on me at my correct address. b) Has not provided evidence that I owe the debt they allege that I owe. c) Delayed dealing with the issue for an unreasonable length of time. d) Terminated the agreement by repossessing the vehicle from me. *****NOT SURE IF I NEED THE PART BELOW....?? I therefore respectfully request from the Court to: a) Suspend the Attachment of Earnings order immediately. b) Order that the County Court Judgment against me be erased from the Register of Judgments held by Registry Trust Limited immediately. c) Order that the costs the Claimant has incurred in trying to enforce the debt be the sole responsibility of the Claimant, due to their obvious abuse of procedural rules. d) Order that the Claimant supply to me copies of the Hire Purchase Agreement entered into, evidence of the sale of the vehicle and the price it was sold and all other relevant documents as well as - if they intend to pursue this court claim - a Letter Before Legal Action detailing the reasons and the basis of their intended claim within 28 days OR Confirmation that they discontinue this Claim and that they agree that I have no liabilities to them within 28 days. e) If the Claimant wishes to pursue their claim, order that the Claimant re-issue their Particulars of Claim - which I have not received - with all relevant information to my correct address more than 21 days after the supply of the documents detailed in (e) above, and no later than 28 days from that date. f) If the claim is to proceed, then it will proceed pursuant to the usual court procedure, allowing me 28 days from the date of receipt of the claim to file a defence. g) If the Claimant does not provide me with the documents detailed in (d) above the Claimant is refused the right to issue any similar claim against myself in the future relating to this matter and the matter will be deemed closed, and all monies paid by myself under the existing Attachment of Earnings Order be refunded. The Applicant [Defendant] believes that all the facts stated in this document are true: Signed: ______________________ Date: 6th January 2009 THEN THE DRAFT ORDER.... IN THE NORWICH COUNTY COURT CLAIM NO.: XXXXXXXXXX BETWEEN: WELCOME FINANIAL LIMITED CLAIMANT / RESPONDENT -AND- MR XXXXXXXX DEFENDANT / APPLICANT --------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLICANT'S PROPOSED DRAFT ORDER --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before DISTRICT JUDGE ……………… sitting at Norwich Combined Court, The Law Courts, Bishopgate, Norwich. It is ordered that; 1. The Attachment of Earnings against the Applicant is suspended with immediate effect. 2. The Judgment against the Applicant is Set Aside with immediate effect. 3. The Applicant is awarded costs in making this Application summarily assessed at £...:...* to be paid by the Respondent within 14 days. 4. It is noted that the Respondent has not abided by the rules of the Data Protection Act in not disclosing the information requested by the Applicant with a Subject Access Request. On this basis their claim is hereby dismissed and they are refused the right to reissue this claim. WHAT ABOUT POINT 3? How much do i put in here. Just the amount paid under the AOE ??

ok thanks for your input guys... I am sending the N244 in tomorrow, and need a little help! point 3 on the form - I am obviously asking to make an order to set aside the judgement. Do I ask for the AOE to be suspended? Point 4 - "Have you attached a draft of the order you are applying for" I presume I just leave this blank? Point 10 - I will attach my defence as was in the letter I took to court previously. I will just amend to make it suitable for purpose. I will also submit a cover letter explaining why I have not made this application "promptly" ( as is the requirment ) stating that I have been waiting for a return on the S.A.R. in order to make my case. I will attach copies of the S.A.R. and ask that all requested information is forwarded to me. On the plus side, I am taking a big hit with my wages at the end of this month and subsequently my pay will drop below the protected rate so there will be no more payments under the AOE order.

Had court hearing on 23rd. Didn't go too well... Submitted letter to Judge upon checking in at the court, he dismissed it straight away saying it had no relevance to the hearing which was to hear my objections to the AOE. I gave a detailed breakdown of my expenses, which showed I could not sustain the 50 quid a week payment, and he completely rejected it saying my expenses were too high!!!! He believed £135 per week onrent for a 2 bed property was "high" (how out of touch is this guy??? £550 a month is not high!!) I need to make application to set aside which I intend to do next week. Any help on what to fill in on the N244 would be appreciated, although to honest I think i have it sussed. Oh one final thing, I don't feel too happy that the Claimants Solicitors Agent took away my letter, as that means they have time to think of something to wriggle out of any argumements I may have at any future hearing. That said, still no return on the S.A.R. Thanks for all help so far N

Well 40 days have passed. No return on the SAR (although the chque was cashed!) Nice one Welcome!

Still no SAR returned from Welcome. 40 days is up on Monday. What would I do next if nothing comes by then?

Thank you for the time and effort you have put in here, it is most appreciated. Just out of interest, are you trained in Law? On the last paragraph I assume you mean to write "claimant" rather than "defandant" x 2 ? Thanks again Nick

Just thinking... If Welcome go over the 40 days for the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) is it worth doing the follow up letter or just leaving it. Also I get the impression that the hearing on 23 Dec will strictly be for redetermination of the amount I am paying, and that I will have to arrange another hearing to have the CCJ set aside. Do you think the judge will hear the arguements on 23 Dec??

LegalPickle - only just noticed your last post, of course it does not offend. I thought I was simply stating my arguements to the forum , if I had known it was to be a draft for the courts I might have taken a bit more care!! Thanks again

ok here goes... in reply to your notes - 1. point taken! 2. Sept 2005 3. 15 October 2008 . Sent recorded unfortunately, but it was confirmed delivered on the 16th, with the cheque clearing on 30 Oct 08. Still 10 days or so to wait... 4. I retract this point!! 6. The date on it is march 2006 7. OK not obvious, I just meant "obvious" as in I had just told you. And I don't know about the work thing, I know lots of people get calls at work, why ask for the details on the application if its no use? (Inc phone number) 8. Point taken 11. The point I made is that the regulations for AOE state that in the first instance I could have kept it out of employers hands and made payment directly to the courts. This is an opportunity I wasnt given. Thanks for your help again

Thanks buddy, your help here is proving invaluable!! Let me digest this and I'll reply...

haha my typing sucks today!!