Sorry to bump this but just in case someone else comes up against the same issue, I wrote to the LSC advising them I had no knowledge of the debt and had received no correspondence relating to it. I also stated that if such a debt was owed then surely it was Statute Barred.

This is the reply I got.

You had an emergency legal aid certificate and were offered a substantive certificate, which you did not take up, therefore leaving you liable for the costs expended under the emergency certificate. Letters were sent to you and your solicitor at the time.

 

However, the revocation of the certificate took place on 5th January 2001 and your solicitors did not confirm a final bill until 12th January 2009. Therefore the debt is clearly Statue Barred and has been written off our system.

So I can now file and forget.

Hi, I will try and find out if the LSC can do this - I do suspect that you will be able to fight them on the statute barred basis.

 

If your certificate was revoked I wonder why?

 

Will come back to you tomorrow when I have looked into this.

I have no idea why it would be revoked two years after the fact but as I've never heard anything about it until now I guess the notification never caught up with my house move.

At the very least I will want to know why also?

Thanks for that however I certainly haven't acknowledged it .......... ever. I am only presuming its something to do with an old Legal Aid case I had. I've never, to my knowledge received the notification mentioned and may not even owe that money in any case.

I would have to severely change Letter M to fit. In fact would I maybe be better of writing to them just saying I have no idea what you are talking about but if any debt was owed it would be statute barred and therefore unenforceable?

I have today recieved the following letter from Legal Services Commission dated 12-01-09

You were informed on 05 October 2001 that your certificate had been revoked. This means that you now have to pay all the costs originally paid by Legal Services Commission under this certificate. The amount you must pay is £1209.79.

 

You must either pay this amount by 02 February 2009 or, if you are unable to do this, you must tell us how you propose to pay.

 

You must write with your proposals to the Debt Recovery Unit, Legal Services Commission, Exchange Tower, 2 Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9GE. Your letter must be received by 02 February 2009. Please remember to quote your reference number on any letter you write.

Yours sincerely

I think I had to make a contribution for something like £80.00 at the time. Anyway case was won and we moved on, literally as we also moved house in Feb 2001, never to hear anything since.

Then we get this letter out of the blue and I'm not sure what to do with it. I had a look at the National Debtline Helpsheet but didn't feel that there examples covered this kind of debt, so I phoned them. Got a nice automated voice explaing that they record this call and any case papers could be forwarded to Legal Services Commission, at which point I panicked and put the phone down.

I'd be grateful for some advice, personally I'd like to just chuck it in the bin and forget it but I'm not sure that's the best move.

Thanks