just in case anyone finds themselves in this situation i thought i would say what happened to us. It tunrs out that we had been sent a letter on the 30th Jan addressed to Our landlord with "and any other occupants" under his name. I had seen the landlords name and put the letter onto the pile of post to be forwarded (we always had a lot of post for them). If i had read this letter i would have been able to go to the court and apply to be added as a party to the action and then apply for it to be delayed. Unfortunately it was too late when i went to the court yesterday at 9 because the eviction was at 10. Tennant do not have any automatic right to stay at the property because the tennancy agreement is a contract with the landlord and once the property is repossesed it belongs to someone else. We were very lucky because our letting agents were extreamly helpfull and arranged for some removal me to come and move our things (we stayed up all night packing). They also offered to temporalily put us into a house they had on their books which was currently empty but we were able to go into our own house (we bought it about a month ago but it is currently being renovated was not really ready). If the agents had not done this i don't think we would have been able to get a removal firm at such short notice and everythingg would have been seized by the balifs. As it was we left our surfboards and barbeque in the garden to collect later and the reposesion people wanted to lock these into the house and keep them. In the end the agents took these and put them into their office for us to collect later. I can't beleive that tennants have so few rights in this situation. If the agents hadn't called us and told us about the eviction we would have been at work and would have come back to find that we couldn't get into the house and potentially no longer owned any of our posesions - scary thought. Hope this doesn't happen to anyone else, always open letters with "and any other occupier " on even if they have anyone elses name on. x r

Not sure where i stand here. I have been renting a property through an agent for the last 7 months. I had a call from the agent today to say that the landlord has not been paying their bills and the property is going to be repossed tommorow. I gave notice about three weeks ago and am due to move out at the weekend anyway but am not in a possition to move all my belongings and furniture tonight. Can the balifs take possesion of my things? If they change the locks (which the agent thought they might) will i be able to get my things after? also if they change the locks where do i sleep? can i charge them for b&b? any advice would be appreciated. r

just about to sign a letter agreeing to a fulll settlement plus £50 costs. The letter also has a confidentiality clause (which I agreed to sign in exchange for the £50 costs) so i guess this will be my last post on the matter. thanks to everyone on the foram, x r original claim £710 8% interest £81.60 court cost £80 costs £50 total £921.60! yay!

i have just spoken to a very stressed paul at barclays. He said that they he is very busy sorting out claims that are going to court tommorow and hadn't got as far as my claim yet. I explained that I was not going to be telling the court that the case was settled untill i saw the money in my account and that if he left it untill tommorow it might not clear in time. He then said that he would go and find my file and fax me a something to sign so that they can transfer the money so i guess i'm nearly there. I am now trying not to go and look at the fax machine every 2 minuets! thanks for your help dar3n - i hate telephones! x r

hi all, sent krysta an email last week but have heard nothing back. i know i need to ring them now as court date is wednesday but i am not very confident talking on the phone and get easily flustered. I would now like to add £50 to my total of £872.38 because they have left it so long that i have had to take a day of my anual leave. Is this reasonable? i am very nervous. Any hints on what to say would be much appreciated. x r

My court date came through about 1 month after i reterned my AQ. The actual date for court was a couple of month later (next wed in fact!). It is a very slow process but worth it in the end. Good luck! x r

Less than 2 weeks till court date! anything i should be doing? Should i contact barclays? Or just re read my court bundel and practice my reasoning? x r

i put this paragraph at the beggining of the standard LBA "Thank you for your letter dated 15th February 2007. I accept the £56 that you have credited to my account as a partial refund however, as you have failed to provide me with a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by a result of my breaches in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs, I will continue to pursue recovery of the remainder." Does this seem ok? x r

Hi all, Wrote to egg a couple of weeks ago asking them to reimberse the £60 that they took for a couple of overlimit charges and a late DD payment. It is a small amount but i thought it was worth persuing anyway partly to get back the £10 statement fee. They have since sent me two letters on the same day. The first was a nice freindly 'sorry you have had to complain' letter, the second was a not so freindly 'thanks for your letter but we are now going to threaten you with account closure and a bad credit record'. The second letter really irritated me. I tried to close my egg acount about 9 months ago. Since then it has been £8 in credit. Not only are they threatening me but they obviously don't even look at account properly! LBA will be sent tommorow. won't hold my breath for a quick resolution though. x r

Hello all, I started with capital one some months ago. Got my statements (eventually) and worked out that they owed me £152 - not a huge amount but worth having. I sent them a preliminary letter a couple of weeks ago and they have responded by refunding £56 which is the difference betwen the £20 penalties i have been charged and the OFT's stated maximum. Though i was happy to see this money arrive i would now like to try and get the other £96 as i do not feel that £12 is reasonable. Am i right in thinking that i use the LBA template as normal but take off £56 from the total? thanks x r

Hi there, This is a decision that only you can make. Barclays do seem to wait untill just before the court date so you are looking at a good few months. Also there is always the chance that you will have to actually go to court. However £850 is a lot of money to say goodbye to when a bit of waiting and a little work will hopefully do the trick. As i said, the choice is yours and yours only, x r

quick question, can i print my court bundel double sided to save paper?

Congratulations Msa! x ramouth

thanks welshman, i wonder why they don't just say "please send any documents that you will be relying on in court to the defendant and to the court?" it would be much easier to understand and small claims is supposed to be accessible. Anyway i will start work on the bundel straight away and read up on small claims procedure at the same time. Again, thanks for your reply, x ra

Got my court date through yesterday - 25th April at Brighton County Court. The letter included a list of directions which apply to the claim and i am a little unsure of what they actually mean. Could anyone explain? they are: 6) Disclosure of documents shall be delt with as follows: a) Both parties shall give to each other standard disclosure by list, the lists to be served by 4pm fourteen days before the hearing b) Any request for a copy, or inspection, of any document shall be complied with by 4pm twenty-one days before the hearing. 7) The original documents must be bought to the hearing. 8) The judge may refuse to consider a document or take it into account if a copy of it has not been sent to all parties as required by this order 9) The documents to be sent to the parties and the court must include the statements of all witnesses (including the parties themselves). then a load of stuff about witnesses and experts. can anyone give me a better idea of what this means? i have tried searching the forum and even looked for patricia pearl's book in the local library but have not had much luck so far so any help would be greatly appreciated! xxx a

thanks msa. i have decided to go after a couple of credit card companies as well to keep things interesting and will just wait for a letter from the court. Have my fingers and toes crossed for you today!

filled in my AQ and returned it a few weeks ago - no contact from the court or bank - getting a bit bored with it to be honest . anyone know how long it takes for the court to come back with a court date? bored bored bored x ramouth

suprise surprise barclays defended. so now i fill in the AQ. shame - i was hoping everyone at barclays would be hung over from new year and forget about me.

Happy new year everybody! think i can apply for judgement by default tommorow if barclays don't enter their defence (i issued the claim on the 1st Dec). Could anyone tell me if i need to wait untill the end of the day or whether i can do it as soon as i get to work? i am getting really really excited! x ramouth x

i can't offer any advice personally but martin lewis's website moneysavingexpert.com is usually helpful and there is a whole section on dealing with debts. Problem Debts? Where to start and what to do | MoneySavingExpert.com i hope this helps and good luck! x ramouth

congratulations yasmin - it must have got pretty scary!

hi katlu, In my opinion the purpose of the LBA is to try and resolve the issue out of court and to warn the bank court is the next step. I think that you have covered this with your rejection letter so don't worry about missing this. As for not being able to open the court bundel zip file, you should be able to download a winzip trial for free WinZip® - The Zip File Utility for Windows - Zip/Unzip, Encrypt/Decrypt if not, message me with your email address and i will unzip the files and send them to you don't panic! x ramouth

as far as i know barclays do not tend to close accounts - i havn't come accross one while reading barclays threads anyway. I beleive they cannot close an account that is in dispute (which yours will be as soon as you ask for your money back) so you will have a few months at least. However, it may be worth setting up another account just in case and to make the most of your £4000 by getting a better rate of interest for when you are in credit. Martin Lewis's site moneysavingexpert.com has an excellent artical to help you find another. Bank Accounts: 0% overdraft , 6% interest plus £50 sign-up bribe | MoneySavingExpert.com, hope this helps x ramouth

hi all, I have submitted my claim with MCOL. it now says 'issued 01/12/06' and sent a copy of my schedule of charges including 8% interest to both the bank and the court. What is the next stage? do i just wait for something to come from the court? am i right in thinking Barclays have 14 days from the claim being served? is the claim served 5 days after issue? i am sure i have read the answer to these questions in other threads but want to be sure and not miss anything! many thanks x ramouth

nice to hear of others at the same stage - i'll definately keep an eye on your progress. I have just submitted my MCOL claim! Quite excited really! x ramouth